BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SB 325
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Date of Hearing: July 15, 2015
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATION
Adam Gray, Chair
SB
325 (Hall) - As Amended March 26, 2015
SENATE VOTE: 34-0
SUBJECT: Alcoholic beverages.
SUMMARY: Modifies an existing Alcoholic Beverage Control Act
(Act) provision that requires the Department of Alcoholic
Beverage Control (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. The bill also makes clarifying
changes to an outdated provision of law relating to airline
"club" licenses to reflect current business models.
Specifically, this bill:
1)Eliminates the existing requirement that ABC, on or before
March 1 of each year, prepare and submit to the Legislature an
annual report on ABC's activities and, instead, provides that
ABC shall produce such a report upon request of the Legislature.
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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.
EXISTING LAW:
1)Establishes 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
Department of ABC's activities and to post the report on its
Internet Web site. (B & P Code Section 23055)
3)Defines "club," for purposes of the Act, 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)
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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)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 ABC from issuing new club licenses to clubs that are
not organized as a nonprofit (B & P Code Section 23434). Also,
prohibits ABC from issuing new club licenses to clubs that do
not have at least 100 members (B & P Code Section 23435).
FISCAL EFFECT: Unknown
COMMENTS:
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Purpose of the bill . This bill is simply intended to make
technical, clarifying and non-controversial changes to the Act.
Existing law requires 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: (1) the amount of funds allocated and spent for
licensing, enforcement, and administration: (2) the number of
licenses issued, renewed, denied, suspended, and revoked; (3)
the average time for processing license applications, by license
category; (4) the number and type of enforcement activities
conducted; and, (5) the number, type, and amount of penalties,
fines, and other disciplinary actions taken.
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, ABC began posting
all of its annual reports on the department's Internet Web site.
For example, 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 bill modifies the annual reporting requirement to instead
require ABC to provide the report upon request of the
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Legislature. The author's office emphasizes that this bill 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 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 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 bill proposes to amend outdated licensing requirements for
this type of licensee to reflect the realities of the business
models currently in place.
Prior legislation . AB 749 (Hall, Chapter 221, Statutes of
2011). Changed the period covered by ABC's annual report to the
Legislature from a "calendar" year time period to a "fiscal"
year.
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SB 1480 (Committee on Governmental Organization, Chapter 296,
Statutes of 2010). Among other things, deleted the requirement
that the Director of ABC to include recommendations for
legislation in the annual ABC report to the Legislature.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:
Support
None on file
Opposition
None on file
Analysis Prepared by:Eric Johnson / G.O. / (916)
319-2531
SB 325
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