Senator Amedore Passes Legislation to Protect New York Wine Retailers

The State Senate passed a bill today (S.4446A), co-sponsored by Senator George Amedore, that would limit the authority of the State Liquor Authority to use a vague regulatory provision to penalize New York State wine retailers.

The legislation came in response to attempts by the State Liquor Authority to penalize Empire Wine, an Albany-based wine retailer, for selling wine online, direct to consumers out of state. Empire State was operating in compliance with New York State law, and no other states have pursued action against them for violations of their state’s laws.

“It’s already hard enough to do business in New York, without a state agency attempting to penalize small businesses for what they perceive to be possible violations of another state’s laws,” said Senator George Amedore. “We need to be doing everything possible to promote New York wines, to help our small businesses thrive, and to encourage economic growth.”

The legislation would eliminate the use of the vague “improper conduct” clause in state liquor laws to penalize New York businesses, unless the business has been charged and shown to have violated the laws of another state.

 
“This is a win for wine retailers across the state, small businesses trying to make ends meet, and a wine industry that is booming and looking for markets outside of New York,” said Brad Junco, owner of Empire Wine. “Without the leadership and persistence of Senator Amedore and a bipartisan group of legislators in both chambers of the legislature, this bill would have never passed and small businesses promoting New York wine products would have continued to be bullied by regulatory overreach. This is a good day for business in New York. We are hopeful that the Governor, who has made the promotion of made-in-New York products a priority and pushed to make New York more friendly to business, will promptly sign the legislation into law.”

The New York State Assembly passed this legislation earlier this week. The bill will be sent to the Governor for his consideration.

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