Rick Karlin writes in the Times Union - “Now that the budget is completed, Gov. David Paterson says he wants to focus on passing a property tax cap.

That item has passed with bipartisan support in the Senate on several occasions — including Tuesday’s climactic budget-closing session, in which Democrats and Republicans supported the measure 52-7.

But a cap on school and local property taxes is unlikely to get off the ground in the Assembly, where a critical mass of lawmakers hails from New York City — and where property taxes aren’t the overwhelming issue that they are in the suburbs.

On Wednesday morning, Paterson said he’ll call legislators back to Albany in October to vote on the tax cap.

“Even if the Legislature comes back in October and (the Assembly) refuses to put the property tax cap bill on the floor, I think the public has the right to know where everybody stands, even if they don’t stand at all,” Paterson said during a phone conference about completion of the approximately $136 billion budget.”

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Tell your representative that they should demand Speaker Silver respond to the pleas of homeowners across the state and support a property tax cap in New York. Click here.

New Yorkers for Economic Growth — a coalition of small businesses, grape growers, liquor store owners, wineries, consumers, and grocers — today unveiled a 30 second new TV ad entitled ‘Bulletin Board’ that takes the liquor industry to task for funneling hundreds of thousands to legislators, to oppose an overwhelmingly popular proposal. The ad was posted online today and may be aired on various New York TV markets in coming days.

The ad, which is also posted on the New Yorkers for Economic Growth and Open Markets YouTube page, will reach hundreds of thousands of email in boxes.

“New Yorkers of all stripes, regions, and parties overwhelmingly want wine to be sold in grocery stores, and this ad shows who is standing with them, and who is cowering to the big liquor lobby,” said Michael Rabinowitz, spokesman for New Yorkers for Economic Growth and Open Markets. “Selling wine in grocery stores is a common sense solution to New York’s budget woes, all without raising a single tax on hard working New Yorkers. It’s time legislators stood up on the side of regular New Yorkers and not the liquor lobby.”

Call your legislator TODAY at 1-800-610-6290 and ask them to side with New Yorkers, not the big liquor lobby, and pass the proposal to allow wine to be sold in grocery stores.

The ad may be viewed here.

Scott Osborn, the president of the New York Wine Industry Association and owner of Fox Run Vineyards in Penn Yan, writes in the Times Union about the need for the State Senate and Assembly to take action and allow the sale of wine in grocery stores.

“With the state Senate failing to vote on a revenue bill, and with budget negotiations at a standstill, it’s time for the Legislature to approve wine sales in grocery stores.

This common sense, popular proposal would create thousands of new jobs. It would bring $300 million in revenue at a time when the state is desperately looking for funds — without raising a single tax on a single New Yorker.

It’s pretty easy to see why nearly six in 10 New Yorkers of all political stripes, upstate and down, young and old, support selling wine in grocery stores, according to Siena Research Institute polls. In tough economic times, the new revenue means a lot for working New Yorkers, but the benefits don’t stop there.

For New York’s wine industry, there will be tremendous benefits. While New York usually ranks in the top four states by various wine industry measures, including the acreage of our vineyards, it is stuck at 11th in wine sales, according to a study by Wine & Vines, a leading industry trade magazine.

Many of the states ahead of New York in sales don’t produce the same amount of wine or grapes as New York does. But, according to the magazine “New York comes in at No. 11, probably because of the state’s unusually restrictive regulations, which prohibit wine sales in supermarkets.” It’s clear that New York’s Prohibition-era laws are slowly strangling our vineyards.”

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The New York Farm Bureau reports:  “New York’s continued ban on the sale of wine in grocery stores is having a dramatic impact on the sale of locally produced wine, knocking the state’s ranking of off-premise wine sales below Missouri, Indiana and North Carolina.

“These restrictive, prohibition era rules have succeeded in knocking our state’s wine and grape farmers to a laughable ranking in state-of-origin wine sales,” said Dean Norton, president of New York Farm Bureau.

“Without passage of the wine in grocery store provision, and expansion of outlets to sell our products, our family grape farmers will continue to fall in the rankings, hurting farms and causing a loss of jobs in the wine industry,” Norton said.

While New York still ranks high in grape production, the state is now 11th in sales of wine, according to scan data from tens of thousands of food and drug stores across the country published this month in Wine & Vines, a leading industry trade publication.

The publication’s recent ranking of wine-producing U.S. states in order of most off-premise sales put California, Washington and Oregon in the top three. All three of those states allow the sale of wine in grocery stores.

While New York State usually ranks in the top four by vineyard acreage and total wine production, New York was beat out in sales by North Carolina, Michigan, Indiana and Missouri, Ohio and Virginia.

“None of those states produces as much wine, or grows as many grapes, as our New York farmers, who in the past few years have had to truck grapes as far away as North and South Dakota, for other state’s winemakers to turn into wine,” said Julie Suarez, NYFB Director of Public Policy.

“New York comes in at No. 11, probably because of the state’s unusually restrictive regulations, which prohibit wine sales in supermarkets,” the magazine said.

New York Farm Bureau continues to press the legislature to support Governor Paterson’s proposal to allow the sale of wine in grocery stores, saying it would create jobs, boost the lagging rural economy and foster growth of the state’s family owned grape and wine farms.

If passed, New York Farm Bureau estimates that the measure would create approximately 19,202 new retail outlets for wine sales in the state.

Major grocery chains have pledged to make special promotional efforts of New York wines if the measure passes.

