By ADAM SICHKO
The Albany Business Review

The state Liquor Authority has eliminated its backlog of liquor-license applications for all of upstate New York, the agency's chairman testified on March 24.

The Liquor Authority, also called the SLA, has the power to issue, or deny, permits for restaurants, bars and other entities to sell alcohol. The SLA also has the legal ability to revoke or suspend permits, issue subpoenas and discipline license holders.

Businesses have long complained about the agency, which was the target of a scathing state report last year that said the agency was chronically understaffed, ineffective, and plagued by corruption.

As of October 2009, the SLA had more than 3,000 unprocessed liquor-license applications - a nine-month backlog. More than 1,000 untouched applications were from upstate.

On March 24, SLA Chairman Dennis Rosen testified to a state Senate committee that the upstate backlog had been wiped out. About 1,700 applications remain to be processed, all downstate - a 57 percent drop in six months.

"These delays, which should be considered unacceptable during good times, are simply intolerable, given the current economic climate," Rosen said.

Liquor-license applications upstate, if fully complete when submitted, are being reviewed within one month of their submission, as required by law, Rosen said.

A key change Rosen instituted: Allowing attorneys to certify, under penalty of perjury, that information on liquor-license applications is accurate.

Attorneys, if they choose this option, must answer two dozen questions. The work ranges from verifying from a company's bank statements to visiting an establishment to confirm that floor plans in the application are accurate.

Paul Sciocchetti of Sciocchetti & Associates in Latham said all of the applications he has certified for clients are being processed much faster than before.

"It's dramatically different. The process definitely works," Sciocchetti said.

Sciocchetti said he suspects one reason the SLA has been able to trim its backlog is that the volume of new applications is down, as a result of the recession.

At Sciocchetti's firm, for instance, the pace of new applications is no more than half of what it was two years ago. He said other attorneys who handle liquor-license applications are experiencing similar declines.

"The SLA was so far behind, it was out of control," Sciocchetti said. "Now, you just don't have that many people opening up restaurants and bars. Even last year, it wasn't that bad; the volume was still there."

Gov. David Paterson has ordered the SLA to eliminate all of its backlog by October 2010, a deadline Rosen said he's willing to "live or die with."