BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 2121
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ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AB
2121 (Gonzalez)
As Amended May 31, 2016
Majority vote
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|Committee |Votes|Ayes |Noes |
| | | | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
|----------------+-----+----------------------+--------------------|
|Governmental |18-0 |Gray, Alejo, Bonta, | |
|Organization | |Campos, Cooley, | |
| | |Cooper, Daly, | |
| | |Gallagher, Cristina | |
| | |Garcia, Eduardo | |
| | |Garcia, Gipson, | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
| | |Roger Hernández, | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
| | |Jones-Sawyer, Levine, | |
| | |Maienschein, Salas, | |
| | |Waldron, Wilk | |
| | | | |
|----------------+-----+----------------------+--------------------|
|Appropriations |14-4 |Gonzalez, Bloom, |Gallagher, Jones, |
| | |Bonilla, Bonta, |Obernolte, Wagner |
| | |Calderon, Daly, | |
| | |Eggman, Eduardo | |
AB 2121
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| | |Garcia, Roger | |
| | |Hernández, Holden, | |
| | |Quirk, Santiago, | |
| | |Weber, Wood | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
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SUMMARY: This bill establishes the Responsible Beverage Service
(RBS) Training Program, beginning July 1, 2020. Specifically,
this bill:
1)Provides beginning July 1, 2020, an alcohol server shall
successfully complete a certified RBS training course within
three months of employment and every three years thereafter.
2)Provides a nonprofit organization that has obtained a
temporary daily on-sale license or a temporary daily on-sale
license from ABC shall designate a person or persons to
receive RBS training prior to the event and that designated
person or those designated persons shall remain on site for
the duration of the event.
3)Provides the licensee shall ensure that those persons required
to successfully complete a certified RBS training course do
so. A current certificate or card provided by any approved
training course provider shall be sufficient documentation of
successful completion and shall be accepted throughout the
state.
4)Specifies on or before January 1, 2020, Alcoholic Beverage
Control (ABC) shall establish a list, published on the
department's Internet Web site, of certified RBS training
courses that may be used to fulfill the requirements, as
defined.
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5)Provides a certified RBS training course shall consist of at
least four hours of instruction and cover certain information,
including the impact of alcohol on the body and state laws and
regulations related to alcoholic beverage control. The RBS
training course may be offered through a trainer-led class and
assessment or self-training and assessment.
6)Provides an RBS certificate or card shall be issued only upon
successful completion of a certified RBS training course and
assessment. A minimum score of 70% on the assessment shall be
required to successfully complete the course. A certified RBS
training course shall issue a certificate or card to
individuals who successfully complete a course. The
certificate or card shall be valid for three years from the
original date of issuance, regardless of whether the alcohol
server changes employers during that period.
7)Provides ABC may, by regulation, establish additional training
standards and curricula to be included in a certified RBS
training course.
8)Provides ABC shall establish minimum standards and promulgate
regulations for the training and scope of practice by January
1, 2018, for a person who sells or serves alcoholic beverages.
9)Requires at least one RBS course to be offered for less than
$15 and at least one RBS course to be offered in Spanish.
Provides ABC shall review a certified RBS training course at
least once every three years after the course is approved.
ABC may collect fees as part of the certification or
recertification process to cover the reasonable costs
associated with the certification and recertification of RBS
training courses.
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10)Specifies beginning January 1, 2019, ABC shall include
information on the RBS training course requirement, as
defined, including information on documentation requirements,
on the application for an authorized license and with the
license renewal notices sent to authorized licensees.
11)Provides beginning July 1, 2020, all authorized licensees
shall maintain, and provide upon request by ABC, all records
necessary to establish compliance, as specified.
12)Specifies beginning July 1, 2020, an authorized licensee, or
agent or employee of such licensee, who permits any alcoholic
beverage to be consumed by any person on the premises without
possessing a valid training certificate or card is guilty of a
misdemeanor.
13)Defines "Alcohol server" means a person who sells or serves
alcoholic beverages, or a person who manages or supervises a
person who sells or serves alcoholic beverages, including the
onsite establishment owner of a licensed facility, for
consumption on the premises of a licensed facility that
includes, but is not limited to, one-day events, fairs,
festivals, sporting events, and other special events.
EXISTING LAW:
1)The Alcoholic Beverage Control Act, administered by ABC,
regulates the granting of licenses for the manufacture,
distribution, and sale of alcoholic beverages within the
state.
2)Defines an "On-sale" license as authorizing the sale of all
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types of alcoholic beverages namely, beer, wine and distilled
spirits, for consumption on the premises (such as at a
restaurant or bar).
3)Provides that every person who sells, furnishes, gives, or
causes to be sold, furnished, or given away, any alcoholic
beverage to any habitual or common drunkard or to any
obviously intoxicated person is guilty of a misdemeanor.
4)States no person who sells, furnishes, gives, or causes to be
sold, furnished, or given away, any alcoholic beverage shall
be civilly liable to any injured person or the estate of such
person for injuries inflicted on that person as a result of
intoxication by the consumer of such alcoholic beverage.
5)Allows ABC to issue licenses and authorizations for the retail
sale of beer, wine and distilled spirits on a temporary basis
for special events (Special Daily Beer and/or Wine License,
Daily On Sale General License).
6)States a cause of action may be brought by or on behalf of any
person who has suffered injury or death against any person
licensed, or required to be licensed, as specified, or any
person authorized by the federal government to sell alcoholic
beverages on a military base or other federal enclave, who
sells, furnishes, gives or causes to be sold, furnished or
given away any alcoholic beverage, and any other person who
sells, or causes to be sold, any alcoholic beverage, to any
obviously intoxicated minor where the furnishing, sale or
giving of that beverage to the minor is the proximate cause of
the personal injury or death sustained by that person.
