Assemblyman Steve Hawley (R,C,I-Batavia) joined his Assembly Minority colleagues in calling on Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie and associated committee leaders to provide them with copies of the required notices and justifications from the governor’s office regarding a modification to an executive order that mandates a 12 a.m. curfew on bars and restaurants, and why the curfew was simply pushed back an hour from 11 p.m. to 12 a.m. instead of being done away with entirely. Pursuant to Chapter 71 of the laws of 2021, the governor is now required to inform legislative leaders and relevant committee chairs of any extension, modification or alteration to existing executive orders related to the pandemic.

Hawley has been critical of this curfew for months, especially as similar restrictions were lifted on casinos, theaters and gyms. The curfew has been in effect in some form since mid-November of last year and has placed great strain on family-owned businesses and small restaurants, forcing many of them to close on a temporary or permanent basis.

“Every day we wait to do away with this senseless curfew, the more real the fear of closure for restaurant owners becomes,” said Hawley. “It is ridiculous to think casinos can stay open all night while restaurants are forced to close, and I hope our legislative colleagues in the Majority will join us in standing with restaurant owners against this nonsensical and burdensome curfew. Many of the restaurants threatened by this mandate have been built and operated by several generations of family members and for us to let this mandate drive them out of business would be nothing short of tragic. COVID-19 doesn’t suddenly grow more aggressive after midnight, and it certainly isn’t more infectious in restaurants than it is in theaters and casinos.”