N.Y. bill would force some Chick-fil-A locations to open on Sundays

If you’re craving a Chick-fil-A sandwich on a Sunday but … well, you know you can’t get one … New York state may be helping you out.

According to a CNN Newsource report Tuesday, a bill making its way through the New York State Assembly will require some Chick-fil-A restaurants to open Sundays, calling those closings “inappropriate” and a “disservice.”

The bill’s page at the Assembly website says it “requires that food services at transportation facilities and rest areas owned and operated by certain public authorities remain open seven days a week.”

The bill, cosponsored by Democratic Assembleywomen Jessica Gonzalez-Rojas, Anna R. Kelles and MaryJane Shimsky, covers contracts entered into by the New York State Thruway Authority.

“While there is nothing objectionable about a fast food restaurant closing on a particular day of the week, service areas dedicated to travelers is an inappropriate location for such a restaurant,” the bill writers state.

But “allowing for retail space to go unused one seventh of the week or more is a disservice and unnecessary inconvenience to travelers who rely on these service areas,” they add.

The bill’s page also specifies that it was prompted by Chick-fil-A’s policy of Sunday closures and notes that the chain has seven facilities already operating on the New York State Thruway.

The bill also would apply to facilities operated by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey once New Jersey passes such a bill. That authority operates all three of New York City area’s major airports, the World Trade Center site, the Port of Newark and numerous tunnels and crossings.

Closing on Sundays has been a Chick-fil-A practice since the first one opened in Georgia in 1946, though that was a normal practice at the time.