Legislative Advocacy

Empowering California Craft Breweries

The CCBA protects and promotes the craft brewing industry in California. It ensures that brewers have the resources and opportunities they need to thrive. Thanks to the ongoing advocacy efforts of the CCBA, California breweries currently have more advantages than those in any other state.

Working tirelessly in the State Capitol — the CCBA’s advocacy efforts include sponsoring legislation to expand brewery privileges, protecting laws that benefit craft brewers, and actively opposing legislation harmful to the industry. Without our efforts, breweries would face strict regulations around franchise laws, no right to self-distribution, limitations on growing their brewpubs or tasting rooms, and more. The CCBA’s advocacy efforts are essential in ensuring the craft beer industry continues to thrive, bringing diverse and innovative beers to consumers across the state.

By working together with breweries to engage at the state and local levels, CCBA ensures California remains a leader in craft brewing excellence. Together, we can safeguard the vibrant future of California craft beer.

RECENT ADVOCACY Efforts

2024 Legislation

The 2024 Legislative Session was marked by the signing of AB 2174 (Aguiar-Curry). CCBA sponsored AB 2174 empowers California craft beer manufacturers with a Beer Caterer’s Permit, allowing them to sell their beer and showcase their brands at public and private events. This important milestone for the industry took effect on January 1, 2025. To help you navigate the specifics of this new law, we’ve put together a fact sheet for quick reference here.

The following bills became effective January 1, 2025, unless otherwise noted.

CCBA Priority Bills

AB 2991 (Valencia) – Beer Distributor & EFT Retail Payments:
This bill requires payment by an alcohol retail licensee to a wholesaler licensee for the delivery of beer, wine, or distilled spirits to be made by electronic funds transfer (EFT), except as specified. This bill goes into effect January 1, 2026. CCBA worked to ensure that self-distribution by craft breweries is exempt from the EFT requirement.

Other 2024 Alcohol Bills

SB 969 (Wiener) – Entertainment Zones Statewide:
This bill expands entertainment zones from only applying to the city and county of San Francisco to every jurisdiction across the state. This expansion allows local governments to designate “entertainment zones,” where breweries, wineries, restaurants, and bars may sell alcoholic beverages for consumption in the specified zone. The aim is to revitalize struggling downtown areas.

AB 3203 (Aguiar-Curry) – DTC Extension for Craft Distillers until January 1, 2026:
This bill extends the exemption that allows a licensed craft distiller to directly ship distilled spirits manufactured by the licensee to a consumer from January 1, 2025, to January 1, 2026.

AB 3206 (McKinnor) – Exception for Intuit Dome in the City of Inglewood to serve alcohol from 2:00 a.m.– 4:00 a.m.:
This bill allows the sale of alcohol within a private area inside the new Intuit Dome arena in Inglewood from 2:00 a.m. to 4:00 a.m. While the arena seats 18,000 individuals, functions held in this private area are limited to a maximum capacity of 100 people. The Clippers are set to start playing in the new arena in the upcoming NBA season.

AB 2375 (Lowenthal) – Mandatory Lid Bill:
This bill requires on-sale general public premises (Type 48 – Bar, Night Club) licensees to supply a lid to a patron’s drink if requested to protect individuals from being roofied.

2023 Legislation

The theme of the 2023 Legislative Session was protecting the rights of California craft breweries while also expanding privileges. The CCBA successfully blocked two legislative proposals that could have weakened tied-house laws and disrupted the regulation of alcohol sales. At the same time, the CCBA advanced opportunities for small breweries by securing changes that allow them produce cider and perry on their premises without requiring them to obtain additional licensing, a privilege that large California breweries have had since 2014.

The following bills became effective on January 1, 2024, unless otherwise noted.

CCBA Sponsored Bills

SB 788 (Ashby) – Beer Manufacturers: Cider and Perry
Removes the requirement that a beer manufacturer must produce at least 60,000 barrels of beer annually to manufacture cider or perry under their beer manufacturer’s license. This bill does not authorize tasting, consumption, or sales to customers at the brewery, which will still require a winegrower’s license. It brings much needed parity between the manufacturing rights of large brewers and craft brewers.

SB 388 (Archuleta) – Alcoholic Beverage Tax: beer manufacturer returns and schedules
This bill mandates that the State Board of Equalization (BOE) make public, upon request, any information from a beer manufacturer’s tax return, including the name and address of any taxpayer who is not a natural person. The BOE is required to amend the beer manufacturer’s return to include a brief explanation of how the beer industry has historically utilized such information, along with a designated line or checkbox that allows taxpayers to choose whether to prohibit the disclosure of that information. This bill will apply to returns filed on or after January 1, 2024.

Additionally, the bill extends the transparency regarding production and tax records for breweries, similar to what is currently offered to winemakers. This change will enable brewers to better analyze the alcohol marketplace and improve their planning strategies.

