BILL NUMBER: AB 1320 INTRODUCED BILL TEXT INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Maienschein FEBRUARY 27, 2015 An act to amend Section 25503.24 of the Business and Professions Code, relating to alcoholic beverages. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST AB 1320, as introduced, Maienschein. Alcoholic beverages: tied-house restrictions. Existing law prohibits specified holders of alcoholic beverage licenses from having specified relationships with an on-sale alcoholic beverage licensee, with limited exceptions. Existing law permits a manufacturer, winegrower, rectifier, distiller, distilled spirits wholesaler, or any agent of those licenses, to conduct market research and, in connection with that research, to purchase from licensed off-sale retailers data, regarding purchases and sales of alcoholic beverage products, at the customary rates that those retailers sell similar data for nonalcoholic beverage products, provided that no licensed retailer shall be obligated to purchase or sell the alcoholic beverages of the manufacturer, winegrower, rectifier, or distiller. This bill would make a nonsubstantive change to this provision. Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no. State-mandated local program: no. THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS: SECTION 1. Section 25503.24 of the Business and Professions Code is amended to read: 25503.24. (a) Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter, any manufacturer, winegrower, rectifier, distiller, distilled spirits wholesaler, or anyofficer, director, agent,agent, director, officer, or representative of any of those entities, may conduct market research and, in connection with that research, the entity conducting the market research may purchase from licensed off-sale retailers data regarding purchases and sales of alcoholic beverage products at the customary rates that those retailers sell similar data for nonalcoholic beverage products subject to the following limitations: (1) No licensed retailer shall be obligated to purchase or sell the alcoholic beverage products of that manufacturer, winegrower, rectifier, or distiller. (2) No retail premises shall participate in more than one research project conducted by any single manufacturer, winegrower, rectifier, distiller, or distilled spirits wholesaler during a calendar year. A research project may involve multiple onsite surveys. (3) Nothing in this section shall allow a licensed retailer to require a manufacturer, winegrower, rectifier, distiller, or distilled spirits wholesaler to conduct any market research as a condition for selling alcoholic beverage products to that licensed retailer. (b) Any holder of a beer manufacturer's license or winegrower's license who, through coercion or other illegal means, induces, directly or indirectly, a holder of a beer or wine wholesaler's license to fulfill obligations entered into pursuant to subdivision (a) shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and shall be punished by imprisonment in the county jail not exceeding six months, or by a fine in an amount equal to the entire value of the market research or time involved in the project, whichever is greater, plus ten thousand dollars ($10,000), or by both imprisonment and fine. The person shall also be subject to license revocation pursuant to Section 24200. (c) Any retail licensee who, directly or indirectly, solicits or coerces a holder of a beer or wine wholesaler's license to solicit a beer manufacturer, or holder of a winegrower's license to fulfill obligations entered into pursuant to subdivision (a) shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and shall be punished by imprisonment in the county jail not exceeding six months, or by a fine in an amount equal to the entire value of the market research or time involved in the project, whichever is greater, plus ten thousand dollars ($10,000), or by both imprisonment and fine. The person shall also be subject to license revocation pursuant to Section 24200. (d) For the purposes of this section, "beer manufacturer" includes any holder of a beer manufacturer's license, any holder of an out-of-state beer manufacturer's certificate, or any holder of a beer and wine importer's general license.