BILL ANALYSIS �
Bill No: SB
1531
SENATE COMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATION
Senator Roderick D. Wright, Chair
2011-2012 Regular Session
Staff Analysis
SB 1531 Author: Wolk
As Amended: April 16, 2012
Hearing Date: May 8, 2012
Consultant: Art Terzakis
SUBJECT
Alcoholic Beverages
DESCRIPTION
SB 1531 makes a minor modification in the Alcoholic
Beverage Control (ABC) Act with respect to the manner in
which the Department of ABC determines the number of retail
licenses that are to be issued annually in a county.
EXISTING LAW
The enactment of the 21st Amendment to the U.S.
Constitution in 1933 repealed the 18th Amendment and ended
the era of Prohibition. Accordingly, states were granted
the authority to establish alcoholic beverage laws and
administrative structures to regulate the sale and
distribution of alcoholic beverages.
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.
The ABC must deny an application for a license if issuance
would create a law enforcement problem, or if issuance
would result in, or add to, an undue concentration of
licenses in the area where the license is desired. For
liquor stores and other specified retail licenses, however,
the ABC is authorized to issue a license if the respective
local government determines that public convenience or
necessity would be served by granting the license.
SB 1531 (Wolk) continued
Page 2
Existing law specifies that the number of retail licenses
in a county shall be determined by the most recent yearly
retail license count published by ABC in its Procedure
Manual.
Existing law caps the number of new on and off-sale general
licenses issued by the ABC at one for every 2,500
inhabitants of the county where the establishment is
located (2,000:1 for on sale licenses). If no licenses are
available from the state due to the population
restrictions, those people interested in obtaining a liquor
license may purchase one from an existing licensee, for
whatever price the market bears. In 1994, the Legislature
approved a 3-year moratorium on the issuance of new
off-sale beer and wine licenses, which at the time was not
bound by any population to license restriction. In 1997
this moratorium was made permanent.
BACKGROUND
As noted above, existing law requires the ABC to deny an
application for a license if issuance would create a law
enforcement problem, or if issuance would result in, or add
to, an undue concentration of licenses in the area where
the license is desired. Additionally, existing law
specifies that the number of retail licenses in a county
shall be determined by the most recent yearly retail
license count published by ABC in its Procedure Manual.
According to ABC staff, the Procedure Manual should not be
specified in statute because it is an internal management
document. Thus, this measure would simply delete reference
to ABC's "Procedure Manual" and instead require that the
number of retail licenses in the county be established by
ABC on an annual basis.
PRIOR/RELATED LEGISLATION
AB 2266 (Evans), Chapter 130, Statutes of 2008. Authorized
the Department of ABC to issue a maximum of 15 new original
on-sale general licenses, over a 3-year period, for bona
fide public eating places in the County of Napa.
SB 762 (Cox) Chapter 193, Statutes of 2007. Authorized the
Department of ABC to issue 10 new original on-sale general
SB 1531 (Wolk) continued
Page 3
licenses for bona fide public eating places in the County
of Mono.
AB 463 (Tucker), Chapter 627, Statutes of 1994. Expanded
the authority of the Department of ABC to impose and
enforce conditions on retail licenses and allowed the ABC
to limit the level of applications for, and issuance of,
retail off-sale licenses.
AB 2742 (Lee), Chapter 629, Statutes of 1994. Required
the ABC to notify city planning agencies of the pendency of
an application and provided law enforcement agencies an
opportunity to request additional time for the application
waiting period.
AB 2897 (Caldera), Chapter 630, Statutes of 1994.
Permitted the issuance, or transfer of a retail license in
an area of undue concentration, provided that the local
government found that the license would serve the public
convenience or necessity.
SB 1092 (Berryhill) Chapter 571, Statutes of 1975.
Authorized the Department of ABC to issue five additional
new original on-sale general licenses for bona fide public
eating places (seating for 100 or more diners) in any
county where the inhabitants number less than 5,000 but
more than 3,000 (Mono County) according to the 1970 federal
census and where the major economy of that county is
dependent upon the year-round use of that county's
recreational facilities.
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: None on file as of May 4, 2012.
FISCAL COMMITTEE: No