BILL ANALYSIS
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 825|
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CONSENT
Bill No: SB 825
Author: Senate Governmental Organization Committee
Amended: 5/4/09
Vote: 21
SENATE GOVERNMENTAL ORG. COMMITTEE : 10-0, 5/12/09
AYES: Wright, Harman, Benoit, Denham, Florez, Negrete
McLeod, Padilla, Wiggins, Wyland, Yee
NO VOTE RECORDED: Calderon, Oropeza, Vacancy
SUBJECT : Alcoholic beverages
SOURCE : Author
DIGEST : This bill is the annual committee bill that
makes non-controversial and code maintenance changes to the
Alcoholic Beverage Control Act.
ANALYSIS : 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. 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
or occupation taxes for this purpose.
Existing law contains various provisions regulating the
labeling and containers of alcoholic beverages within the
state, including a provision (Section 25176 of the Business
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and Professions Code) prohibiting, as a misdemeanor, the
refilling or causing to be refilled with distilled spirits
any distilled spirits package to which a tax stamp has been
affixed evidencing the payment of United States internal
revenue taxes.
Existing law provides that protests against the issuance of
a liquor license may be filed with ABC.
The Act permits ABC to reject protests, except protests
made by a public agency, public official, or governing body
of a city or county, it determines to be false, frivolous,
vexatious, or without reasonable or probable cause.
Existing law (Section 23987 of the Business and Professions
Code) requires ABC to notify the appropriate sheriff, chief
of police, district attorney, city or county planning
agency, and legislative body of an application for the
issuance or transfer of a liquor license, and prohibits ABC
from issuing or transferring a license until at least 30
days after these notices are provided. Existing law
authorizes ABC to extend that 30-day period for a period
not to exceed an additional 20 days if a proper written
request is made by any local law enforcement agency.
This bill:
1. Deletes reference to "federal tax stamps" which have not
been required for over 20 years.
2. Makes clarifying and conforming changes to an existing
provision of law pertaining to notification requirements
and the submission of protests to ABC regarding an
application for a liquor license.
Background
Purpose of this bill . This bill is intended to be the
vehicle to make various technical corrections, deletions
and non-controversial changes to the ABC Act.
Specifically, this bill:
1. Modifies Section 25176 of the Business and Professions
Code (ABC Act) to delete reference to tax stamps on
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liquor bottles. Currently, Section 25176 prohibits the
refilling or causing to be refilled with distilled
spirits any distilled spirits package to which a tax
stamp has been affixed evidencing the payment of United
States internal revenue taxes. Federal tax stamps are
no longer used on liquor bottles so referencing
containers that have them is no longer appropriate. The
ability of ABC to take action against licensees who
refill with a different brand or marry smaller
quantities of one brand into a single container of the
same brand will still be unlawful under Section 25176.
Removing the obsolete reference to the tax stamp would
be technical and nonsubstantive.
2. Modifies Section 24013 of the Business and Professions
Code relating to protest timeframes for the issuance of
a liquor license to parallel existing provisions of law
(Section 23987) relating to local government review
timeframes for the issuance or transfer of an alcoholic
beverage license. Essentially, Section 23987 has been
amended several times over the years to make changes in
ABC's public notification requirements to public
officials and to allow extended time periods for their
input. The clear intent of these prior amendments was
to allow additional time for submission of protests to
ABC. However, Section 24013, which specifically defines
protest timeframes, was not amended to be reflective.
The proposed change is completely non-controversial and,
in fact, conforms to existing practices of ABC and its
allied local agencies.
Related Legislation
SB 415 (Oropeza), 2009-10 Session, expands the eligibility
list of local government officials who may request an
extension of time to review the issuance or transfer of an
alcoholic beverage license and lengthens the existing
extension period from 20 to 30 days. (Currently on Senate
Third Reading File)
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: No
Local: No
TSM:mw 5/12/09 Senate Floor Analyses
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SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: NONE RECEIVED
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