•  Summary 
  •  
  •  Actions 
  •  
  •  Committee Votes 
  •  
  •  Floor Votes 
  •  
  •  Memo 
  •  
  •  Text 
  •  
  •  LFIN 
  •  
  •  Chamber Video/Transcript 

A03749 Summary:

BILL NOA03749
 
SAME ASSAME AS S04517
 
SPONSORRamos
 
COSPNSRButtenschon, Seawright, Lucas, Taylor, Hyndman, Bichotte Hermelyn, Davila, Zaccaro, Sayegh, Reyes
 
MLTSPNSR
 
Amd §§3 & 66, add §64-f, ABC L; add §202-n, Lab L
 
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.
Go to top    

A03749 Actions:

BILL NOA03749
 
01/30/2025referred to economic development
Go to top

A03749 Memo:

NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY
MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION
submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
 
BILL NUMBER: A3749
 
SPONSOR: Ramos
  TITLE OF BILL: An act to amend the alcoholic beverage control law, in relation to establishing a license to sell liquor at retail for consumption on prem- ises in a cigar lounge; and to amend the labor law, in relation to requiring cigar lounges to provide written notification warning employ- ees of the dangers of exposure to tobacco smoke   PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL: To allow on premises consumption of alcohol in a cigar lounge.   SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS: Section 1: amends the alcoholic beverage control law to add a new subdi- vision, 7-e that provides a definition of "cigar lounge" Section 2: amends the alcoholic beverage control law to add a new section 64f that lays out the requirements for a license to sell liquor at retail for on premises consumption in a cigar lounge. Section 3: amends the alcoholic beverage control law by adding a new subdivision 11 to section 66 that sets the annual fee for a license to sell liquor for on premises consumption in a cigar lounge. Section 4: amends the labor law by adding a new section 202-n that would require a written notice to employees and applicants working in a cigar lounge of the potential negative health effects of working in a cigar lounge section 5: establishes the effective date.   JUSTIFICATION: Allowing cigar lounges to offer alcohol to their patrons would greatly benefit both New York State and many small businesses. The State would receive increased revenues on an annual basis from licensing fees and cigar lounges would also now have an additional stream of revenue that would help enhance the experience of their customers.   PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY: A.8162/S.6742 of 2022: referred to economic development/PASSED SENATE A.2961/S.4412B of 2023: Enacting clause striken/Ref to Investigations & Govt Operations A.8911/S.4412 of 2024: ref to economic development/PASSED SENATE   FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS: Increased annual license fees for the State.   EFFECTIVE DATE: This act shall take effect immediately.
Go to top

A03749 Text:



 
                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                          3749
 
                               2025-2026 Regular Sessions
 
                   IN ASSEMBLY
 
                                    January 30, 2025
                                       ___________
 
        Introduced  by  M.  of  A. RAMOS, BUTTENSCHON, SEAWRIGHT, LUCAS, TAYLOR,
          HYNDMAN, BICHOTTE HERMELYN, DAVILA, ZACCARO,  SAYEGH,  REYES  --  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.
 
