SLA Cure Period Bill Advances in Assembly

The New York State Assembly advanced a bill allowing the State Liquor Authority to establish a cure period or similar action for first time violations of the ABC law or the Authority’s Rules and Regulations. These violations would need to be determined by the SLA to be de minimus in nature, and would not endanger health, safety, environment, or other protections provided in law. The cure period would provide licensees with the chance to correct the violation and, upon successful correction, would prevent the imposition of penalties.

The Legislature passed a bill that created a similar cure period for small businesses in 2019 however, ABC Law violations were excluded from that law. This bill fixes that mistake. It makes clear that the Liquor Authority has the discretion to provide a cure period for a first-time violation of the Alcoholic Beverage Control Law. We have been working to advance this proposal for several years after discovering the substantial financial penalties imposed on business owners by the Authority for these ministerial violations. It’s more important now than ever to obtain this relief.