AB 744: Alcoholic beverage control: tied-house restrictions: exceptions: off-sale retail services.

Existing law, the Alcoholic Beverage Control Act, which is administered by the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control, regulates the application, issuance, and suspension of alcoholic beverage licenses. Existing law, known as tied-house restrictions, generally prohibits specified licensees from giving or lending money or a thing of value to a person operating, owning, or maintaining premises where alcoholic beverages are sold.

Existing law creates various exceptions to tied-house restrictions, including permitting a licensee to perform specified services for off-sale licensees including, among other things, rotating or rearranging the brand or brands owned or sold by the licensee, as specified. This exception is limited to beer, and brands of distilled spirits in single-serve containers, and wine in single-serve containers.

Existing law defines single-serve containers for this purpose to mean containers that have a standard fill, as defined by federal law, of between 50 and 355 milliliters for distilled spirits and between 187 and 355 milliliters for wine. wine, whether sold individually or in multiple container packaging, the contents of which are intended to be consumed without mixing with any other substance.

This bill would instead define single-serve containers to mean containers that have a standard fill of between 50 to 500 milliliters for distilled spirits and between 187 and 500 milliliters for wine. limit the exception to beer and to brands of distilled spirits or wine in containers not exceeding 500 milliliters in volume, whether sold individually or in multiple container packaging, that are intended to be consumed without mixing with any other substance.