Virtual Stakeholder Meeting Q&As

The law goes into effect on July 1, 2022.

ABC will not be offering an RBS training course, as we will be acting as the accreditation agency. Our LEAD program is being modified into a training program that will be specific to off-sale licensees.

No, there are no additional fees associated with when a training provider reports that a server has completed their training course. Upon registration, a server will pay $3.00 for their first three attempts to pass the certification exam.

We are looking into alternative payment methods for these situations. However, at this time, we can only take payment via our pay portal, which requires a credit card with the Mastercard or Visa logo.

We do not currently have a Certified Program logo or design, but we will research the feasibility and post updates to the FAQ’s as we learn more.

ABC will be issuing the server their unique certification number once they have successfully passed the alcohol server certification exam. The server will be able to view this status upon login. The training provider is issuing the certificate of completion for training.

No, the exclusion is for anyone involved in creating our alcohol server certification exam or if the training provider company was acting as an accreditation agency.

Yes, to obtain a copy of the PowerPoint used during the Zoom meeting, please email rbstp@abc.ca.gov.

The course may not be a “click-through,” meaning that a server must be actively engaged in the training course. It is up to the training provider to determine how the server will navigate their training course.

The course in its entirety will need to be uploaded into the application. The program file types are outlined in the Training Provider Instructions that will be provided to you.

Please see section 168 of our regulations for what information is required for an RBS course.

We are not regulating the cost of the course.

Yes.

Please refer to section 168 of our regulations for what is required for submission of the Training Provider Application. Any and all materials intended for use in, during, or after the course will need to be submitted for review and approval.

Yes, so as long as all of the required curriculum elements are included in the course.

We differentiate courses as online or in-person and by language. Training on a mobile phone app would qualify as an online course.

Currently, no one is approved as a Department authorized training provider under AB 1221. There will be a group release for the first wave of training providers approved just prior to the Server release. The rest will be granted approval as their applications are approved.

No, we are providing the curriculum outline and the items required to be taught, but the training providers will be creating their own programs based on our requirements.

The curriculum requirements are listed in sections 162-166, and our available regulations on our website.

No. 

No. The exam is proprietary to ABC. However, the exam was designed using the required curriculum and does not include any information outside of the curriculum standards as provided in the regulations.

Access to the exam is immediate once the training provider has confirmed that the server has completed their training course in the RBS portal.

The cost of the exam is $3.00; it is included as part of the alcohol server’s registration into the RBS portal. The server has three attempts to pass the exam before retaking the training and paying $3.00 for the exam.

Yes.

The server cannot take the certification exam without completing training from an authorized training provider. The training provider is only granting servers who have completed their training course access to the exam. In order to give the server access to the exam, the server will need to be registered in the RBS Portal before taking training.

LiveScan and/or fingerprint cards will be sent to their intended users after the training provider has submitted their application.

Fingerprinting can be done outside of California, similar to the fingerprinting process for ABC Licensees.

Section 168.2 outlines who qualifies as needing to be fingerprinted for your business entity. The training provider must provide a valid fingerprint record of each owner and officer of the applicant to the Department.

The fingerprinting process will be initiated once your application is assigned to an analyst for review. Your analyst will send you the appropriate fingerprinting information based on your residency.

No. The fingerprinting process will be initiated once your application is submitted and appropriate fingerprint fees have been paid.  Your assigned analyst will send you the appropriate fingerprinting information based on your residency.

Yes. We have created a Government entity application for those who qualify as a government entity and are applying to be a training provider.

The server will have three attempts to pass the exam.  If the server fails the exam three times, they will be locked out of the exam. The server will need to retake the training and repay $3.00 for the exam.

If you are an ABC licensee who is also acting as an authorized training provider, then yes, you may confirm that your servers have completed training. Servers will need to register themselves in the RBS Portal before taking the training.

All owners of an LLC will need to be fingerprinted if they are also applying to be an authorized training provider. If that company is also an ABC licensee, then any member who makes decisions or policies around alcohol service would need to be trained and certified in RBS (see definition of a manager of alcohol server).

There is no limit to the number of approved Department authorized RBS training providers. 

Yes, as long as it meets the course requirements outlined in section 161 of the regulations.

Anyone who has previously been trained in RBS will need to take training from a Department authorized training provider and pass the alcohol server certification exam.

Yes, you may offer your training course in any language you desire.

No.

No, we are not regulating the length of time it takes to complete a training course. That would be up to the training provider on how they wish to conduct their business.

We are not regulating the length of time that a program lasts.  Based on the required course content, we estimate an average course to be between 3-4 hours, but each training provider will determine their program’s actual course length.

Yes.

It depends on how it is done.

The $1000 fee is for the initial application program fee. Each training program requires its own $1000 application fee. Please refer to section 168.3 for training provider fees.

The regulations are available on our website.

The server is responsible for creating an account in the RBS portal. One may not be created for them by another person or training provider. The $3 fee is part of the server registration process. The server should create an account with ABC prior to taking training.

Per Section 168.3(d) of the regulations, the training provider has 24 hours to update the RBS portal after a server has completed their training course. We are working on developing an electronic means to have training providers be able to do mass confirmations or confirmation through API. For now, the data entry is a manual process to be completed by the training provider or their designee.

That functionality is still in development, so it will be a manual process in which the training provider will be the one to enter who has completed their training course to grant the server access to the exam.

That functionality is still in development, so it will be a manual process in which the training provider will be the one to enter who has completed their training course to grant the server access to the exam. Once the training provider has confirmed training in the RBS Portal, the server will receive notification from the RBS Portal that they may now take their certification exam.

Upon the server’s completion of your training course, you will need to instruct them to go back to the RBS Portal in order to take their certification exam. Once the training provider has confirmed training, the server will receive notification from the RBS Portal that they may now take their certification exam.

The API’s for online providers will not be established at the time of the server release. We certainly understand the desire for this functionality, and we have placed a high priority on it. We are working with the development vendor to complete it as soon as possible.

At a minimum, the training provider will need to capture the server’s name, email, and Server Identification Number as issued by ABC. The Server Identification Number is provided to the server when they register with ABC in the RBS portal.

Then the Training Provider cannot grant access to the exam until the server has registered. If for some reason, the training provider cannot confirm a server has completed training within the 24-hour period, then the training provider will need to email RBSTP to notify the RBSTP Manager of the circumstances surrounding the reason for the delay of granting exam access. Training Providers should be encouraging their students to have registered in the RBS portal before signing up for training. The encouragement can be as simple as requiring their server identification number as part of the course registration process.  

Yes.

Once we have a scheduled release date for server access, we will post that information on the RBS webpage as well as send out notifications through our email subscription service.