BILL NUMBER: AB 780	ENROLLED
	BILL TEXT

	PASSED THE SENATE  AUGUST 20, 2015
	PASSED THE ASSEMBLY  AUGUST 27, 2015
	AMENDED IN SENATE  JUNE 15, 2015
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  APRIL 8, 2015

INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Williams
   (Principal coauthor: Assembly Member Cooper)

                        FEBRUARY 25, 2015

   An act to amend Section 25500.1 of, and to repeal Section 25502.1
of, the Business and Professions Code, relating to alcoholic
beverages.



	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 780, 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 of a nonretail industry
member, as defined, in response to a direct inquiry from a consumer,
as specified, does not constitute a thing of value or prohibited
inducement, if certain 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. 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.
   This bill would broaden the exception for on-sale retailers
described above by removing the requirement that the listing be in
response to a direct inquiry and would include within the definition
of a nonretail industry member brandy manufacturers and rectifiers.
The bill would also permit the listing of contact information
pursuant to these provisions for off-sale retailers, make conforming
changes to reflect this inclusion, and delete provisions that would
be redundant regarding off-sale retailers, as described above.


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.
   (4) The listing is made, or produced, 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, brandy manufacturer, rectifier, 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.
   (c) The Legislature finds that it is necessary and proper to
require a separation among manufacturing interests, wholesale
interests, and retail interests in the production and distribution of
alcoholic beverages in order to prevent suppliers from dominating
local markets through vertical integration and to prevent excessive
sales of alcoholic beverages produced by overly aggressive marketing
techniques. The Legislature further finds that the exceptions
established by this section to the general prohibition against tied
interests shall be limited to their express terms so as not to
undermine the general prohibition, and intends that this section be
construed accordingly.
  SEC. 2.  Section 25502.1 of the Business and Professions Code is
repealed.