BILL ANALYSIS
Bill No: AB
1470
SENATE COMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATION
Senator Roderick D. Wright, Chair
2009-2010 Regular Session
Staff Analysis
AB 1470 Author: Evans
As Amended: April 23, 2009
Hearing Date: July 8, 2009
Consultant: Art Terzakis
SUBJECT
Alcoholic Beverages: licensees
DESCRIPTION
AB 1470 permits an on-sale beer and wine public premises
licensee to allow a person who has purchased and partially
consumed a bottle of wine to remove the partially consumed
bottle from the premises upon departure.
EXISTING LAW
Existing law 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.
Existing law provides that any "on-sale" licensee, who
maintains a bona fide eating place in conjunction with such
license, or any winegrower that is exercising a privilege,
as defined, may allow any person who has purchased and
partially consumed a bottle of wine to remove such
partially consumed bottle from the premises upon departure.
The words "On-Sale" on an alcoholic beverage license means
the license privilege is for alcoholic beverages sold on
the premises to be consumed on the premises. (On-sale
licenses also carry some off-sale privileges as specified
in the ABC Act.)
AB 1470 (Evans) continued
Page 2
The words "Off-Sale" on an alcoholic beverage license means
the license privilege is for alcoholic beverages to be sold
in original, unopened packages for consumption off the
premises where sold.
The ABC Act defines "bona fide public eating place" to mean
a place which is regularly and in a bona fide manner used
and kept open for the serving of meals to guests for
compensation and which has suitable kitchen facilities
connected therewith, containing conveniences for cooking an
assortment of foods which may be required for ordinary
meals, the kitchen of which must be kept in a sanitary
condition with the proper amount of refrigeration for
keeping of food on said premises and must comply with all
the regulations of the local department of health.
BACKGROUND
Purpose of AB 1470: As noted above, current law allows
patrons to leave restaurants and wineries with partially
consumed bottles of wine.
According to the author's office, this measure is intended
to fill a gap in current law in order to promote
responsible consumption of alcohol by wine bar patrons.
Under current law, partially consumed wine bottles can be
removed from an on-sale licensed premise, only if it also
contains a restaurant or if the licensee is a winegrower.
In essence, a restaurant or winery customer could purchase
a bottle of wine, elect to drink some of the contents, and
then put the cork back in to take the bottle home to drink
later. This measure would extend this same take home
privilege to wine bar customers.
Proponents of this measure note that in recent years Type
42 wine bars have sprung up in many urban settings and
believe that wine bar patrons should be afforded the option
to "brown bag" an unfinished bottle of wine.
The ABC reports that there are approximately 1,400 on-sale
beer and wine public premise licenses (Type 42) in the
state. A Type 42 license authorizes the sale of beer and
wine for consumption on or off the premises where sold. No
distilled spirits may be on the premises. A large number
of these licenses are operating as specialty wine shops
and/or wine bars.
AB 1470 (Evans) continued
Page 3
PRIOR/RELATED LEGISLATION
AB 2004 (Evans) Chapter 127, Statutes of 2008. Authorized
licensed winegrowers to sell wine to consumers for
consumption on the premises. Also, granted any winegrower
the same privilege that is currently available to any
on-sale licensee which maintains a restaurant, that permits
the licensee to allow a patron to remove from the premises
upon departure, a bottle of wine that has been opened
(partially consumed).
SB 1262 (Beverly) Chapter 72, Statutes of 1980. Permitted
a restaurant patron who has purchased and partially
consumed a bottle of wine to remove such bottle from the
licensed premises.
SUPPORT: As of July 3, 2009:
Wine Institute
Family Winemakers of California
OPPOSE: None on file as of July 3, 2009.
FISCAL COMMITTEE: Senate Appropriations Committee
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