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A post-Prohibition law allowing some New York towns to keep their bans on alcohol sales could soon be a policy of the past, depending on the outcome of a bill moving through the state legislature.
Assembly bill A9071 would prohibit local communities from enacting any policy that bans the sale of alcohol within the entire municipality, effectively reversing existing total bans that some businesses say hinder their popularity.
“This ain’t the Prohibition era any longer. We live in New York in 2024, and this thing is kind of silly,” state Sen. James Skoufis said, per a local report.
New York’s post-Prohibition law allowed some communities to keep alcohol bans in effect. (iStock)
Skoufis, a Democrat sponsoring the bill, chairs a committee that state alcohol laws commonly pass through, the outlet explained.
On the opposite side of the aisle, Republican Sen. George Borrello insisted Democrats are focusing on “meaningless issues,” and are avoiding more pressing topics like “crime, affordability and migrants,” The New York Post reported.
He also insisted there are other, better ways to improve local economies than rescinding local alcohol policies.
Total bans currently extend to seven communities in the Empire State, and the push to introduce booze to these communities has had divided reception outside the legislature.
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New York state officials are weighing a bill that could make a post-Prohibition bill a thing of the past by requiring dry communities to sell alcohol. (Fox News)
Restaurant manager Brittany Gerould welcomes the possibility of change, saying it could gin up business that she told local news has suffered under current policy.
“We try to do wing nights, but of course we can’t have alcohol. We aren’t even open on Saturday nights because they were such a miss,” she said.
Philip Stockin, deputy town supervisor of Caneadea, New York, one of the areas that would be affected by the change, insists local control is the best approach, emphasizing alcohol abuse concerns.
VideoAlcohol restrictions have been commonplace across the nation throughout time, with some areas banning or setting timeframes to sell liquor on Sundays, putting restrictions in place for alcohol sales on holidays or regulating when and where people can drink.
Taylor Penley is an associate editor with Fox News.