Authorizing New York’s farm wineries to be able to sell wine in grocery stores would also add an estimated $300 million to the state coffers through excise taxes.”

Emily Shearing writes in the Ithaca Journal - “Although it seemed the proposal to legalize the sale of wine in grocery stores had died along with Gov. David Paterson’s future as governor of New York, proponents are still working hard to keep the legislation alive.

These supporters seem to be pushing harder than ever to keep interest in the Wine Industry and Liquor Store Revitalization Act alive. Proponents have held a number of events, including a news conference last month. More groups have continued to voice their support of the proposal, including Scenic Hudson and American Farmland Trust, two groups committed to preserving New York’s farmland, which announced their support last week.”

To read more click here.

The proposal would allow grocers and convenience stores to carry wine in exchange for paying a franchise fee that would be scaled to the size of the retailer. Not only would the measure generate an estimated $300 million in annual revenue for the state, proponents say it also could lead to the creation of thousands of jobs and increase sales of New York wines. Paterson has proposed the legislation as part of the state budget for two years in a row.

Angela Logomasini, a policy researcher at the Competitive Enterprise Institute and wine blogger for Winepolicy.com and WeeklyWinePick.com writes in the New York Post .

“New York liquor retailers oppose Gov. Pater son’s proposal to let supermarkets sell wine — but it would be a clear winner for everyone else. Indeed, when it comes to the value of more liberal laws on wine sales, New York could learn a lot from Virginia.

The opposition lobby calls itself The Last Store on Main Street — but it barely hides the fact that it just wants to keep its monopoly. At a recent rally of the group, Gregory Gorea of West Seneca Wine and Liquor explained: “We don’t need to be on a more level playing field.”

“Competition,” he says, “would be bad for small business, including state wineries.” The Last Store on Main Street makes a host of other foolish arguments, including claims that competition will hurt small businesses and place 4,500 jobs at risk.

State wineries would be hurt by more opportunities to market their products? That’s absurd. In fact, the New York Wine Industry Association — whose membership includes wineries — strongly supports the governor’s proposal.”

To read more click here.

Joseph Spector reports on pressconnects.com - “Gov. David Paterson hasn’t put the cork in his proposal to allow groceries to sell wine and is instead offering a new medallion system to lure support from liquor stores.

But a leading group representing liquor-store owners quickly put the idea on ice Tuesday, saying allowing big groceries to sell wine would put them out of business.

Paterson made the pitch in a letter to liquor stores last weekend, offering to allow them two medallions per store that they could sell to groceries. Supermarkets would need to purchase the medallions from the liquor stores to sell wine for the next three years. The sale price would be negotiated.

“I have listened to your concerns and carefully considered your ideas,” Paterson wrote. “The medallion concept is an innovative addition that will provide you with a real economic benefit.”

For the past two years Paterson has sought a law to allow groceries to sell wine, both as a way to raise state revenue and, he argues, to help New York wineries sell their products in more places. Thirty-five states allow supermarkets to sell wine.

This year, Paterson has included a one-time franchise fee that groceries would have to pay to get a license to sell wine. The franchise fee would bring in about $300 million to the state over two years, state officials estimate.

Liquor stores would be allowed to sell other products to help their businesses.”

To read more click here.

Bill best handled separately from current budget pressures

From the pressconnects.com comment page.

“Gov. Paterson’s push for wine sales in grocery stores has hit a wall, having been nixed by the Assembly and Senate. Even by tying the proposal to an estimated $300 million revenue bonanza, Paterson and grocery store-sales proponents have been unsuccessful again in getting this through the Legislature.

But the concept, first introduced nearly 30 years ago, shouldn’t be sent away to become legislative landfill. Instead the Wine Industry and Liquor Store Revitalization Act deserves more study, discussion and deliberation, separate from the desperation of the current budget process to which the bill has been linked. After all, 35 other states in the nation allow wine sales of one sort or another in outlets other than liquor stores. If they have managed it, why can’t New York?”

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Ben O’Donnell writes on WineSpector.com - “In an in-depth investigation, Wine Spectator has discovered that the biggest winners may be the legislators themselves, who have collected campaign contributions from the various parties, and the lobbyists paid to woo those legislators. While contribution figures are not yet available for 2010, a look at the donations during last year’s debate is revealing. Campaign finance records show that in 2009, the leading opponents of the Paterson proposal, liquor stores and their trade interest groups, donated almost $415,000 to state politicians, political action committees (PACs) and party committees. Large spirits conglomerates and wine companies also made generous contributions.”

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Tom Precious of the Buffalo News writes - “Assembly Democrats today are proposing up to $2 billion in borrowing to help close the state’s $9.2 billion budget deficit, while also restoring about $600 million in cuts to public schools that Gov. David A. Paterson said were necessary to stabilize the state’s finances.

Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, D-Manhattan, said the borrowing would help pay state operating costs—a move derided by fiscal watchdogs as irresponsible. The Assembly plan calls for about $800 million in school aid cuts, compared with the $1.4 billion proposed by Paterson.

The Assembly’s budget proposal, like the State Senate’s, also would reject Paterson’s plans to permit wine sales in grocery stores and impose a new tax on sugar-flavored beverages, such as sodas. The Assembly, though, was expected to embrace a $1-per-pack increase in the cigarette tax.

Release of the Assembly plan is likely to do little to ensure an on-time budget before the 2010-11 fiscal year begins April 1. Lawmakers are to leave here Friday for an 11-day break for religious holidays.”

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