FISCAL EFFECT: According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee: 1) Moderate costs to ABC in the range of $250,000
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annually in the first three years of the program to develop,
evaluate, and implement this program. This includes two
additional positions to assist with the rulemaking process as
well as the additional overhead required to accommodate
additional certification processes (Alcohol Beverage Control
Fund); and 2) ABC will continue to incur additional costs to
maintain the program and review courses, but those costs are
expected to decrease over time. Moreover, ABC may require a fee
for certification and recertification, helping offset costs.
Purpose of the bill: According to the information provided by
the author, the Licensee Education on Alcohol and Drugs (LEAD)
program and RBS are not required in California, meaning many
bartenders and servers are not prepared to recognize patrons who
have been over-served and to safely intervene to prevent
tragedy. Excessive alcohol consumption can impair an
individual's mental and physical abilities, which creates a
public safety risk when an individual operates a motor vehicle
while intoxicated. When individuals drive under the influence,
it not only puts the driver at risk -- it threatens the lives of
passengers and all others who share the road. The social cost
is clear, as drunk driving causes the deaths of 10,000 of our
loved ones every year.
The author states by requiring a beverage server be trained to
intervene before patrons become over-served alcohol can play an
important role in ensuring that the public is protected. This
bill can follow the lead of 18 other states and the District of
Columbia by making this training a requirement of those serving
alcoholic beverages to patrons.
The author additionally notes according to "the National Highway
Traffic Safety Administration, more than 10,000 people die on
our streets every year - the equivalent of one fatality every 51
minutes due to drunk driving. While we cannot entirely stop
every individual from making bad decisions that put innocent
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people at risk, we do have a responsibility to intervene when we
can."
The author notes, "While law enforcement does its best with
checkpoints and other enforcement, these approaches only help
after someone has already made the choice to get behind the
wheel when they should not. Bottom line, this is not good
enough. By establishing a uniform, standard education
requirement for all servers, California can improve the
likelihood that a server will intervene upfront before a patron
become a danger or commit a crime. And that saves lives."
The author contends this bill "will ensure that all servers
learn the necessary skills to protect the patron, public, server
and business. We know drunk driving ruins lives and kills too
many innocent people. That is why we need to make sure those on
the front line are equipped to help."
Background: RBS is not mandatory in California. However, some
cities and counties do require RBS training to sell or serve
alcoholic beverages at establishments within those
jurisdictions. For instance, the City of Solana Beach requires
training within 30 days of being hired - certification is valid
for three years. The City of Berkeley requires training within
90 days of being hired - certification is valid for two years.
The City of Rohnert Park mandates training within 60 days of
being hired. The City of Petaluma requires training within 90
days of being hired - certification is valid for three years.
ABC offers a free and voluntary four-hour class, called Licensee
Education on Alcohol and Drugs, or LEAD, for retail licensees,
their employees and applicants. In 1991, the program began due
to a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety. The
LEAD Program provides the licensee and applicant with practical
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information on serving alcoholic beverages safely, responsibly,
and legally, and preventing illicit drug activity at the
licensed establishment. At the conclusion of the class, an exam
is given on the material that was covered. Each person that
fulfills all of the training requirements receives a
certificate, via email, certifying that they successfully
completed a LEAD training course.
The LEAD Program is one of several training programs that offer
responsible beverage service training. ABC provides a list of
other RBS training providers on its web site. ABC encourages
its licensees to participate in these classes as a means to
minimize the risk of liability for criminal, civil and ABC
regulatory actions, to potentially lower liability insurance
premiums, and to develop strategies for addressing challenging
situations associated with the sale of alcohol. ABC does not
offer the LEAD Program in languages other than English.
California Dram Shop Law: Under current state law, owners of
bars, restaurants and liquor stores can face criminal
misdemeanor charges (which carry penalties of six to 12 months
in county jail, a minimum $1,000 fine, or both) and be held
liable for civil damages to an injured third party where such
owners serve a minor who is visibly intoxicated. A vendor who
provides alcohol to a person 21 years of age or older cannot be
held liable for damages if the person then injures someone else,
even if the person was obviously intoxicated at the time. The
law states that the consumption of alcohol, not the furnishing
of the beverages, is the proximate cause of injuries that an
intoxicated person inflicts on another individual, a position
that largely eliminates dram shop liability.
In Support: According to the Federal Centers for Disease
Prevention and Control, representing local health departments
throughout our state, "Excessive alcohol use can lead to
increased risk of health problems including injuries, violence,
liver disease, and cancer. AB 2121 seeks to mitigate these risks
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by requiring responsible beverage service training programs.
These training programs would educate servers on the impact of
alcohol, current laws and regulations, and intervention
techniques to prevent sales to underage and intoxicated persons.
Local health departments support efforts that promote public
health of our communities and reduce the risks associated with
alcoholic beverage consumption."
According to the California Medical Association, binge drinking,
defined as consuming five or more drinks for men and four or
more drinks for women, is strongly associated with
alcohol-impaired driving. An analysis of the Behavioral Risk
Factors Surveillance System survey found that over 10% of binge
drinkers drove during or within two hours of binge drinking. Of
those, over 50% reported that they had been drinking at a
licensed establishment. RBS training provides bartenders and
servers with tools to effectively identify when a patron has had
too much to drink, and how to safely intervene if the patron
attempts to get into their car. RBS has been found to increase
appropriate server practices, increase refusal to serve
obviously intoxicated patrons, and decrease the percentage of
intoxicated patrons leaving an establishment. Three years after
Oregon mandated responsible beverage service training, fatal
single vehicle nighttime crashes decreased by an estimated 23%.
Analysis Prepared by:
Eric Johnson / G.O. / (916) 319-2531 FN:
0003386
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