New York: Alcohol sales on Sunday morning? State considers lifting archaic ‘blue laws’

Source: Syracuse.com

Don Cazentre

April 13, 2016

Do you want a Bloody Mary or mimosa with your 11 a.m. Sunday brunch? How about a beer to warm up with while you wait to watch Sunday NFL games at your favorite sports bar?

The state is considering lifting the ban that currently prohibits alcohol sales at restaurants, bars and taverns between 4 a.m. (2 a.m. in some counties) and noon on Sundays. The prohibition stems from a state alcohol control law adopted after the end of Prohibition in 1934. Like other alcohol bans, it is commonly referred to as a “blue law.”

Allowing bars and restaurants to serve alcohol on Sunday mornings is one of several recommendations to update state liquor laws presented this week to Gov. Andrew Cuomo by an Alcohol Beverage Control Law Working Group. Cuomo set up that panel to investigate ways to modernize the state’s 80-plus year old alcohol laws.

Recommendations from the state Alcohol Beverage Control Working Group

The panel noted that the state previously loosened the restrictions on Sunday sales at package liquor stores and for beer sales at grocery stores. Liquor stores were allowed to open on Sundays starting in 2003. The hours that grocers can sell beer were expanded in 2006. That change moved the prohibited hours from between 3 a.m. and noon to between 3 a.m. and 8 a.m. on Sundays.

The alcohol working group suggested two options for Sunday morning sales: One would change the law to allow Sunday restaurant/bar sales starting at 8 a.m. (in line with the others days of the week). The other would set up a process for individual bars or restaurants to obtain a special permit for Sunday morning sales.

Matt Baumgartner is one business owner who would love to see the state follow through on this proposal. He is co-owner of the Wolff’s Biergarten locations in Albany, Schenectady and Syracuse. All are billed as soccer fan destinations — and patrons frequently show up as early as 8 a.m. on Sundays to watch European or other foreign soccer matches.

“Right now, we’ve got people sitting here drinking soda during the matches, waiting for noon so they can grab a beer,” said Baumgartner, who opened his Syracuse location on Montgomery Street next to City Hall last fall. “It would be a tremendous boost to our business, and let us hire more people for extended hours.”

The Working Group that made the recommendation also cited this example: Last season, the Buffalo Bills played an NFL game in Europe, with the kickoff at 9: 30 a.m. Sunday back home. The New York Giants play a London game at that time this season.

The group also noted the popularity of alcohol sales for Sunday brunch.

Other recommendations to modernize the state’s alcohol laws include:

. Authorizing wineries to allow customers to take home partially finished bottles and letting wineries sell wine in refillable growlers (as breweries currently do).

. Reorganizing the state’s “patchwork” of laws — currently organized by beverage type — into a streamlined law organized “by the type of license a business would need.” That would make the laws less confusing, the group’s report said.

. Consolidating the types of licenses that on-premises business like bars and restaurants would need. The state currently has nine types of licenses (restaurants, bars, taverns, etc.) scattered throughout three articles of the Alcoholic Beverage Control Law. The proposal would reduce the number to three: one for beer; a second for wine and beer; and a third for establishments that serve beer, wine and liquor. Note: This is the provision that led to confusion that delayed the application process for Clark’s Ale House in 2014.

. Streamlining the application process for beer, wine, liquor and coder manufacturers, and reducing paperwork.

The proposals need to be approved by the state Legislature and signed by the governor to become law.