BILL NUMBER: S8203
SPONSOR: RAMOS
 
TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the alcoholic beverage control law, in relation to
expanding the availability of temporary retail permits by eliminating
the two year restriction on temporary retail permits for applications
subject to the 500 foot law
 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1 amends subdivision 3 of section 97-a of the alcoholic beverage
control law by modifying the conditions under which temporary retail
permits can be granted in New York City, allowing them so long as no
former licensees at the location sought by a prospective licensee had
their licenses canceled, suspended, or revoked consecutively. However,
if there was an intervening licensed establishment with an active retail
license that was no canceled, suspended, or revoked, the restriction
above does not apply.
 
JUSTIFICATION:
Existing law restricts the Liquor Authority's ability to issue temporary
retail permits to New York City applicants whose applications are
subject to the 500 Foot Law in several important ways: (1) the permit
may only be issued if the premises has been licensed in the past two
years and the prior license was not suspended, cancelled or revoked; (2)
nor may it be issued if an administrative law judge has made a recommen-
dation that issuance of the license to the applicant would be in the
public interest; and (3) if the permit is issued, the applicant's method
of operation under the permit includes statutory limits on closing hours
and the type of music that may be played. The two-year restriction was
devised in late 2021, with the goal of making temporary retail permits
only available to those bar and restaurant premises that were shuttered
due to the pandemic, which at that point was two years old. It uniquely
prejudices new construction, by making new buildings per se ineligible
for temporary retail permits. It also prejudices those premises that
now, four years after the pandemic began, remain vacant. The experiment
of expanding availability of temporary retail permits within New York
City has been a success, and given the curren t backlogs at the Liquor
Authority, it is time to expand this successful program by making tempo-
rary retail permits available without regard to when a premises was last
licensed, if ever. This bill does not eliminate any of the other
restrictions on the Liquor Authority's ability to issue temporary retail
permits to New York City applicants whose applications are subject to
the 500 Foot Law. This bill also amends the prohibition on the Liquor
Authority's ability to issue temporary retail permits for locations in
New York City where a prior license was canceled, suspended or revoked
by extending the lookback period from two to five years, provided that
this prohibition will not apply if a subsequent license was issued at
the location and such subsequent license was not
 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
New bill
 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
None
 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
Immediate

Statutes affected:
S8203: 97-a alcoholic beverage control law, 97-a(3) alcoholic beverage control law