Alcoholic beverages: licenses: advertising: contests and sweepstakes.

(1) The Alcoholic Beverage Control Act specifies the rules and procedures for the issuance and transfer of alcoholic beverage licenses by the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control. The act requires the department to make a thorough investigation to determine whether the applicant for a license and the premises for which a license is applied qualify for a license. This bill would provide that the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control is not required to qualify for a license a person who is an investor in a private equity fund that holds an interest in an alcoholic beverage license, subject to specified conditions, and would authorize the department to require the manager of the private equity fund to execute an affidavit confirming compliance with the requirements of this provision. (2) The Alcoholic Beverage Control Act includes tied-house restrictions, which prohibit 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. Existing law authorizes, until January 1, 2016, the appearance of a person employed or engaged by an authorized licensee at a promotional event held at the premises of an off-sale retail licensee for the purposes of providing autographs, subject to specified conditions. This bill would delete the sunset date of the above provision, thereby extending the provision indefinitely. (3) Existing law authorizes a beer manufacturer to sell, at the licensed premises of production, specified beer and wine to consumers under described conditions, and limits the beer manufacturer to 6 branch locations that may be used for the sale of alcoholic beverages to consumers for consumption off the licensed premises. This bill would prohibit a beer manufacturer, regardless of the number of beer manufacturer licenses that are held by the beer manufacturer alone, under common ownership with any other licensed beer manufacturer, or under common ownership with any officer, director, employee, or agent of that beer manufacturer that is operating as an on-sale retailer, from exercising, alone or in common, any combination of specified described retail privileges that would result in that beer manufacturer exercising retail privileges at more than 6 locations. (4) The Alcoholic Beverage Control Act prohibits any licensee from giving any premium, gift, or free goods in connection with the sale or distribution of any alcoholic beverage, except as provided. Existing law permits an authorized licensee, as defined, to conduct a consumer contest, as defined, and conduct or sponsor consumer sweepstakes, as defined, offering the chance to win prizes, if specified conditions are met, including that alcoholic beverages or anything redeemable are not awarded as a prize. This bill would authorize the inclusion of alcoholic beverages as part of a prize in a consumer contest or sweepstakes where the inclusion is an incidental part of a prize package.