Notice of Modification to Text of Proposed Regulations

Pursuant to the requirements of Government Code section 11346.8(c), and section 44 of Tittle 1 of the California Code of Regulations, the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control is providing notice of changes that have been made to the text of the proposed addition of Title 4 of the California Code of Regulations Title 4 section 147.

The proposal to add California Code of Regulations Title 4 section 147 was originally noticed to the public on October 23, 2020. The proposed addition was subject to hearing on December 2, 2020, and a forty-five-day written public comment period that closed on December 9, 2020. At the hearing and in the written public comment period, changes to the text of the addition of California Code of Regulations Title 4 section 147 were proposed. Specifically, the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control has made the following changes to the proposed regulations:

1. Refining the definitions of what constitutes an immediate threat to the public health, safety, and welfare pursuant to Title 2 California Code of Regulations section 147(b).
2. Making clear that there must be a pattern of sales of controlled substances or dangerous drugs at the licensed premises, or at premises adjacent to but still under control of the licensee, for that conduct to be considered an immediate threat to the public health, safety, and welfare.
3. Clarifying the definition of “law enforcement problem” to better help licensees and law enforcement agencies understand that the intent is to require a comparison between the drain on law enforcement resources caused by the subject licensed premises against other similarly situated licensed premises within the jurisdictional area of the law enforcement agency.
4. Making clear that a licensee must be aware of a public health order prior to the violation of it, that the order itself is directly related to the state of emergency, and the violation is also directly related to the declared emergency, to constitute an immediate threat to public health, safety, and welfare.

The necessity of each of these changes is explained in depth in the Addendum to the Initial Statement of Reasons published concurrently with this notice.

A copy of the full text of the regulation with the proposed changes indicated is attached for your review. Additions to the originally proposed language appear in italic underlined text and deletions are shown in strike though.

Any interested person may submit a written statement relating to the modified language during the public comment period from January 8, 2021 and January 25, 2021. The written comment period will close at 12:00 p.m. on January 25, 2021. Submit written comments to:

The Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control
3927 Lennane Drive, Suite 100
Sacramento, CA 95834

Attention: Law and Policy Unit

Comments may also be submitted by email to rpu@abc.ca.gov.

All written comments received by the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control by 12:00 pm January 25, 2021, which pertain to the indicated changes, will be reviewed and responded to by the Department’s staff as part of the compilation of the rulemaking file. Please limit your comments to the proposed modifications to the text which will appear in italic underlined text or in strike though.

Questions concerning the changes to the proposed regulatory action may be addressed to the agency representative, Robert de Ruyter, Assistant General Counsel, (916) 419-8958, or (designated backup contact) Sonny Bains, Associate Governmental Program Analyst, Law and Policy Unit, (916) 285-0891.