State wineries and liquor merchants are launching a campaign to put a cork in legislation they claim would force them to jack up the costs of wine and spirits by $2 a bottle.
Lawmakers are considering two bills, known as “at rest” legislation, that would require state alcohol distributors to store their booze in New York warehouses at least 48 hours before delivery.
Many smaller distributors house their beverages at warehouses in New Jersey, where storage costs are 2¹/₂ times cheaper than they are for comparable space in New York.
Legislators argue the bills would bring warehouse stocking jobs to New York.
But wine merchants say the proposed law amounts to a warehouse tax that would force them to lay off workers and pass down $27 million in costs to consumers — about $1 to $2 per bottle of wine.
“I know we can’t survive this,” said Connie Oehmler, co-owner Verity Wine Partners and a member of the stopthecorktax.com coalition.
She estimates that she would lose 45 jobs created after the 2009 recession.
“It’s so disheartening, it makes me absolutely devastated,” she said.
Oehmler and other small wine and liquor merchants hope to counteract the lobbying efforts of their larger competitors, Empire Merchants and Southern Wine & Spirits, who they say have kept the measures alive in Albany.
Empire and its subsidiaries have steered $797,850 in campaign contributions to state lawmakers, including $183,400 to Gov. Cuomo’s campaign committee, since 2009. Southern Wine & Spirits has spread $106,856 among campaign committees over the same period.
An Empire spokesman said the company is not taking a position on the “at rest” bill and does not plan to lobby for its passage.
Distributors launched their “at rest” campaign just as Cuomo touted a 72 percent increase in farm-based beverage licenses for distilleries and wineries in New York state since 2011.
A spokesman for the governor said that the Empire State Development agency is reviewing the legislation.