BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATION
Senator Isadore Hall, III
Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular
Bill No: SB 325 Hearing Date: 4/14/2015
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|Author: |Hall |
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|Version: |3/26/2015 |
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|Urgency: |No |Fiscal: |Yes |
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|Consultant:|Arthur Terzakis |
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SUBJECT: Alcoholic beverages
DIGEST: This bill modifies an existing Alcoholic Beverage
Control (ABC) Act provision that requires the Department of ABC,
on or before March 1 of each year, to produce a specified annual
report to the Legislature and instead, requires the department
to provide the report upon request of the Legislature. This
bill also makes clarifying changes to an outdated provision of
law relating to airline "club" licenses to reflect current
business models.
ANALYSIS:
Existing law:
1)Establishes the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC)
and grants it exclusive authority to administer the provisions
of the ABC Act in accordance with laws enacted by the
Legislature. This involves licensing individuals and
businesses associated with the manufacture, importation and
sale of alcoholic beverages in this state and the collection
of license fees for this purpose.
2)Requires the Director of ABC, on or before March 1 of each
year, to make an annual report to the Legislature on the ABC's
activities and to post the report on its Internet Web site.
(B & P Code Section 23055)
SB 325 (Hall) Page 2 of ?
3)For purposes of the ABC Act, defines "club" to mean a
corporation or association which is the owner, lessee, or
occupant of an establishment operated solely for objects of a
social or athletic nature but not for pecuniary gain, having a
bona fide membership list, and the majority of the members of
which pay dues at least once in every year, and the property
as well as the advantages of which belong to the members, and
which sells alcoholic beverages only to its members and its
bona fide guests. (B & P Code Section 23037)
4)Provides for the issuance of a "club" license allowing the
sale of alcoholic beverages to a plethora of
clubs/organizations (e.g., golf club, swimming club, tennis
club, horse riding club, beach and athletic club, handball or
racquetball club, nonprofit mobile homeowners social club,
national fraternal organizations, rod and gun club, peace
officers and firefighters associations, nonprofit social and
religious club, National Guard or Air National Guard club,
labor council, American Citizens club, local dental society
club, condominium homeowners' association, Hidalgo Society,
nonprofit lawn bowls club, etc.).
5)Also, authorizes the issuance of a club license to clubs
operated by common carriers by air at an airport terminal, as
specified. (B & P Code Section 23428.13)
6)Prohibits the Department of ABC from issuing new club licenses
to clubs that are not organized as a nonprofit (B & P Code
Section 23434). Also, prohibits the Department of ABC from
issuing new club licenses to clubs that do not have at least
100 members (B & P Code Section 23435).
This bill:
1)Eliminates the existing requirement that the Department of
ABC, on or before March 31 of each year, prepare and submit to
the Legislature an annual report on the department's
activities and , instead, provides that ABC shall produce such
a report upon request of the Legislature.
2)Clarifies that the restrictions relating to nonprofit status
and number of members do not apply to club licenses issued to
clubs operated by common carriers by air at an airport
terminal.
SB 325 (Hall) Page 3 of ?
Background
Purpose of SB 325: This measure is simply intended to make
technical, clarifying and non-controversial changes to the ABC
Act.
Existing law requires the Department of ABC, on or before March
1 of each year, to provide an annual report to the Legislature
on the department's activities and to post the report on its
Internet Web site. The report must include information for the
previous fiscal year pertaining to: (a) the amount of funds
allocated and spent for licensing, enforcement, and
administration: (b) the number of licenses issued, renewed,
denied, suspended, and revoked; (c) the average time for
processing license applications, by license category; (d) the
number and type of enforcement activities conducted; and, (e)
the number, type, and amount of penalties, fines, and other
disciplinary actions taken.
The Department of ABC has been producing and providing workload
reports for the industry it regulates and groups interested in
its licensing and enforcement activities since 1941. In 1999
the Department began posting all of its annual reports on the
Department's Internet Web site. For example, the ABC provides
on an annual basis: the Annual Workload Summary, the
Performance Management Report, and the License Count Summary
Report. ABC indicates that all of the information requested by
Business and Professions Code Section 23055 is already captured
in the Department's various reports.
This measure would modify the annual reporting requirement to
instead require the ABC to provide the report upon request of
the Legislature. The author's office emphasizes that this
measure does not eliminate the statutory requirement for the
report - it simply eliminates the requirement for a separate
annual report to the Legislature thus enabling ABC to use its
resources for other purposes. ABC believes that providing a
separate report for the Legislature is duplicative and
consumptive of limited resources and staff.
The author's office points out that over the years numerous
"club" licenses have been added to the ABC Act allowing the
license holder to sell and serve alcoholic beverages for
consumption within the licensed establishment and only to
members of the club and their guests. Currently, the law
SB 325 (Hall) Page 4 of ?
prohibits ABC from issuing "airline" club licenses to clubs that
are not organized as a nonprofit or which do not have at least
100 members. The author's office notes that this particular law
no longer reflects the structure of the current licensees.
Specifically, airline club licenses are no longer established as
nonprofits and the 100 member requirement is no longer needed.
Therefore, this measure proposes to amend outdated licensing
requirements for this type of licensee to reflect the realities
of the business models currently in place.
Prior/Related Legislation
AB 749 (Hall), Chapter 221, Statutes of 2011. Changed the
period covered by the Department of ABC annual report to the
Legislature from a "calendar" year time period to a "fiscal"
year.
SB 1480 (Committee on Governmental Organization), Chapter 296,
Statutes of 2010. Among other things, deleted the requirement
that the Director of ABC include recommendations for legislation
in the annual ABC report to the Legislature.
AB 2793 (Governmental Organization Committee), Chapter 273,
Statutes of 2010. Among other things, authorized the Department
of ABC to issue a club license to nonprofit lawn bowls clubs
that do not discriminate or restrict membership, as specified.
FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal
Com.: Yes Local: No
SUPPORT:
None received
OPPOSITION:
None received