BILL NUMBER: AB 780	AMENDED
	BILL TEXT

	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  APRIL 8, 2015

INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Williams

                        FEBRUARY 25, 2015

   An act to amend Section 25500.1 of the Business and Professions
Code, relating to alcoholic beverages.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 780, as amended, Williams. Alcoholic beverages: tied-house
restrictions: on-sale retailers advertising.
   The Alcoholic Beverage Control Act generally prohibits a
manufacturer, winegrower, manufacturer's agent, California winegrower'
s agent, rectifier, distiller, bottler, importer, or wholesaler from
furnishing or lending money or other thing of value to a person
engaged in operating, owning, or maintaining an on-sale licensed
premises. The act provides that the listing of the names, addresses,
telephone numbers, email addresses, Internet Web site addresses, or
other electronic media, of 2 or more unaffiliated on-sale retailers
selling beer, wine, or distilled spirits, as specified, in response
to a direct inquiry from a consumer, as specified, does not
constitute a thing of value or prohibited inducement, if specified
conditions are met. The act includes among those conditions the
requirement that the listing not refer to only one on-sale retailer
or only to on-sale retail establishments controlled by the same
retailer.
   This bill would broaden the exception described above by removing
the requirement that the listing  refer to two or more
unaffiliated retailers or  be in response to a direct
inquiry, as specified.  The bill would also remove the
condition that the listing not refer to only one on-sale retailer or
only to on-sale retail establishments controlled by the same
retailer.   The bill would also permit the listing of
contact information for off-sale retailers and would make conforming
changes to reflect this inclusion. 
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  Section 25500.1 of the Business and Professions Code is
amended to read:
   25500.1.  (a) The listing of the names, addresses, telephone
numbers, email addresses, or Internet Web site addresses, or other
electronic media, of  two or more unaffiliated  on-sale 
or off-sale  retailers selling beer, wine, or distilled spirits
produced, distributed, or imported by a nonretail industry member
does not constitute a thing of value or prohibited inducement to the
listed on-sale  or off-sale  retailer, provided all of the
following conditions are met:
   (1) The listing does not also contain the retail price of the
product.
   (2) The listing is the only reference to the on-sale  or
off-sale  retailers in the direct communication. 
   (3) The listing does not refer only to one on-sale or off-sale
retailer or only to on-sale or off-sale retail establishments
controlled directly or indirectly by the same retailer. 

   (3) 
    (4)  The listing is made  by  , or
produced by  , or paid for, exclusively by the
nonretail industry member.
   (b) For the purposes of this section, "nonretail industry member"
is defined as a manufacturer, including, but not limited to, a beer
manufacturer, winegrower, or distiller of alcoholic beverages or an
agent of that entity, or a wholesaler, regardless of any other
licenses held directly or indirectly by that person.