CCBA Opposed Bills

SB 430 (Dodd) – Tied-house exceptions: advertising: common parent company
SB 430, which was backed by Amazon, would have significantly weakened the tied-house laws on advertising by allowing large corporations to accept advertising dollars from suppliers while owning online retail outlets and a chain of brick-and-mortar retail locations, such as Amazon’s Whole Foods stores. The CCBA strongly opposed SB 430. It was vetoed by the Governor.

SB 277 (Dodd) – Off-sale beer and wine licenses: low alcohol-by-volume spirits beverages
This bill would have permitted spirit-based RTDs below 10% ABV to be sold at beer and wine off-sale premises. This proposed policy change on how distilled spirits products are regulated would have been unprecedented, as it would have allowed these RTD distilled spirits products to be sold under “beer and wine” licenses, regardless of whether the product was fermented or distilled, as long as it was under 10% ABV. The bill was vetoed by the Governor after serious opposition was raised by CCBA and others.

If either of these bills had passed, it would have had a significant negative impact on the future health of the craft beer industry. Both SB 430 and SB 277 would have thrown our state’s ABC licensing codes and regulations into complete chaos at the expense of California’s craft brewers. Craft brewers would have been forced to compete for customers under a new set of rules that would have favored major corporations over small businesses.

Other 2023 Alcohol Bills

AB 1217 (Gabriel) – Business Pandemic Relief
Delays the expiration of COVID-19 Temporary Catering Authorizations from February 28, 2024, to July 1, 2026. It also eliminates the authority of the department to continue a COVID-19 Temporary Catering Authorization beyond its expiration if the licensee has a pending application with the department for a premises expansion. As such, all COVID-19 Temporary Catering Authorizations are scheduled to expire on July 1, 2026, unless otherwise extended by the Legislature.

AB 1088 (Rubio) – Licensed Craft Distillers: Direct Shipping
Temporarily extends direct-to-consumer shipping privileges for California craft distillers from January 1, 2024, until January 1, 2025.

SB 269 (Laird) – Alcoholic Beverages: Licensed Premises: Retail Sales and Consumption
Adds craft distillers and brandy manufacturers to the shared-use privileges established by AB 1734 (Bennett, Chapter 175, Statutes of 2022). In practice, this means a beer manufacturer’s license, a winegrower’s license, a craft distiller’s license, or a brandy manufacturer’s license held in any combination and under identical ownership may overlap at the same premises without necessitating separate sales and consumption areas. This privilege may only be used by a craft distiller at the master license locations of the brewery, winery, and/or distillery.

SB 844 (Jones) – Alcoholic Beverage Control: Retail License Transfers and Beer Returns
Expands the definition of “seasonal brand of beer,” which governs the allowance for wholesalers or manufacturers to accept beer returns from retailers. Previously limited to those commemorating specific holiday seasons, the definition now includes brands recognizing either a season or a holiday. (Effective September 30, 2023)

SB 76 (Wiener) – Alcoholic Beverages: Music Venue License: Entertainment Zones: Consumption
Authorizes the City and County of San Francisco to create “entertainment zones” where people may carry and consume alcoholic beverages on public streets, sidewalks, and public rights-of-way adjacent to and during special events licensed by ABC.

Key Provisions:

Premises must be located within the entertainment zone.
Consumption must be authorized by the ordinance establishing the zone.
Open alcohol containers must adhere to specific timing and location restrictions.
Delivery of alcohol into the zone is prohibited unless to residential or non-licensed private businesses.
Open containers must be sourced from licensed premises within the entertainment zone.
Participating licensees must notify ABC annually.

Before an entertainment zone becomes operable, the City and County of San Francisco must adopt an ordinance ensuring compliance with specified requirements, including age verification procedures.

2022 legislation

The CCBA sponsored three pieces of legislation in 2022, all of which were signed into law. These bills expanded retail and self-distribution privileges, streamlined regulatory processes, and created new opportunities for breweries to grow and innovate by increasing the number of licenses a beer manufacturer can have.

The following bills became effective on January 1, 2023, unless otherwise noted.

CCBA Sponsored Bills

AB 2307 (Berman) – Increase in Duplicate Licenses and Bona Fide Eating Places
Increased the statutory limit of a beer manufacturer’s duplicate licenses with retail privileges from 6 to 8. It also increased the number of locations that can be bona fide eating places from 2 to 4, provided they are owned and operated by and for the beer manufacturer.

AB 2301 (Wood) – Direct Delivery to Retail Licenses Under Common Ownership
Allows a beer manufacturer to deliver their beer to retail licensees under common ownership whose premises are located no more than five miles from the licensed on-sale premises, eliminating the requirement to go through a licensed wholesaler.

