Amended in Senate June 15, 2015

Amended in Assembly April 8, 2015

California Legislature—2015–16 Regular Session

Assembly BillNo. 780


Introduced by Assembly Member Williams

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(Principal coauthor: Assembly Member Cooper)

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February 25, 2015


An act to amend Section 25500.1 ofbegin insert, and to repeal Section 25502.1 of,end insert 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 distilledbegin delete spirits, as specified,end deletebegin insert spirits of a nonretail industry member, as defined,end insert in response to a direct inquiry from a consumer, as specified, does not constitute a thing of value or prohibited inducement, ifbegin delete specifiedend deletebegin insert certainend insert 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.begin insert The act creates a parallel exception from the general prohibition on furnishing or lending money or things of value for off-sale retailers, except that it does not reference other electronic media.end insert

This bill would broaden the exceptionbegin insert for on-sale retailersend insert described above by removing the requirement that the listing be in response to a directbegin delete inquiry, as specified.end deletebegin insert inquiry and would include within the definition of a nonretail industry member brandy manufacturers and rectifiers.end insert The bill would also permit the listing of contact informationbegin insert pursuant to these provisionsend insert for off-salebegin delete retailers and wouldend deletebegin insert retailers,end insert make conforming changes to reflect thisbegin delete inclusion.end deletebegin insert inclusion, and delete provisions that would be redundant regarding off-sale retailers, as described above.end insert

Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no.

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

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SECTION 1.  

Section 25500.1 of the Business and Professions
2Code
is amended to read:

3

25500.1.  

(a) The listing of the names, addresses, telephone
4numbers, email addresses, or Internet Web site addresses, or other
5electronic media, of two or more unaffiliated on-sale or off-sale
6retailers selling beer, wine, or distilled spirits produced, distributed,
7or imported by a nonretail industry member does not constitute a
8thing of value or prohibited inducement to the listed on-sale or
9off-sale retailer, provided all of the following conditions are met:

10(1) The listing does not also contain the retail price of the
11product.

12(2) The listing is the only reference to the on-sale or off-sale
13retailers in the direct communication.

14(3) The listing does not refer only to one on-sale or off-sale
15retailer or only to on-sale or off-sale retail establishments controlled
16directly or indirectly by the same retailer.

17(4) The listing is made, or produced, or paid for, exclusively by
18the nonretail industry member.

19(b) For the purposes of this section, “nonretail industry member”
20is defined as a manufacturer, including, but not limited to, a beer
21manufacturer, winegrower,begin insert brandy manufacturer, rectifier,end insert or
22distiller of alcoholic beverages or an agent of that entity, or a
P3    1wholesaler, regardless of any other licenses held directly or
2indirectly by that person.

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3(c) The Legislature finds that it is necessary and proper to
4require a separation among manufacturing interests, wholesale
5interests, and retail interests in the production and distribution of
6alcoholic beverages in order to prevent suppliers from dominating
7local markets through vertical integration and to prevent excessive
8sales of alcoholic beverages produced by overly aggressive
9marketing techniques. The Legislature further finds that the
10exceptions established by this section to the general prohibition
11against tied interests shall be limited to their express terms so as
12not to undermine the general prohibition, and intends that this
13section be construed accordingly.

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14begin insert

begin insertSEC. 2.end insert  

end insert

begin insertSection 25502.1 of the end insertbegin insertBusiness and Professions Codeend insert
15begin insert is repealed.end insert

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16

25502.1.  

(a) Notwithstanding Section 25502, the listing of the
17names, addresses, telephone numbers, e-mail addresses, or Internet
18Web site addresses, of two or more unaffiliated off-sale retailers
19selling the products produced, distributed or imported by a nonretail
20industry member in response to a direct inquiry from a consumer
21received by telephone, by mail, by electronic inquiry or in person
22does not constitute a thing of value or prohibited inducement to
23the listed off-sale retailer, provided all of the following conditions
24are met:

25(1) The listing does not also contain the retail price of the
26product.

27(2) The listing is the only reference to the off-sale retailers in
28the direct communication.

29(3) The listing does not refer only to one off-sale retailer or only
30to off-sale retail establishments controlled directly or indirectly
31by the same off-sale retailer.

32(4) The listing is made by, or produced by, or paid for,
33exclusively by the nonretail industry member making the response.

34(b) For the purposes of this section, “nonretail industry member”
35is defined as a manufacturer, including, but not limited to, a beer
36manufacturer, winegrower, or distiller of alcoholic beverages, or
37an agent of those entities, or a wholesaler, regardless of any other
38licenses held directly or indirectly by that person.

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