BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SB 905
Page 1
SENATE THIRD READING
SB
905 (Bates)
As Amended August 11, 2016
Majority vote
SENATE VOTE: 37-0
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|Committee |Votes|Ayes |Noes |
| | | | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
|----------------+-----+-----------------------+---------------------|
|Governmental |17-0 |Gray, Bigelow, Bonta, | |
|Organization | |Cooley, Cooper, Daly, | |
| | |Gallagher, Cristina | |
| | |Garcia, Eduardo | |
| | |Garcia, Gipson, | |
| | |Jones-Sawyer, Levine, | |
| | |Linder, Salas, | |
| | |Steinorth, Waldron, | |
| | |Wilk | |
| | | | |
|----------------+-----+-----------------------+---------------------|
|Appropriations |18-0 |Gonzalez, Bigelow, | |
| | |Bloom, Bonta, | |
| | |Calderon, Chang, Daly, | |
| | |Eggman, Gallagher, | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
SB 905
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| | |Roger Hernández, | |
| | |Holden, Jones, | |
| | |Obernolte, Quirk, | |
| | |Santiago, Wagner, | |
| | |Weber, Wood | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
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SUMMARY: Authorizes the Department of Alcoholic Beverage
Control (ABC) to issue a club license to a nonprofit umbrella
organization consisting of multiple veteran organizations
established to provide a central meeting location, resources,
and services for veterans and does not discriminate or restrict
membership, as specified. Specifically, this bill:
1)Defines "club" to also mean a nonprofit umbrella organization
established to provide a central meeting location, resources,
and services specifically for veterans, including those on
active duty, and that owns or leases, operates, and maintains
a facility for these purposes.
2)States the nonprofit umbrella organization shall serve at
least six veteran organizations, composed solely of veterans,
that have been chartered by the Congress of the United States
for patriotic, fraternal, or benevolent purposes and which
post, chapter, camp, or other local unit has operated as such
for not less than one year.
3)Provides it shall be unlawful for any club licensed, as
defined, to make any discrimination, distinction, or
restriction against any person on account of the person's
color, race, religion, ancestry, national origin, sex, or age.
4)Provides members of the veteran organizations served by the
nonprofit umbrella organization shall be deemed to be members
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of the nonprofit umbrella organization regardless of whether
they are charged separate dues to hold that membership.
5)Requires the nonprofit umbrella organization to obtain
documentation from the veteran organizations it serves to
establish that those veteran organizations meet the
requirements of the section.
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)For purposes of the 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.
3)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
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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.).
4)Authorizes the issuance of a "veterans" club license and
defines veteran to mean any person who has served in the
United States Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, Coast
Guard, or as an active nurse in the service of the American
Red Cross, or in the Army and Navy Nurse Corps in time of war,
or in any expedition of the Armed Forces of the United States,
or who has served in one of these services during the period
September 16, 1940, to December 7, 1941, and received a
discharge under conditions other than dishonorable.
5)Provides that the holder of a veterans' club license may
exercise all of the rights and privileges permitted by an
on-sale general license but may sell and serve alcoholic
beverages for consumption within the licensed establishment
only to bona fide members of the veterans' organization and
their bona fide guests, bona fide members of other veterans'
organizations, active duty or reserve members of the Armed
Forces or veteran's as defined in Government Code Section
18540.4.
6)Defines "veteran" to mean any person who has served full time
in the Armed Forces in time of national emergency or state
military emergency or during an expedition of the Armed Forces
and who has been discharged or released under conditions other
than dishonorable.
FISCAL EFFECT: According to the Assembly Appropriations
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Committee, minor and absorbable costs to ABC.
COMMENTS:
Purpose of the bill: 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.
According to the author's office, SB 685 (McGuire), Chapter 423,
Statutes of 2015 expanded the authority of a veterans' club to
serve and sell alcoholic beverages for consumption within the
club premises to specified members inadvertently did not address
nonprofit umbrella organizations consisting of multiple veteran
service organizations (VSOs) such as the Veterans Association of
North County (VANC) in San Diego. SB 905 is intended to fix
this oversight and make VANC and other similar associations
eligible for the same privileges as their constituent member
organizations.
The author's office notes that VANC was established as a
non-profit in 2007 to provide a central meeting place for North
County veterans' organizations and their members, as well as to
provide training, counseling, job placement, housing assistance
and other services to veterans. VANC worked with the City of
Oceanside to establish a long-term lease of an abandoned police
station that they have refurbished and is awaiting its grand
opening.
In addition to providing a meeting facility, the training that
VANC hopes to offer its members and community is security guard
training and certification, truck driver training, fiber optics
training and certification, as well as, a culinary arts training
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and certification program utilizing the kitchen facilities.
VANC would also like to use the facility for a variety of
receptions and dinners.
Prior Legislation: SB 685 (McGuire), Chapter 423, Statutes of
2015. Expanded the privileges of a holder of a veterans' club
license by allowing the licensee to also sell and serve
alcoholic beverages for consumption within the licensed
establishment to members of other veterans' organizations,
active duty or reserve members of the Armed Forces, or veterans,
as well as to the members of the veterans' organization and
their guests.
AB 2793 (Governmental Organization Committee), Chapter 273,
Statutes of 2010. Authorized ABC to issue a club license to
nonprofit lawn bowls' clubs that do not discriminate or restrict
membership, as specified.
Analysis Prepared by:
Eric Johnson / G.O. / (916) 319-2531 FN:
0003965