Liquor license self-certification coming

From the Times Newsweekly:

The State Liquor Authority (SLA) has instituted a pilot self-certification program intended to help the agency sort through a backlog of applications. According to Community Board 6 District Manager Frank Gulluscio, who heard about the initiative in an information session held last week with new SLA Chairman Dennis Rosen, the program was initiated in September in response to a reduction in staffing, from 700 employees to about 150, that has caused the 3,000- application backlog.

As part of the new process, applicants and their attorneys are required to fill out a three-page form. The application does “not require full board determination,” meaning that it would not require a public hearing.

The form asks for assurances that the applicant’s paperwork is in order, that the location complies with state regulations, that the applicant is the owner of the business, that the local municipality (or in New York City’s case, the local community board) has endorsed the license, and that the applicant does not have a criminal record.

According to documentation on the SLA website, the program will be in effect until February 2010, at which point it will be re-evaluated.