Current Legislative Priorities
- Maintaining The Tip Credit – The tip credit is a valuable economic tool for many of our members that helps with labor costs, at no detriment to tipped employees. We will always be front and center on this fight and will continue our full support of this important credit.
- Interchange Fee Legislation – One of our top priorities for next year is to continue to advance legislation that limits the scope of interchange fees charged by banks and their networks. If passed this would substantially decrease costs in an area that has dramatically increased over the last few years.
- Alcohol Reform – The Association has seen success in this area recently, but our work is far from done. We will continue to support legislative measures to even the playing field between operators and wholesalers, as well as modernize many of the archaic alcoholic beverage control regulations.
- Preventing Environmental Overreach – Since enacting the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA), New York has seen a wave of environmental legislation. While well-intentioned, these bills often fail to consider the impact on the small business community. We will continue to advocate for the business community, ensuring the legislature understands the real-world consequences.
Recent Legislative Wins
- Unemployment Insurance Repayment – The NYS Restaurant Association was proudly part of a coalition that worked since the pandemic in encouraging the legislature to fill in our unemployment insurance deficit. This year we got this over the finish line and our members should see significant decreases in their unemployment insurance costs.
- Retail to Retail Alcohol Sales – Another win that we saw this year was the legalization of retail-to-retail alcohol sales in limited quantities. We have heard from a number of our members throughout the years that they wish they could legally purchase alcohol from liquor stores for their establishments. That wish is now a reality.
- Drinks To-go – Another alcohol reform that was win for our industry was the legalization of drinks to go. Restaurants and bars now have an additional revenue stream that previously did not exist.
- Restaurant Reservation Anti-piracy Act – This issue came directly from our members. An uptick in reservation no shows led to the discovery that 3rd party websites were selling restaurant reservations that they used bots to obtain without the knowledge of the restaurant. This led to a significant decrease in diners and was something that we felt needed to be addressed as this technology continues to become more prevalent.