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- news
What Alcohol Manufacturers and Retailers Need to Know About California’s Extended Producer Responsibility and the May 31 Deadline
California now joins Colorado, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, Oregon, and Washington as states that have enacted Extended Producer Responsibility laws for packaging. SB 54 (also known as the Plastic Pollution Prevention and Packaging Producer Responsibility Act) is set to significantly impact alcohol manufacturers and retailers selling products both in and into California. The stated purpose of this law is to ensure that “producers” (as defined below, and which in some circumstances may include retailers) of single-use packaging and food service ware take responsibility for the end-of-life management of those materials and increase the use of recyclable and compostable packaging.
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Booze Rules 2026: California Alcoholic Beverage Law Update – The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
The new year is bringing us another round of significant legislative and regulatory changes affecting the manufacture, sale, distribution, and consumption of alcoholic beverages in California. While the 2026 updates are (with a few significant exceptions) less sweeping than those enacted in 2024 or 2025, there remains a meaningful set of developments that industry participants should understand and be alert to. With that in mind, we hope our new law summaries below prove useful.
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Old Rules, New Marketplace: Alcohol’s Digital Revolution
Despite the constant negative headlines about slowing alcohol sales, the U.S. market remains enormous. Statistical forecasts are that the total U.S. alcoholic-drinks market will generate nearly $300 billion in revenue in 2025 (compared to roughly $200 billion for the U.S. soft-drinks market). Alcohol is still one of the largest consumer-goods sectors in the country, and it will remain so for the foreseeable future.
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Mandatory EFT is Coming Before You know It! Are You Ready?
We first addressed California’s new mandatory electronic fund transfer requirements in November of 2024 here. Implementation is now a little over 3 months away (January 1, 2026) so the time has come to refresh those licensees subject to the new regulations (primarily retailers, wholesalers and those wineries and importers selling domestic or imported beer, wine or spirits under California Type 17 and 18 licenses). Because of the ambiguity of the underlying statute, and the prohibition on accepting payment from a retailer by legal tender (cash or check, except in limited circumstances), we’ve been getting many questions about the practical implications and interpretation of the new statutory requirements. While this blog post addresses some of the follow-up issues, we are sure that as the regulations are implemented, there will be more questions, consternation by some, and frustration by many.
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It’s 2025 and New Laws for the Alcoholic Beverage Industry are Here, or Coming Soon
The California legislature adopted, and the Governor approved, several amendments to the state’s alcohol laws this past year (with many amendments already in effect) and several new statutes creating privileges and responsibilities.
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The California Cash and Credit Laws: Moving to Mandatory Electronic Fund Transfers Between Wholesalers and Retailers on January 1, 2026 – Cash is no longer Legal Tender
We have parsed the byzantine California credit laws related to buying and selling alcohol many times and in many contexts, most recently in 2017, when Booze Rules published an extensive article on the history, application, penalties, and enforcement of the federal and California credit laws (Business and Professions Code Section 25509). The impetus for the 2017 article was an ABC crackdown on credit practices resulting in ABC accusations (that we defended) against industry members on the supplier and retailer tiers, and class action litigation over the calculation and assessment of mandatory late charges under the credit law against multiple wholesalers, including Southern Glazers.
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Passage of Title Based Sales – Is it Right for You?
Passage of title (“POT”) is legal shorthand for the sales protocol used by many retailers, wineries and distillers (with state mandated privileges permitting sales to consumers either at or from their license premises). POT provides a potential direct-to-consumer (“DTC”) route to market option for the sale of wine and spirits to consumers residing in states an out-of-state licensee may not otherwise be able to reach. It is based on Article 2 of the Uniform Commercial Code (“UCC”), which is the law in all 50 states of the US except Louisiana. In essence, the UCC blessed contract of sale between the merchant (winery, distiller, or retailer) and the customer is entered into in the jurisdiction where the merchant is licensed (and located), and delivery of the purchased goods is completed (and all sales taxes paid) in that same state of licensure, regardless of where the consumer is located.
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BARS AND NIGHTCLUBS BEWARE! THE DRUG TESTING REGIME STARTS ON JULY 1ST AND YOU MUST BE READY!
Starting July 1, 2024, holders of a Type 48 (bars and nightclubs that do not sell food) license issued by the California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) must be able to provide drug testing devices to customers, as stated in Business and Professions Code § 25624. Nightclubs will be most affected because of the kind of events taking place (typically heavy on musical talent and concerts attended by screaming fans).
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Strategic Exit Planning: Positioning Your Alcohol Beverage Business for Successful Acquisition or Investment
When launching an alcohol beverage business, it is crucial to consider your exit strategy from the start. Below are key questions designed to guide founders through preparing their business for a future investment or acquisition:
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New California Alcohol Laws for 2024 – a Mixed Bag of Privileges, Punishments, Clarifications, and Politics
The California legislature adopted, and the Governor approved, several changes to the state’s alcohol laws for 2024, with many amendments already effective. Below is our summary of the new laws that producers, wholesalers, and retailers of beer, wine, and spirits should know are now binding on them, along with our editorial comments on what the laws mean to our clients.
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TTB Speaks up on Social Media
After 9 long years of technological advancement in the internet age, TTB quietly released Industry Circular: 2022-2, updating its Industry Circular: 2013-01 on alcohol social media last week. As a longtime legal advisor on compliant alcohol marketing, I was very curious what direction TTB would go, since so much has changed in this space since 2013, when TTB had to explain to industry members that social media was not just a conversation among friends but was actually regulated advertising. In this post, I will remind readers what the old policy said, explain what has changed in the new policy, and point out what’s missing.
