New wine and liquor bill proposed

Sale in supermarkets would be allowed

  ALBANY - Senate Democrats are seeking a compromise on allowing the sale of wine and liquor in supermarkets - something the wine industry and liquor stores have fought - by easing long-standing restrictions on products, hours and marketing at liquor stores.

To assist liquor stores, the legislation would allow them to sell a range of products, such as drinks, snacks, lottery tickets and ice, and they could open as early as 8 a.m. and close as late as 3 a.m. (9 p.m. on Sundays). Currently, liquor stores can only sell wine and liquor.

"Basically it's an attempt to get rid of New York's antiquated blue laws that no other state has," said Sen. Liz Krueger, D-Manhattan, referring to restrictions put in place during the Prohibition era last century.

Besides boosting economic opportunities for liquor stores, the legislation would help the state's agricultural sector by allowing wine to be sold in grocery stores, said Krueger, who is sponsoring the measure.

The bill would get rid of the licensing system under the state Liquor Authority that allows liquor-store owners to have one license, meaning they can't have more than one store.

Instead, the state Liquor Authority would manage a medallion system. When a store closed, the medallion would be sold to another business, which would help owners recoup their investment and cut the time new businesses wait to open their stores. Liquor-store owners could obtain more than one license.

Krueger said she is optimistic the bill could be passed in a session later this year, or early next year. Lawmakers estimate the legislation would raise more than $150 million in new revenues.

Krueger introduced the compromise legislation last month, but it got lost in the Senate's one-month leadership standoff.

that began June 8. Assemblyman Joseph Morelle, D-Irondequoit, Monroe County, is sponsoring the bill in his house.

But the Last Store on Main Street coalition of wine sellers and liquor stores is strongly against any legislation that would allow wine to be sold in supermarkets, spokesman Michael McKeon said. The bill "is not a compromise in any sense," he said.

"This is just another attempt by grocery stores, the big-box stores, to shutter small businesses across the state," he said, adding thousands of New Yorkers would lose their jobs if the bill were passed.

New York Wine Industry Association President Scott Osborn said in a statement that the legislation would keep small, struggling family farms in business and give the wine industry the growth opportunity it deserves.

Sen. George Winner, R-Elmira, said he supports putting wine in grocery stores, but any proposal needs to be coupled with safeguards for the liquor store industry.

"I have always supported the sale of wine in grocery stores," Winner said. "However, I don't think you can do that in a vacuum without doing a substantial number of other tradeoffs to balance the economic disruption that will occur to the liquor store industry."