BILL ANALYSIS Ó AB 780 Page 1 Date of Hearing: April 29, 2015 ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS Jimmy Gomez, Chair AB 780 (Williams) - As Amended April 8, 2015 ----------------------------------------------------------------- |Policy |Governmental Organization |Vote:|20 - 0 | |Committee: | | | | | | | | | | | | | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- 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 Page 2 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 Page 3