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Alcohol Trade Practices Update
I had the pleasure of being invited to speak on alcohol trade practices by Carrie Bonnington and Marc Sorini at the CLE International Beer Wine & Spirits Conference in Phoenix last week, which had some really great presentations on the industry. I shared the trade practices panel with Alva Mather and for anyone who missed it, here is a quick summary of the latest on trade practices:
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President Biden just made a big cannabis announcement... what does it mean?
On Thursday, President Biden announced that he will be pardoning all past offenses of simple possession of marijuana by citizens and legal residents in violation of the Controlled Substances Act. He stated that these offenses have affected “thousands” of people (the Sentencing Commission’s latest data is from 2008-2013 and it is in the low thousands).
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The Uniform Law Commission – Encouraging Consistent State by State Definitions, Protocols and Procedures
The Uniform Law Commission was founded in 1892 to formulate uniform and model laws for the States to consider adopting to ensure consistency in commerce, child custody rules, easement relocations, and accuracy of criminal records, among others, between the States. Over 300 model and uniform acts have been completed and presented to the various states as recommendations and best practices. As nationwide commerce grew so did the number of uniform and model acts. The ULC works by consensus among the members and observers.
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San Francisco to the Governor - Review the RBS Program and Delay Implementation. Problems must be Corrected.
On June 14, 2022, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors unanimously adopted a Resolution drafted by Supervisors Connie Chan, Aaron Peskin, Gordon Mar and Shamann Walton to request Governor Newsom delay implementation of the ABC’s mandatory Responsible Beverage Server Training Program (“RBS”) for one year until July 1, 2023.
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TTB and Consignment Sales – Is There a Disconnect Between Policy Development and Business Reality?
Last Friday, the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB), U.S. Treasury Department, introduced more confusion in its five years of aggressive unfair trade practice enforcement around the country. TTB issued Industry Circular 2022-1, Payment Terms Under Consignment Sales Provision, under the guise of providing guidance and clarification. The press release glowingly described the industry circular “As part of our continuing effort to ensure a level playing field and provide clarity to the alcohol beverage industry, TTB has…provide(d) additional guidance regarding payment terms under the consignment sales provisions.”
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RBS ADDENDUM – THE LATEST FROM THE ABC AS THE AGENCY PROVIDES MORE INFORMATION ON THE CALIFORNIA ABC’S MANDATORY RESPONSIBLE BEVERAGE SERVER PROGRAM
To no one’s surprise, the deeper the industry (and the ABC itself) digs into the upcoming RBS program requirements, definitions, and consequences, the more detailed the nuances of the program become. The California alcoholic beverage industry is more than just waiters and waitresses – the service of alcohol cuts across every facet of California business and every type of alcoholic beverage license issued by the ABC (currently 75 discrete license types, each with different privileges and many combined with other license types for special purposes). This is the reason our original estimate of the likely number of people required to be trained was multiples of the ABC’s estimated one million.
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THE STATE OF TO-GO BOOZE IN CALIFORNIA
If you have an on-sale liquor license in California, knowing whether or what alcohol you can sell “to-go” is even more confusing now than it was before Covid. During the pandemic, the California ABC relaxed rules and allowed restaurants and bars to exercise privileges – like sell sealed bottles to-go and pre-mixed cocktails or glasses of wine to-go - that weren’t allowed before. Then, as of January 1, 2022, some allowances were taken away, while others were made permanent (by way of new laws). So as an ABC-licensed California restaurant or bar, what can you do, and what can’t you do, now?
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BOOZE RULES SPECIAL EDITION – THE RESPONSIBLE BEVERAGE SERVICE PROGRAM FACTS AND REQUIREMENTS
AB 1221 was passed into law in 2017 mandating every person in California who serves alcohol must take and pass a mandatory training course – “The Responsible Beverage Service Act of 2017” (“RBS”). The ABC staff developed a detailed curriculum and detailed rules regarding the RBS training program. This Blog summarizes the key facts and requirements to help all servers (and licensee owners) be compliant.
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Competition in the Beverage Alcohol Industry Continues Under the Microscope – Part 3
Capitol Hill may be gridlocked in Washington, DC, but the White House is not. Methodically, the Biden-Harris Administration’s roll out of the New American Dream for the economy continues rolling forward. One aspect of that rollout was advanced this week when the United States Treasury Department released its report “Competition in the Markets for Beer, Wine, and Spirits” (Report) as required under Executive Order 14036, Promoting Competition in the American Economy. This article continues a series on this major initiative of the Biden-Harris Administration that is covered in two previous articles on this blog in July…
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Competition in the Beverage Alcohol Industry Under the Microscope – Part 2
Activity and chatter around President Biden’s executive order on competition continues to grow.[i] As you recall, of the 72 action items in the executive order (EO), two involve alcohol beverages.[ii] Essentially, the first covers consolidation in the industry at all tiers and the second covers whether the current unfair trade practice rules impede or pose obstacles for new entrants into the tiers. The Treasury Department is tasked with submitting a report on consolidation to the White House within 120 days from the date of the EO and Treasury and the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) are tasked with submitting a report on unfair trade practices within 240 days. Consultation with the Federal Trade Commission and the Antitrust Division of the Justice Department is required.