         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD05189-01-5

        A. 3749                             2
 
     1    § 2. The alcoholic beverage control law is amended  by  adding  a  new
     2  section 64-f to read as follows:
     3    §  64-f.  License to sell liquor at retail for consumption on premises
     4  in a cigar lounge. 1. A cigar lounge means a business  which  meets  the
     5  requirements of a cigar lounge as defined in section three of this chap-
     6  ter.
     7    2.  Any  person  currently  licensed  in New York with a retail dealer
     8  certificate of registration for cigarettes and tobacco products may make
     9  an application to the authority for a license to sell liquor  at  retail
    10  to  be  consumed  on  the  premises where sold and such license shall be
    11  issued to all applicants except for good cause shown.
    12    3. Such application shall be in  such  form  and  shall  contain  such
    13  information  as  shall  be required by the rules of the liquor authority
    14  and shall be accompanied by a check or draft in the amount  required  by
    15  this article for such license.
    16    4.  Such  license shall, in form and in substance, be a license to the
    17  person specifically licensed to sell liquor at  retail  to  be  consumed
    18  upon  the  premises.  Such  license  shall  also  be deemed to include a
    19  license to sell wine and beer at retail to be consumed  under  the  same
    20  terms and conditions without the payment of any additional fee.
    21    5. Food cannot be prepared or served by a licensee.
    22    6.  Such license shall require that a cigar lounge stock liquor, wine,
    23  beer, cider, and wine products produced in New York state  as  at  least
    24  five percent of its liquor, beer and wine selections.
    25    7.  All applicants for employment at a cigar lounge shall be presented
    26  with a written notice that states that working in  a  cigar  lounge  has
    27  serious and permanent negative health effects, including, but not limit-
    28  ed  to, an increased risk of cancer and heart disease, and that no level
    29  of exposure to second-hand smoke is safe.
    30    8. Section fifty-four of this chapter shall control the procedure,  so
    31  far as applicable, in connection with such application.
    32    9.(a)  No cigar lounge license shall be granted for any premises which
    33  shall be:
    34    (i) on the same street or avenue and within  two  hundred  feet  of  a
    35  building  occupied  exclusively  as a school, church, synagogue or other
    36  place of worship; or
    37    (ii) in a city, town or village having a population of twenty thousand
    38  or more within five hundred feet of  three  or  more  existing  premises
    39  licensed  and  operating  pursuant  to  provisions  of  this section and
    40  sections sixty-four, sixty-four-b,  sixty-four-c,  sixty-four-d,  and/or
    41  sixty-four-e of this article.
    42    (b) The measurements in subparagraphs (i) and (ii) of paragraph (a) of
    43  this  subdivision  are  to be taken in straight lines from the center of
    44  the nearest entrance of the premises sought to be licensed to the center
    45  of the nearest entrance of such school, church, synagogue or other place
    46  of worship or to the center of the nearest entrance of each  such  prem-
    47  ises  licensed  and  operating  pursuant  to  this  section and sections
    48  sixty-four, sixty-four-b, sixty-four-c, sixty-four-d and/or sixty-four-e
    49  of this article; except that no license shall be denied to any  premises
    50  at which a license under this chapter has been in existence continuously
    51  from  a  date  prior  to  the date when a building on the same street or
    52  avenue and within two hundred feet of said premises  has  been  occupied
    53  exclusively  as  a  school, church, synagogue or other place of worship;
    54  and except that no license shall be denied to  any  premises,  which  is
    55  within five hundred feet of three or more existing premises licensed and
    56  operating   pursuant   to   this   section   and   sections  sixty-four,

        A. 3749                             3
 
     1  sixty-four-b, sixty-four-c, and/or  sixty-four-d  of  this  article,  at
     2  which a license under this chapter has been in existence continuously on
     3  or  prior  to  November first, nineteen hundred ninety-three. The liquor
     4  authority,  in  its  discretion,  may  authorize the removal of any such
     5  licensed premises to a different location on the same street or  avenue,
     6  within two hundred feet of said school, church, synagogue or other place
     7  of  worship,  provided  that  such  new  location is not within a closer
     8  distance to such school, church, synagogue or other place of worship.
     9    (c) Within the context of this subdivision, the word "entrance"  shall
    10  mean  a door of a school, of a house of worship, or of premises licensed
    11  and operating pursuant to this section and sections  sixty-four,  sixty-
    12  four-b,  sixty-four-c,  and/or  sixty-four-d  of  this article or of the
    13  premises sought to be  licensed,  regularly  used  to  give  ingress  to
    14  students  of  the  school,  to the general public attending the place of
    15  worship, and to patrons or guests of the premises licensed and operating
    16  pursuant to this section and sections sixty-four,  sixty-four-b,  sixty-
    17  four-c, and/or sixty-four-d of this article or of the premises sought to
    18  be  licensed, except that where a school or house of worship or premises
    19  licensed and operating pursuant to this section and sections sixty-four,
    20  sixty-four-b, sixty-four-c, sixty-four-d, and/or  sixty-four-e  of  this
    21  article  or the premises sought to be licensed is set back from a public
    22  thoroughfare, the walkway or stairs leading to any such  door  shall  be
    23  deemed  an entrance; and the measurement shall be taken to the center of
    24  the walkway or stairs at the point where it meets the building  line  or
    25  public  thoroughfare. A door which has no exterior hardware, or which is
    26  used solely as an emergency or fire exit, or for  maintenance  purposes,
    27  or  which  leads  directly to a part of a building not regularly used by
    28  the general public or patrons, is not deemed an "entrance".
    29    § 3. Section 66 of the alcoholic beverage control law  is  amended  by
    30  adding a new subdivision 11 to read as follows:
    31    11. The annual fee for a license to sell liquor at retail for consump-
    32  tion  on  premises in a cigar lounge shall be one thousand seven hundred
    33  ninety-two dollars per year.
    34    § 4. The labor law is amended by adding a new section 202-n to read as
    35  follows:
    36    § 202-n. Cigar lounge employees; tobacco smoke exposure  notification.
    37  A  cigar  lounge,  as defined in section three of the alcoholic beverage
    38  control law, shall provide written notice to all  employees  and  appli-
    39  cants  for  employment  that working in a cigar lounge may cause serious
    40  negative health effects, including an increased risk of cancer and heart
    41  disease and that no level of exposure to environmental tobacco smoke  is
    42  safe.
    43    § 5. This act shall take effect immediately.
Go to top