Bill Text: NY A02961 | 2023-2024 | General Assembly | Amended
Bill Title: Establishes a license to sell liquor at retail for consumption on premises in a cigar lounge; defines "cigar lounge"; requires cigar lounges to provide written notification warning employees of the dangers of exposure to tobacco smoke.
Spectrum: Slight Partisan Bill (Democrat 11-7)
Status: (Introduced) 2023-12-01 - enacting clause stricken [A02961 Detail]
Download: New_York-2023-A02961-Amended.html
STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 2961--A 2023-2024 Regular Sessions IN ASSEMBLY February 1, 2023 ___________ Introduced by M. of A. WOERNER, BUTTENSCHON, TAPIA, DICKENS, SAYEGH, SMULLEN, McDONOUGH, BRABENEC, STECK, SILLITTI, RAMOS, MCGOWAN, FLOOD, BENDETT, McDONALD -- read once and referred to the Committee on Economic Development -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee AN ACT to amend the alcoholic beverage control law, in relation to establishing a license to sell liquor at retail for consumption on premises in a cigar lounge; and to amend the labor law, in relation to requiring cigar lounges to provide written notification warning employees of the dangers of exposure to tobacco smoke The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. Section 3 of the alcoholic beverage control law is amended 2 by adding a new subdivision 7-e to read as follows: 3 7-e. "Cigar lounge" means any bona fide retail store that: (a) caters 4 to patrons who purchase and smoke cigars; (b) generates sixty percent or 5 more of its quarterly adjusted gross revenue from the sale of cigar-re- 6 lated products, which is limited to cigars, humidors, cigar cutters, 7 cigar cases, lighters and ashtrays. Revenue from state lottery, mail 8 order, and internet sales, as well as revenue generated from other 9 tobacco sales in store, including cigarettes and loose tobacco sales, 10 shall not be used to determine whether an establishment satisfies the 11 definition of a cigar lounge; (c) has a humidor on the premises; (d) is 12 open to the public on a regular basis; (e) has capacity for a minimum of 13 fifteen patrons; (f) does not allow any person under the age of twenty- 14 one on the premises unless accompanied by a parent, legal guardian, or 15 adult spouse; (g) does not allow service of food and the smoking of 16 cigarettes, e-cigarettes, hookah or shisha; and (h) holds a current New 17 York retail dealer certificate of registration for cigarettes and tobac- 18 co products. A cigar lounge shall be a permanent structure where stock EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD06300-04-3A. 2961--A 2 1 is displayed and offered for sale and that has facilities to properly 2 secure any stock of alcoholic beverages. 3 § 2. The alcoholic beverage control law is amended by adding a new 4 section 64-f to read as follows: 5 § 64-f. License to sell liquor at retail for consumption on premises 6 in a cigar lounge. 1. A cigar lounge means a business which meets the 7 requirements of a cigar lounge as defined in section three of this chap- 8 ter. 9 2. Any person currently licensed in New York with a retail dealer 10 certificate of registration for cigarettes and tobacco products may make 11 an application to the authority for a license to sell liquor at retail 12 to be consumed on the premises where sold and such license shall be 13 issued to all applicants except for good cause shown. 14 3. Such application shall be in such form and shall contain such 15 information as shall be required by the rules of the liquor authority 16 and shall be accompanied by a check or draft in the amount required by 17 this article for such license. 18 4. Such license shall, in form and in substance, be a license to the 19 person specifically licensed to sell liquor at retail to be consumed 20 upon the premises. Such license shall also be deemed to include a 21 license to sell wine and beer at retail to be consumed under the same 22 terms and conditions without the payment of any additional fee. 23 5. Food cannot be prepared or served by a licensee. 24 6. Such license shall require that a cigar lounge stock liquor, wine, 25 beer, cider, and wine products produced in New York state as at least 26 five percent of its liquor, beer and wine selections. 27 7. All applicants for employment at a cigar lounge shall be presented 28 with a written notice that states that working in a cigar lounge has 29 serious and permanent negative health effects, including, but not limit- 30 ed to, an increased risk of cancer and heart disease, and that no level 31 of exposure to second-hand smoke is safe. 32 8. Section fifty-four of this chapter shall control the procedure, so 33 far as applicable, in connection with such application. 