BILL NUMBER: AB 2184	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Hall

                        FEBRUARY 23, 2012

   An act to amend Section 25502 of the Business and Professions
Code, relating to alcoholic beverages.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 2184, as introduced, Hall. Alcoholic beverages: tied-house
restrictions.
   Existing law, known as tied-house restrictions, prohibits
specified licensees from furnishing, giving, or lending money or
other thing of value, directly or indirectly, to a person engaged in
operating, owning, or maintaining an off-sale licensed premises.
   This bill would provide that the autographing of a bottle or
bottles of distilled spirits at a promotional event conducted at an
off-sale licensed retail premises by a person who holds an ownership
interest in that distilled spirits brand is not a thing of value.
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  Section 25502 of the Business and Professions Code is
amended to read:
   25502.  (a) No manufacturer, winegrower, manufacturer's agent,
California winegrower's agent, rectifier, distiller, bottler,
importer, or wholesaler, or any officer, director, or agent of any
such person, shall, except as authorized by this division:
   (1) Hold the ownership, directly or indirectly, of any interest in
an off-sale license.
   (2)  (A)    Furnish, give, or lend any money or
other thing of value, directly or indirectly, to, or guarantee the
repayment of any loan or the fulfillment of any financial obligation
of, any person engaged in operating, owning, or maintaining any
off-sale licensed premises. 
   (B) For purposes of this paragraph, the autographing of a bottle
or bottles of distilled spirits at a promotional event conducted at
an off-sale licensed retail premises by a person who holds an
ownership in that distilled spirits brand shall not be a thing of
value. 
   (3) Own or control any interest, directly or indirectly, by stock
ownership, interlocking directors, or trusteeship, in the business,
furniture, fixtures, refrigeration equipment, signs, except signs for
interior use mentioned in subdivision (g) of Section 25503, or lease
in premises licensed with an off-sale license.
   (4) Own or control any interest, directly or indirectly, by stock
ownership, interlocking directors, trusteeship, or mortgage of the
realty upon which an off-sale licensed premises is maintained.
   (b) Any wholesaler in counties not to exceed 15,000 population who
holds both a beer and wine wholesaler's license and an off-sale
general license and who held such licenses prior to September 19,
1947, may continue to hold such licenses but may not transfer the
beer and wine wholesaler's license to another individual,
individuals, partnership, corporation or other legal entity. Where
the off-sale general license is transferred to an individual,
individuals, partnership, corporation or other legal entity, the
transfer shall be a person-to-person transfer only.
   (c) Nothing in this section prohibits any holder of a distilled
spirits manufacturer's, manufacturer's agent's, California winegrower'
s agent, rectifier's, or wholesaler's license, or any officer,
employee, or representative of any such licensee, from acting as a
trustee for any off-sale general licensee in any bankruptcy or other
proceedings for the benefit of the creditors of the off-sale general
licensee.
   (d) Nothing in this section shall alter, change, or otherwise
affect, retroactively or prospectively, any of the rights or
privileges granted to a winegrower or brandy manufacturer by Section
23362, or by any other provision of this division.
   (e) This section does not apply to an employee of a licensee
referred to in subdivision (a) who is a nonadministrative and
nonsupervisorial employee.