Tax credit eyed for craft beer breweries

ALBANY -- Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and legislative leaders announced Thursday that they had agreed on a package to help support craft beer breweries.

The legislation gives a tax credit to small batch breweries, which lost a tax exemption after an out-of-state brewer successfully challenged the exemption in court.

Sen. Lee Zeldin (R-Shirley), who sponsored the bill, said the tax credit will "assist an industry that has been investing in New York State, creating more and more jobs for New Yorkers and it needs our help."

The bill also would exempt breweries that produce small batches of beer from paying an annual State Liquor Authority fee, and would create a Farm Brewery license allowing craft brewers to expand operations by opening restaurants or selling new products.

Still in the works as the legislative session draws to a close next week is a bill to require schools to teach cardiopulmonary resuscitation. It passed the Senate, but has yet to pass the Assembly.

The bill's sponsor, Assemb. Harvey Weisenberg (D-Long Beach), said the state Education Department has objected to laws about what schools should teach, but he said he expects it to pass next week. "Every child is a potential life saver," Weisenberg said.

Laws that would address cyberbullying and require athletic coaches to report incidents of sexual abuse are still being negotiated, said Mike Whyland, spokesman for Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver (D-Manhattan).

Also under discussion is a bill that passed the Senate that would make viewing child pornography a crime. A state court ruled last month that laws against possessing child pornography did not apply to someone who looked at the images online, but did not download, store or print them.