BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 525
Page 1
Date of Hearing: May 8, 2013
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Mike Gatto, Chair
AB 525 (Ting) - As Amended: May 1, 2013
Policy Committee: Governmental
Organization Vote: 17 - 0
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
Yes Reimbursable: No
SUMMARY
This bill permits the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control
(ABC) to issue a new special on-sale general license to the
operator of any for-profit theater located in the City and
County of San Francisco, configured with theatrical seating of
at least 1,000 seats and primarily devoted to live theatrical
performances, which would permit sales, service, and consumption
of alcoholic beverages in the lobbies and seating areas of the
theater at specified times. This bill specifically prohibits the
issuing of these new licenses to adult or sexually oriented
businesses, as defined in the Penal Code.
FISCAL EFFECT
Potential minor non-reimbursable local costs for investigation
and prosecution of violations, potentially offset by fine
revenue.
COMMENTS
1)Purpose . According to the author's office, the purpose of this
bill is to create a new general alcoholic beverage license
category that can accommodate the business goals of an
operator of for-profit theaters located in the City and County
of San Francisco.
The sponsor of the bill, Shorenstein, Hays, Nederlander
Company (SHN) states, the bill fixes a quirk in current law
that prevents their patrons from easily approaching service
bars to purchase alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages and
carrying those drinks elsewhere in the lobby or to their
AB 525
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seats. They note that this is problematic in their
historically renovated theaters that have limited lobby space.
SHN owns and operates the Curran, Golden Gate, and Orpheum
Theatres in San Francisco. The three theaters are run as
for-profit theaters and currently hold Type 48 ABC licenses
(On-Sale General for Public Premises), which are licenses
meant for over-21-only bars. Under the license, SHN is able
to serve beer, wine, and distilled spirits to their attendees.
However, under current license type, patrons must consume
their drinks in a segregated, partitioned-off space.
The author's states that this bill solves the problem by
allowing the issuance of a special on-sale general license
that would permit sales, service, and consumption of alcoholic
beverages in the lobbies and seating areas of the theater at
specified times. The author further states, AB 525 is a
narrowly crafted bill that will only apply to three historic
theatres in San Francisco.
2)Background . Existing law establishes various alcoholic
beverage license categories and a schedule of annual fees
charged to the licensees. Under the Alcoholic Beverage
Control Act, ABC may issue a special on-sale general license
to any nonprofit theater company that meets specified
requirements. Theater companies holding a license pursuant to
these provisions may only sell and serve alcoholic beverages
to ticketholders during, and two hours prior to and one hour
after, a bona fide theater performance of the company. There
are 70 Type 64 licenses in California for non-profit theater
companies who meet the specified requirements. This bill would
extend that privilege to three for-profit theaters in San
Francisco.
Analysis Prepared by : Julie Salley-Gray / APPR. / (916)
319-2081