BILL NUMBER:S3077

TITLE OF BILL:  An act to amend the alcoholic beverage control law, in
relation to requiring the state liquor authority to make available on
its automated public license query website and database information
pertaining to any conditions it imposes on a licensed premises

PURPOSE:  To insure that the State Liquor Authority (SLA) maintains on
its website public information regarding the method of operations of
establishments under its jurisdiction.

SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section One of the alcoholic beverage control law is amended by adding
a new section 110-c to create a public license query website and
database which, in addition to the information currently available to
the public on such website, contain information pertaining to any
conditions it imposes on premises holding a license issued by the
authority pursuant to this chapter, including but not limited to
information pertaining to the hours during which the licensed premises
is allowed to operate, the maximum permitted occupancy of the licensed
premises and any special conditions imposed by the authority on the
licensed premises.

EXISTING LAW:  New law.

              

JUSTIFICATION:  On-premises licenses issued by the State Liquor
Authority list details of the "Method of Operation" of the premises,
including: days and hours of operation, whether live music or dancing
is permitted, if the premises includes an outside area, etc.
Disturbingly, there is no repository of information where members of
the public can access this Method of Operation information. As a
result, local residents, businesses and other interested parties have
no way of determining the specifics of an SLA on-premises license, for
example, what hours the establishment is permitted to stay open or
whether anything other than background music - such as a disc jockey -
is permitted. The only option for the public to learn this information
is through filing a Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) request, which
is a time consuming and lengthy process.

Equally troubling is that local police precincts do not have the
details of SLA on-premises licenses either. This means that when the
police answer a complaint about a noisy bar, there is no way for an
officer to determine whether the establishment is in compliance with
its on-premises license terms, such as hours of operation or whether
it can have a DJ.

The State Liquor Authority has recently taken measures to become more
transparent by listing the identity of license holders in local
communities on a publicly available website. The next step is to
require that the relevant information about these licenses be publicly
available on the SLA website as well, and to maintain a continuously
updated database.

LEGISLATIVE HISTORY: New Bill


FISCAL IMPLICATIONS: To be determined

LOCAL FISCAL IMPLICATIONS: Minimal

EFFECTIVE DATE:  This act shall take effect on the thirtieth day after
it shall have become law.