BILL ANALYSIS
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CONSENT
Bill No: AB 1896
Author: Jeffries (R)
Amended: 5/28/10 in Assembly
Vote: 21
SENATE GOVERNMENTAL ORG. COMMITTEE : 8-0, 6/29/10
AYES: Wright, Harman, Calderon, Florez, Negrete McLeod,
Padilla, Price, Yee
NO VOTE RECORDED: Denham, Oropeza, Wyland
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : Senate Rule 28.8
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 75-0, 6/2/10 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Alcoholic beverage control: proof of age
SOURCE : Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control
DIGEST : This bill recasts a section of the Alcoholic
Beverage Control Act related to proof-of-age and identity
to purchase alcoholic beverages, in order to provide
clarity.
ANALYSIS : Existing law establishes the Department of
Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) and grants it exclusive
authority to administer the provisions of the ABC Act in
accordance with laws enacted by the Legislature.
Existing law makes it a misdemeanor for any person under
the age of 21 years to purchase any alcoholic beverage or
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consume any alcoholic beverage in any on-sale premises.
Existing law also subjects a holder of a license to sell
alcoholic beverages to criminal prosecution and suspension
or revocation of that license if the licensee sells any
alcoholic beverages to any person under the age of 21
years.
Existing law provides that a licensee's acceptance of bona
fide evidence, as defined, constitutes a defense to any
action against the licensee. Existing law requires that
evidence to contain a description of the person.
Existing law includes, as bona fide evidence of age, a
military identification card issued to a member of the
Armed Forces that contains, among other things, a
description of the cardholder. Existing law also provides,
however, that, if the military identification card lacks a
physical description but does include date of birth and a
photo, further proof of age is not required.
Current Problem . AB 1191 (Conway), Chapter 142, Statutes
of 2009, authorizes U.S. and foreign passports to be used
as identification to purchase and consume alcoholic
beverages. While the stated intent of AB 1191 was to allow
passports to be considered acceptable forms of
identification, it also inadvertently removed the
requirement for other forms of bona fide identification to
contain the presenter's name, date of birth, description
and picture, and only required that they be issued by a
governmental organization. This significantly altered the
definition of bona fide evidence and left a military
identification card as the only document needing specific
features to be considered bona fide. These identifying
features aid the ABC and licensees in determining if
identification is real or fake.
AB 59 (Jeffries), Chapter 405, Statutes of 2009, deleted
the requirement that military identification used to
purchase or consume alcoholic beverages contain a physical
description. However, the language of Section 25660 of the
Business and Professions Code is now ambiguous.
Specifically, Subdivision (a) provides that military
identification must contain a physical description.
Subdivision (b) provides that military identification is
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not required to contain a physical description. If a
military identification card contains a physical
description, further proof of age may be required.
However, if a military identification card only contains a
date of birth and photo, further proof of age shall not be
required.
Comments
According to the sponsor of this measure, the Department of
ABC, this bill is simply intended to add clarity to Section
25660 of the Business and Professions Code relating to
"proof-of-age." This bill removes the ambiguity that
exists in current law and makes it easier for ABC and other
law enforcement agencies to enforce, and licensees and the
general public to understand the law.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: No
SUPPORT : (Verified 8/2/10)
Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control (source)
Family Winemakers of California
ASSEMBLY FLOOR :
AYES: Adams, Ammiano, Anderson, Arambula, Bass, Beall,
Bill Berryhill, Blakeslee, Block, Blumenfield, Bradford,
Brownley, Buchanan, Caballero, Charles Calderon, Carter,
Chesbro, Conway, Cook, Coto, Davis, De La Torre, De Leon,
DeVore, Emmerson, Eng, Evans, Feuer, Fletcher, Fong,
Fuentes, Fuller, Furutani, Gaines, Galgiani, Garrick,
Gilmore, Hagman, Hall, Harkey, Hayashi, Hernandez, Hill,
Huber, Huffman, Jeffries, Jones, Knight, Logue, Bonnie
Lowenthal, Ma, Mendoza, Monning, Nava, Nestande, Niello,
Nielsen, Norby, V. Manuel Perez, Portantino, Ruskin,
Salas, Saldana, Silva, Skinner, Smyth, Solorio, Swanson,
Torlakson, Torres, Torrico, Tran, Villines, Yamada, John
A. Perez
NO VOTE RECORDED: Tom Berryhill, Lieu, Miller, Audra
Strickland, Vacancy
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TSM:do 8/4/2010 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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