Bill Text: NY A08911 | 2023-2024 | General Assembly | Introduced
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: Partisan Bill (Democrat 12-0)
Status: (Introduced) 2024-01-26 - referred to economic development [A08911 Detail]
Download: New_York-2023-A08911-Introduced.html
STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 8911 IN ASSEMBLY January 26, 2024 ___________ Introduced by M. of A. RAMOS -- read once and referred to the Committee on Economic Development 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 19 is displayed and offered for sale and that has facilities to properly 20 secure any stock of alcoholic beverages. 21 § 2. The alcoholic beverage control law is amended by adding a new 22 section 64-f to read as follows: 23 § 64-f. License to sell liquor at retail for consumption on premises 24 in a cigar lounge. 1. A cigar lounge means a business which meets the EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD06300-06-4A. 8911 2 1 requirements of a cigar lounge as defined in section three of this chap- 2 ter. 3 2. Any person currently licensed in New York with a retail dealer 4 certificate of registration for cigarettes and tobacco products may make 5 an application to the authority for a license to sell liquor at retail 6 to be consumed on the premises where sold and such license shall be 7 issued to all applicants except for good cause shown. 8 3. Such application shall be in such form and shall contain such 9 information as shall be required by the rules of the liquor authority 10 and shall be accompanied by a check or draft in the amount required by 11 this article for such license. 12 4. Such license shall, in form and in substance, be a license to the 13 person specifically licensed to sell liquor at retail to be consumed 14 upon the premises. Such license shall also be deemed to include a 15 license to sell wine and beer at retail to be consumed under the same 16 terms and conditions without the payment of any additional fee. 17 5. Food cannot be prepared or served by a licensee. 18 6. Such license shall require that a cigar lounge stock liquor, wine, 19 beer, cider, and wine products produced in New York state as at least 20 five percent of its liquor, beer and wine selections. 21 7. All applicants for employment at a cigar lounge shall be presented 22 with a written notice that states that working in a cigar lounge has 23 serious and permanent negative health effects, including, but not limit- 24 ed to, an increased risk of cancer and heart disease, and that no level 25 of exposure to second-hand smoke is safe. 26 8. Section fifty-four of this chapter shall control the procedure, so 27 far as applicable, in connection with such application. 28 9.(a) No cigar lounge license shall be granted for any premises which 29 shall be: 30 (i) on the same street or avenue and within two hundred feet of a 31 building occupied exclusively as a school, church, synagogue or other 32 place of worship; or 33 (ii) in a city, town or village having a population of twenty thousand 34 or more within five hundred feet of three or more existing premises 35 licensed and operating pursuant to provisions of this section and 36 sections sixty-four, sixty-four-b, sixty-four-c, sixty-four-d, and/or 37 sixty-four-e of this article. 38 (b) The measurements in subparagraphs (i) and (ii) of paragraph (a) of 39 this subdivision are to be taken in straight lines from the center of 40 the nearest entrance of the premises sought to be licensed to the center 41 of the nearest entrance of such school, church, synagogue or other place 42 of worship or to the center of the nearest entrance of each such prem- 43 ises licensed and operating pursuant to this section and sections 44 sixty-four, sixty-four-b, sixty-four-c, sixty-four-d and/or sixty-four-e 45 of this article; except that no license shall be denied to any premises 46 at which a license under this chapter has been in existence continuously 47 from a date prior to the date when a building on the same street or 48 avenue and within two hundred feet of said premises has been occupied 49 exclusively as a school, church, synagogue or other place of worship; 50 and except that no license shall be denied to any premises, which is 51 within five hundred feet of three or more existing premises licensed and 52 operating pursuant to this section and sections sixty-four, 53 sixty-four-b, sixty-four-c, and/or sixty-four-d of this article, at 54 which a license under this chapter has been in existence continuously on 55 or prior to November first, nineteen hundred ninety-three. The liquor 56 authority, in its discretion, may authorize the removal of any suchA. 8911 3 1 licensed premises to a different location on the same street or avenue, 2 within two hundred feet of said school, church, synagogue or other place 3 of worship, provided that such new location is not within a closer 4 distance to such school, church, synagogue or other place of worship. 5 (c) Within the context of this subdivision, the word "entrance" shall 6 mean a door of a school, of a house of worship, or of premises licensed 7 and operating pursuant to this section and sections sixty-four, sixty- 8 four-b, sixty-four-c, and/or sixty-four-d of this article or of the 9 premises sought to be licensed, regularly used to give ingress to 10 students of the school, to the general public attending the place of 11 worship, and to patrons or guests of the premises licensed and operating 12 pursuant to this section and sections sixty-four, sixty-four-b, sixty- 13 four-c, and/or sixty-four-d of this article or of the premises sought to 14 be licensed, except that where a school or house of worship or premises 15 licensed and operating pursuant to this section and sections sixty-four, 16 sixty-four-b, sixty-four-c, sixty-four-d, and/or sixty-four-e of this 17 article or the premises sought to be licensed is set back from a public 18 thoroughfare, the walkway or stairs leading to any such door shall be 19 deemed an entrance; and the measurement shall be taken to the center of 20 the walkway or stairs at the point where it meets the building line or 21 public thoroughfare. A door which has no exterior hardware, or which is 22 used solely as an emergency or fire exit, or for maintenance purposes, 23 or which leads directly to a part of a building not regularly used by 24 the general public or patrons, is not deemed an "entrance". 25 § 3. Section 66 of the alcoholic beverage control law is amended by 26 adding a new subdivision 11 to read as follows: 27 11. The annual fee for a license to sell liquor at retail for consump- 28 tion on premises in a cigar lounge shall be one thousand seven hundred 29 ninety-two dollars per year. 30 § 4. The labor law is amended by adding a new section 202-n to read as 31 follows: 32 § 202-n. Cigar lounge employees; tobacco smoke exposure notification. 33 A cigar lounge, as defined in section three of the alcoholic beverage 34 control law, shall provide written notice to all employees and appli- 35 cants for employment that working in a cigar lounge may cause serious 36 negative health effects, including an increased risk of cancer and heart 37 disease and that no level of exposure to environmental tobacco smoke is 38 safe. 39 § 5. This act shall take effect immediately.
