BILL ANALYSIS Ó AB 1670 Page 1 Date of Hearing: April 20, 2016 ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS Lorena Gonzalez, Chair AB 1670 (Dodd) - As Introduced January 15, 2016 ----------------------------------------------------------------- |Policy | Governmental Organization |Vote:| 17 - 0 | |Committee: | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |-------------+-------------------------------+-----+-------------| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: YesReimbursable: No SUMMARY: This bill authorizes the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) to issue additional on-sale general licenses within Napa County. Specifically, this bill: AB 1670 Page 2 1)Allows for a maximum of 25 new original on-sale general licenses, within Napa County, over a five-year period starting on January 1, 2017, for bona fide public eating places with a seating capacity of 25 or more. 2)Authorizes ABC to issue a special on-sale general license to the operator of any for-profit theater located within Napa County with theatrical seating of at least 800 seats and primarily devoted to live theatrical performances under certain conditions. FISCAL EFFECT: Any additional licensing and oversight costs for ABC associated with this legislation will be minor and absorbable. COMMENTS: 1)Purpose and background: On-sale general licenses. According to the author, Napa County has become immensely popular over the past few years as a tourist destination. Each year, millions of people visit Napa due to its international reputation for producing fine wines. However, existing ABC regulations that allocate certain alcohol licenses based on county population limit Napa's ability to offer tourists additional restaurant options. In August 2015, Napa was granted one new off-sale license and no new on-sale licenses. AB 2266 (Evans), Chapter 130, Statutes of 2008, authorized ABC to issue a maximum of 15 new original on-sale general AB 1670 Page 3 licenses, over a three-year period, for bona fide public eating-places in the county of Napa. 2)Purpose and background: Special on-sale general license for theaters. According to the author, authorizing ABC to issue a special on-sale general license to a for-profit theater offering live performance would provide a boost to a local business facing increasing hardships with the expansion of online media streaming. Currently, the Uptown Theater in downtown Napa is the only theater that meets the requirements defined in this bill. The theater hosts a variety of live music and comedy shows. The author argues that that the ability to serve alcohol could offer financial relief to the theater industry. AB 1670 follows the footsteps of AB 525 (Ting), Chapter 235, Statutes of 2013, which issued a similar type of exemption for to any for-profit theater in San Francisco that was devoted to live theatrical performance and had at least 1,000 seats. 3)Other related legislation. In addition to the related bills described above, a number of recent bills have created specific license exemptions for individual counties. Those bills are: a) AB 461 (Achadjian), Chapter 110, Statutes of 2013: Authorized ABC to issue no more five new original on-sale general licenses, over a three-year period, for bona fide public eating places in San Luis Obispo County. b) AB 1320 (Allen), Chapter 467, Statutes of 2012: Authorized ABC to issue no more 15 new original on-sale general licenses, over a three-year period, for bona fide public eating places in Marin County. AB 1670 Page 4 c) SB 762 (Cox), Chapter 193, Statutes of 2007: Authorized ABC to issue 10 new original on-sale general licenses for bona fide public eating places in Mono County. Moreover, AB 1558 (Mathis) of 2016, which passed the Assembly Governmental Organization Committee on April 6, 2016, would allow 5 new on-sale general licenses, over a 2-year period, for bona fide public eating places public premises, or both, in Inyo County. This bill is also on calendar today. Analysis Prepared by:Luke Reidenbach / APPR. / (916) 319-2081