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