BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 143
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CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS
AB
143 (Wood)
As Amended June 15, 2015
Majority vote
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|ASSEMBLY: |77-0 |(May 7, 2015) |SENATE: |38-0 |(July 2, 2015) |
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Original Committee Reference: HEALTH
SUMMARY: Expands the types of pre-packaged foods a wine tasting
facility can offer while still being exempt from requirements
governing food facilities, providing parity between exemptions
that exist for beer tasting facilities and wine tasting
facilities. Contains other minor, noncontroversial changes to
code governing food safety.
The Senate amendments specify that the food offered in the
winery or brewery tasting room may be for general sale or for
onsite consumption.
FISCAL EFFECT: According to the Senate Appropriations
Committee, pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8, negligible state costs.
COMMENTS: According to the author, there are more than 3,500
wineries that operate in California. Most of these businesses
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are trying to find creative ways to attract new customers and
retain loyal ones. Currently, wineries can only serve crackers
to customers that come to taste wine. A winery must obtain a
local food permit to serve chips, pretzels, or anything else.
Additionally, wineries must obtain a food permit in order to
advertise and sell prepackaged foods. This bill allows wineries
to serve vacuum sealed prepackaged food in the tasting room and
permits wineries to have a food display of prepackaged foods
that does not exceed 25 square feet without needing a local food
permit. This bill would particularly benefit small wineries
throughout California. Many of these small wineries also sell
olive oil, preserves, honey or other prepackaged non-hazardous
items. In this highly competitive market place, this bill would
help wineries differentiate themselves by eliminating
unnecessary bureaucratic permits. The relief provided by this
bill would allow the selling of vacuumed sealed food products to
loyal consumers that want to clear their palettes between
tastings and take home a small gift, such as preserves.
In addition to the exemption for wineries, this bill contains
two provisions that were included at the request of the
California Retail Food Safety Coalition (CRFSC), which
represents a wide cross-section of organizations involved in
retail food safety, ranging from regulatory agencies to
restaurants and grocers. One of these provisions limits
community events to a maximum of 25 days in a 90-day period, for
purposes of temporary food facility requirements. In support of
this provision, the CRFSC states that when the current
California Retail Food Code was drafted, the time a temporary
food facility could operate was removed in anticipation that
local zoning codes would limit how long, and the frequency by
which, a community event could operate within a city. However,
some zoning departments have incurred significant budget and
staff deficits and are not regulating community events as they
once have, resulting in a lack of uniformity from jurisdiction
to jurisdiction. In addition, the structural and operations
requirements for a temporary food facility are consistent with
the transient nature of such an event. By adding back the time
into the definition, this provision establishes boundaries that
would preserve and define a community event.
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The second provision added at the request of the CRFSC clarifies
that for purposes of provisions of law requiring toilet
facilities to be available, that a food facility had to be in
continuous operation since January 1, 2004, in order to be
exempt from certain toilet availability requirements.
Currently, this provision is worded so that any building
constructed before January 1, 2004, is exempt from this
requirement, which could mean that a brand-new restaurant could
avoid being required to have toilet facilities if they are
located in a building built before January 1, 2004.
This bill is sponsored by the Wine Institute, which states in
support that under existing law, wineries do not needs a local
food facility permit as long as they only provide crackers and
bottled beverages like water to patrons. The Wine Institute
notes that legislation enacted last year expands this permit
exemption to breweries as long as they only serve pretzels in
addition to crackers and they have for sale prepackaged foods,
like olive oil and preserves, in a display area no greater than
25 square feet. Consistent with last year's law, this bill
would provide the same expanded exemption to wineries. Family
Winemakers of California (FWC) states in support that this bill
merely equalizes the treatment between beer tasting rooms and
wine tasting rooms. FWC states that sales of prepackaged food
also allow a person to pair food with wine.
There is no opposition to this bill.
Analysis Prepared by:
Dharia McGrew / HEALTH / (916) 319-2097 FN:
0001122
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