Can Rosen Get the Liquor Flowing in New York?

By Gamal Hennessy

Late last week a new chairman was selected to head the New York State Liquor Authority. The new appointment comes at a time when the agency is facing scandals and being criticism both inside and outside of government. Can the new Chairman turn the agency around or should the SLA be abolished altogether?

The State Liquor Authority regulates who gets to sell liquor in within the state. Every legal operator needs to obtain a license from the SLA before they can sell liquor to the public. However, many of the laws regulating liquor haven’t been changed since the 1920’s when Prohibition was part of the fabric of American society. To make matters worse, there is a severe backlog of pending applications. Operators waiting for a liquor license can wait up to 11 months to have their application processed, which means that they can lose money for most of they year waiting for a response from this agency.

The problems surrounding the SLA evolved into a scandal. Several individuals working in the New York Office of the SLA were charged with taking bribes to expedite certain applications. The fallout from this investigation led to Governor Paterson naming Dennis Rosen, a former New York State District Attorney, to head the SLA.

Mr. Rosen’s new job will not have a long honeymoon period. During his confirmation hearing, several state senators complained that the licensing process takes too long and hurts the state’s economy. One senator suggested that the SLA can’t be fixed and might need to be abolished. At the same time, Governor Paterson has signed an executive order calling for several agencies to review and modify “antiquated and burdensome regulations on businesses”. The SLA was one of the agencies named in that executive order. It appears that Mr. Rosen will be called upon to modify the Prohibition Era laws that govern the SLA and clear the backlog of applications or the whole agency might go down with him.

It is unclear at this stage how much change Mr. Rosen can bring to the SLA. It is a step in the right direction to give the new chairman a mandate to assist operators instead of hindering them. It is a step in the right direction to recognize that the Beverage Control Law needs to be brought into the 21st century. But, Governor Paterson is facing political struggles of his own and anti-nightlife factions haven’t openly commented to Rosen on their position. As members of the nightlife community we have both the ability and the right to support change in the SLA that matches the interests and needs of our culture.

Have fun.
Gamal