AB 1734 (Bennett) – Unified Point of Sale for Beer and Wine
Allows multiple license holders under identical ownership to sell their beer and wine products together at a single point of sale. This eliminates the requirement for separate areas for customers to purchase beer and wine, simplifying the regulatory process.

Other 2022 Alcohol Bills

AB 2971 (Assembly GO Committee) – Alcoholic Beverage Control: Glassware
Extends the current tied-house exception until January 1, 2026, which authorizes a beer manufacturer to give, free of charge, up to five cases of retail advertising glassware to an on-sale retail licensee per licensed location each calendar year. It also authorizes an on-sale retail licensee to accept, free of charge, up to 10 cases of retail advertising glassware per licensed location from licensed beer manufacturers each calendar year, subject to specified conditions. Additionally, the bill makes various technical and conforming changes to the Alcoholic Beverage Control Act (ABC).

SB 298 (Dodd) – Type 75 Brewpub-restaurant licenses: bona fide public eating place license
Authorizes any person with a brewpub-restaurant license to exchange that license for a bona fide public eating place license subject to the approval of the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC), as specified. The provisions of this bill only apply to a person who has held a brewpub-restaurant license on or before December 31, 2019.

SB 793 (Wiener) – Alcoholic beverages: Music venue licenses
Authorizes the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) to issue a music venue license allowing the licensee to sell beer, wine, and distilled spirits for consumption on the premises in a music entertainment facility, as defined.

2021 Legislation

2021 was an eventful year for CCBA’s advocacy. Highlights included pandemic relief measures such as AB 61 and SB 314, which extended outdoor operations for California craft breweries, and AB 1267, enabling beer manufacturers to advertise nonprofit donations to consumers under specific conditions. Furthermore, the CCBA successfully opposed AB 1070, preventing a tied-house law exemption that would have allowed beer manufacturers to provide on-sale retail licensees with a “giveaway” item of up to 12 patio umbrellas per year; an exemption that could negatively impact small alcohol manufacturers.

The following bills became effective on January 1, 2022, unless otherwise noted.

CCBA Priority Bills

AB 61 (Gabriel) – Business Pandemic Relief
Enables beer manufacturers to continue expanded outdoor operations and programs that support and promote expanded open-air, take-out, and delivery options. The extended outdoor operations only apply to state ABC permits and authorizations and do not supersede local zoning ordinances. CCBA supported this legislation.

AB 83 (Budget Committee) – ABC Fee Relief
The CCBA advocated to include beer manufacturers in this bill that initially only applied to retail licensees. Provides a two-year license fee waiver for all Type 23 beer manufacturers, saving approximately $3 million in licensing fees.

SB 389 (Dodd) – Cocktails-To-Go
CCBA supported this bill that protected a beer manufacturer’s privilege to refill growlers from being extended to retail licensees. It allowed a beer manufacturer with a bona fide eating place to sell wine by the glass for consumption off the licensed premises. This bill will sunset on December 31, 2026.

SB 314 (Wiener) – Pandemic Relief
Extended the time of the COVID emergency declaration to utilize outdoor patios and sidewalks and the ability to share the licensed footprint of these areas with on-sale retail licensees. The extended outdoor operations only apply to state ABC permits and authorizations and do not supersede local zoning ordinances.

AB 1267 (Cunningham) – Non-profit Beer Donations
Allows a beer manufacturer a means to legally advertise and promote donations made to nonprofit organizations in connection with the sale of alcoholic beverages with the following conditions:

The donation is only in connection with the sale or distribution of alcoholic beverages in manufacturer-sealed containers.
Promotion or advertisement of the donation shall not directly encourage or reference the consumption of alcoholic beverages.
A donation shall not benefit a retail licensee or a nonprofit charitable organization established to benefit employees of retail licensees. The advertisement or promotion of a donation shall not, directly or indirectly, advertise, promote, or reference any retail licensee. This bill has a sunset date of January 1, 2025.

CCBA Opposed Bill

AB 1070 (Cooper)
Eliminated the beer segment from a distilled spirits-driven bill that would have created a tied-house exemption for beer suppliers to provide on-sale retail licensees with up to 12 patio umbrellas per year. The Governor issued a monumental veto message that upholds tied-house laws for all segments and further excludes any bills that would allow manufacturers to provide “giveaways” to retailers for at least two years. This veto message was a big win for tied-house laws and small alcohol manufacturers.

Interested in Joining Our Advocacy Efforts?

The CCBA’s Day At The Capitol is the association’s annual legislative event and is a valuable opportunity for brewers to meet with their elected officials to discuss legislation that could significantly impact the California craft beer industry. Click below to learn more about the next Day At The Capitol and get your brewery involved!

This event is available to brewers, owners, and managers of CCBA member breweries ONLY.

Learn More