BILL ANALYSIS Ó ----------------------------------------------------------------- |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 1235| |Office of Senate Floor Analyses | | |1020 N Street, Suite 524 | | |(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | | |327-4478 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- UNFINISHED BUSINESS Bill No: SB 1235 Author: Knight (R) Amended: 8/19/14 Vote: 21 SENATE HEALTH COMMITTEE : 7-0, 4/30/14 AYES: Hernandez, Morrell, De León, DeSaulnier, Evans, Monning, Wolk NO VOTE RECORDED: Beall, Nielsen SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : Senate Rule 28.8 SENATE FLOOR : 36-0, 5/15/14 AYES: Anderson, Beall, Berryhill, Block, Cannella, Corbett, Correa, De León, DeSaulnier, Evans, Fuller, Gaines, Galgiani, Hancock, Hernandez, Hill, Hueso, Huff, Jackson, Knight, Lara, Leno, Lieu, Liu, Mitchell, Monning, Morrell, Nielsen, Padilla, Pavley, Roth, Steinberg, Torres, Vidak, Wolk, Wyland NO VOTE RECORDED: Calderon, Walters, Wright, Yee ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 79-0, 8/25/14 - See last page for vote SUBJECT : Prepackaged food SOURCE : Author DIGEST : This bill excludes from the definition of a food facility a premises set aside by a beer manufacturer for the purposes of beer tasting that offers crackers, pretzels, or prepackaged food for onsite consumption. CONTINUED SB 1235 Page 2 Assembly Amendments make specified facilities subject to various provisions of retail food code, limit display area to 25 square feet and add double-jointing language to avoid chaptering out issues with SB 170 (Wolk) and AB 1990 (Gordon). ANALYSIS : Existing law: 1.Establishes the California Retail Food Code (CalCode), which establishes health and sanitation standards for retail food facilities, as defined. Makes the Department of Public Health responsible for the adoption of regulations to implement and administer CalCode, and vests local enforcement agencies with primary responsibility for enforcement of CalCode. 2.Defines a food facility as an operation that stores, prepares, packages, serves, vends, or otherwise provides food for human consumption, on or off the premises, regardless of whether there is a charge, at the retail level. Food facilities include, but are not limited to, permanent and nonpermanent facilities, public and private school cafeterias, restricted food service facilities, licensed health care facilities, commissaries, mobile food facilities, mobile support units, temporary food facilities, vending machines, certified farmers' markets, as specified, and farm stands, as specified. 3.Exempts from the definition of a food facility and from the provisions of CalCode premises set aside for wine tasting, that comply with glassware cleaning provisions, regardless of whether there is a charge for the wine tasting, if no other beverage, except for bottles of wine and prepackaged nonpotentially hazardous beverages, is offered for sale for onsite consumption, and no food, except for crackers, is served. 4.Exempts from the definition of a food facility, and from the provisions of CalCode, premises set aside by a beer manufacturer, as defined, for the purposes of beer tasting, regardless of whether there is a charge for the beer tasting, if no other beverage, except for beer and prepackaged nonpotentially hazardous beverages, is offered for sale for onsite consumption, and no food, except for crackers or CONTINUED SB 1235 Page 3 pretzels, is served. This bill: 1.Excludes from the definition of a food facility a premises set aside by a beer manufacturer for the purposes of beer tasting that offers prepackaged food, pretzels, or crackers, for onsite consumption, provided the food display is no more the 25 square feet. 2.Makes specified facilities subject to some provisions of retail food code. 3.Contains double-jointing language to prevent chaptering out issues with SB 170 (Wolk) and AB 1990 (Gordon). Prior Legislation AB 1014 (Fletcher, Chapter 159, Statutes of 2011) exempts premises set aside by a beer manufacturer, as defined, for beer tasting, from the definition of a food facility, thereby, exempting beer tasting premises from the provisions of the CalCode. SB 241 (Runner, Chapter 571, Statutes of 2009) among other things, clarifies the exemption for premises set aside for wine tasting to apply regardless of whether there is a charge for the wine tasting. SB 144 (Runner, Chapter 23, Statutes of 2006) established the CalCode in order to create uniformity between California's retail food safety laws and those of other states, as well as to enhance food safety laws based on the best available science. AB 1778 (Areias, Chapter 1065, Statutes of 1985) excludes premises set aside for wine tasting if no other beverage, except for bottles of wine and prepackaged nonpotentially hazardous beverages, is offered for sale for onsite consumption and no food, except for crackers, is served, from the definition of a food facility. FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes Local: Yes CONTINUED SB 1235 Page 4 Negligible state fiscal effect. SUPPORT : (Verified 8/26/14) Bravery Brewing Company, LLC Craft Brewers Association ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : According to the author's office, brewery owners currently face obscure limitations within current Health and Safety Code as to food that can be sold for onsite consumption while patrons are beer tasting in their facilities. This bill is needed to further specify the prepackaged foods that are eligible to be sold in the tasting room. Existing law is ambiguous, and it is unclear why the law specifically spells out two food items, but fails to list a variety of prepackaged foods that are safe for onsite consumption. Allowing brewery tasting rooms to sell prepackaged foods other than crackers and pretzels gives businesses more flexibility and more service to offer to their faithful customers. Bravery Brewing Company (BBC) writes that this bill provides a win-win situation because it allows breweries to offer convenience to craft brewery patrons who wish to enjoy a snack, while also generating increased sales revenue for the brewery. BBC further states that existing law adds costly regulation expenses when breweries wish to sell prepackaged food items, yet not for prepackaged drink items, which there seems to be little difference between. ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 79-0, 8/25/14 AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Allen, Ammiano, Bigelow, Bloom, Bocanegra, Bonilla, Bonta, Bradford, Brown, Buchanan, Ian Calderon, Campos, Chau, Chávez, Chesbro, Conway, Cooley, Dababneh, Dahle, Daly, Dickinson, Donnelly, Eggman, Fong, Fox, Frazier, Beth Gaines, Garcia, Gatto, Gomez, Gonzalez, Gordon, Gorell, Gray, Grove, Hagman, Hall, Harkey, Roger Hernández, Holden, Jones, Jones-Sawyer, Levine, Linder, Logue, Lowenthal, Maienschein, Mansoor, Medina, Melendez, Mullin, Muratsuchi, Nazarian, Nestande, Olsen, Pan, Patterson, Perea, John A. Pérez, V. Manuel Pérez, Quirk, Quirk-Silva, Rendon, Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez, Salas, Skinner, Stone, Ting, Wagner, Waldron, Weber, Wieckowski, Wilk, Williams, Yamada, Atkins NO VOTE RECORDED: Vacancy CONTINUED SB 1235 Page 5 JL:k 8/26/14 Senate Floor Analyses SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE **** END **** CONTINUED