BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



                                                                     AB 780


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          Date of Hearing:  April 29, 2015


                        ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS


                                 Jimmy Gomez, Chair


          AB  
          780 (Williams) - As Amended April 8, 2015


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          Urgency:  No  State Mandated Local Program:  NoReimbursable:  No


          SUMMARY:


          This bill amends a provision in the Alcoholic Beverage Control  
          Act that authorizes the dissemination of information regarding  
          retail availability of alcoholic products to remove the  
          requirement that the dissemination be in response to a direct  
          inquiry from a consumer, and broadens the provision to include  
          both on-sale and off-sale retailers.


          FISCAL EFFECT:


          Minor and absorbable enforcement costs to the Department of  








                                                                     AB 780


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          Alcoholic Beverage Control.


          COMMENTS:


          1)Purpose.  According to the author, this bill provides small  
            distillers, brewers, and wineries with an additional tool to  
            promote their businesses.  The author believes social media is  
            an important form of free communication, and should not be  
            subject to the traditional notion of advertising as a "gift"  
            under the current tied-house rules.  This bill eliminates the  
            requirement that the names, addresses, telephone numbers,  
            email addresses, or web information of two or more retailers  
            only be provided in response to a direct inquiry from a  
            consumer.


          2)Related Legislation.  AB 973 (Gray) of this legislative  
            session merges two provisions in the Alcoholic Beverage  
            Control Act that authorize the dissemination of information  
            regarding retail availability of alcoholic products, one which  
            pertains to on-sale retailers and one which pertains to  
            off-sale retailers.  This bill modifies the same code section,  
            is intended to achieve many of the same policy aims, and could  
            easily be incorporated into that bill.  The Committee may wish  
            to consider whether the Legislature requires two different  
            vehicles to make this minor code change.





          Analysis Prepared by:Joel Tashjian / APPR. / (916)  
          319-2081












                                                                     AB 780


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