34 9.(a) No cigar lounge license shall be granted for any premises which 35 shall be: 36 (i) on the same street or avenue and within two hundred feet of a 37 building occupied exclusively as a school, church, synagogue or other 38 place of worship; or 39 (ii) in a city, town or village having a population of twenty thousand 40 or more within five hundred feet of three or more existing premises 41 licensed and operating pursuant to provisions of this section and 42 sections sixty-four, sixty-four-b, sixty-four-c, sixty-four-d, and/or 43 sixty-four-e of this article. 44 (b) The measurements in subparagraphs (i) and (ii) of paragraph (a) of 45 this subdivision are to be taken in straight lines from the center of 46 the nearest entrance of the premises sought to be licensed to the center 47 of the nearest entrance of such school, church, synagogue or other place 48 of worship or to the center of the nearest entrance of each such prem- 49 ises licensed and operating pursuant to this section and sections 50 sixty-four, sixty-four-b, sixty-four-c, sixty-four-d and/or sixty-four-e 51 of this article; except that no license shall be denied to any premises 52 at which a license under this chapter has been in existence continuously 53 from a date prior to the date when a building on the same street or 54 avenue and within two hundred feet of said premises has been occupied 55 exclusively as a school, church, synagogue or other place of worship; 56 and except that no license shall be denied to any premises, which isA. 2961--A 3 1 within five hundred feet of three or more existing premises licensed and 2 operating pursuant to this section and sections sixty-four, 3 sixty-four-b, sixty-four-c, and/or sixty-four-d of this article, at 4 which a license under this chapter has been in existence continuously on 5 or prior to November first, nineteen hundred ninety-three. The liquor 6 authority, in its discretion, may authorize the removal of any such 7 licensed premises to a different location on the same street or avenue, 8 within two hundred feet of said school, church, synagogue or other place 9 of worship, provided that such new location is not within a closer 10 distance to such school, church, synagogue or other place of worship. 11 (c) Within the context of this subdivision, the word "entrance" shall 12 mean a door of a school, of a house of worship, or of premises licensed 13 and operating pursuant to this section and sections sixty-four, sixty- 14 four-b, sixty-four-c, and/or sixty-four-d of this article or of the 15 premises sought to be licensed, regularly used to give ingress to 16 students of the school, to the general public attending the place of 17 worship, and to patrons or guests of the premises licensed and operating 18 pursuant to this section and sections sixty-four, sixty-four-b, sixty- 19 four-c, and/or sixty-four-d of this article or of the premises sought to 20 be licensed, except that where a school or house of worship or premises 21 licensed and operating pursuant to this section and sections sixty-four, 22 sixty-four-b, sixty-four-c, sixty-four-d, and/or sixty-four-e of this 23 article or the premises sought to be licensed is set back from a public 24 thoroughfare, the walkway or stairs leading to any such door shall be 25 deemed an entrance; and the measurement shall be taken to the center of 26 the walkway or stairs at the point where it meets the building line or 27 public thoroughfare. A door which has no exterior hardware, or which is 28 used solely as an emergency or fire exit, or for maintenance purposes, 29 or which leads directly to a part of a building not regularly used by 30 the general public or patrons, is not deemed an "entrance". 31 § 3. Section 66 of the alcoholic beverage control law is amended by 32 adding a new subdivision 11 to read as follows: 33 11. The annual fee for a license to sell liquor at retail for consump- 34 tion on premises in a cigar lounge shall be one thousand seven hundred 35 ninety-two dollars per year. 36 § 4. The labor law is amended by adding a new section 202-n to read as 37 follows: 38 § 202-n. Cigar lounge employees; tobacco smoke exposure notification. 39 A cigar lounge, as defined in section three of the alcoholic beverage 40 control law, shall provide written notice to all employees and appli- 41 cants for employment that working in a cigar lounge may cause serious 42 negative health effects, including an increased risk of cancer and heart 43 disease and that no level of exposure to environmental tobacco smoke is 44 safe. 45 § 5. This act shall take effect immediately.
