Alcoholic beverage licenses.

(1) Existing law, the Alcoholic Beverage Control Act, contains various provisions regulating the application for, the issuance of, the suspension of, and the conditions imposed upon alcoholic beverage licenses by the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control. This bill would prohibit the department from denying the issuance of a retail license solely on the basis that the premises are located within 100 feet of a residence. (2) Existing law requires an applicant to mail notification of an application for the issuance of a retail license to every resident and owner of real property within a 500-foot radius of the premises for which the license is to be issued, except as specified. This bill would specify that the notice is not required if the local governing body of the jurisdiction in which the license is to be issued has adopted an ordinance waiving the notification requirement. (3) Existing law provides that if an application for a license is voluntarily withdrawn as a result of any protest being filed opposing the issuance of the license, the applicant may not refile an application for the same location for one year. Additionally, existing law makes the verified protests valid against any subsequent applications filed for that premises for one year from the date of withdrawal. This bill would repeal the one-year bar on refiling an application for the same location. The bill would limit the one-year validity period of verified protests to subsequent applications for a license of the same type that are filed for that premises. (4) Existing law, after the department notifies an applicant and all protesting parties of its determination to issue a license, authorizes a protesting party to request the department to conduct a hearing on the issues protested. This bill would require the department, after 120 days have elapsed since verification of a protest without holding a hearing, to notify the person who filed the verified protest of their need to reconfirm their request for a hearing in writing, and would deem the protest withdrawn if the person who filed the request for a hearing does not provide the confirmation within 30 days.