SB1273 - Alcoholic beverages: tied-house restrictions: instructional events and promotional lectures: advertisements.

Amended IN Assembly August 18, 2026 Amended IN Assembly May 28, 2026 CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2025–2026 REGULAR SESSION Senate Bill No. 1273 Introduced by Senator Cabaldon (Coauthor: Senator McNerney) (Coauthor: Assembly Member Aguiar-Curry) February 20, 2026 An act to amend Sections 25503.4, 25503.45, 25503.56, and 25503.57 of the Business and Professions Code, relating to alcoholic beverages. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST SB 1273, as amended, Cabaldon. Alcoholic beverages: tied-house restrictions: instructional events and promotional lectures: video advertisements. Existing law, the Alcoholic Beverage Control Act, which is administered by the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control, regulates the application, issuance, and suspension of alcoholic beverage licenses. Existing law, known as tied-house restrictions, generally prohibits a manufacturer, winegrower, manufacturer’s agent, rectifier, California winegrower’s agent, distiller, bottler, importer, and wholesaler, and any officer, director, or agent of any of those persons, from giving or lending money or a thing of value to a person operating, owning, or maintaining any on-sale premises where alcoholic beverages are sold. Existing law provides certain exceptions to this prohibition if specified requirements are met. Existing law authorizes certain licensees or their representatives to conduct or participate in certain instruction or instructional events, as specified, if specified conditions are met. In this regard, specified information, pictures, illustrations, and depictions of the retailer’s premises, personnel, and customers may be listed in advertisements for the event if the pictures, illustrations, or depictions are relatively inconspicuous in relation to the advertisement as a whole and video is not permitted. This bill would make changes to the provisions related to advertising for the events described in the above paragraph, including, among other things, authorizing the advertisement to contain include videos up to 60 seconds long. of the retailer’s premises, personnel, and customers and contain or consist of pictures, illustrations, videos, and graphical depictions. The bill would prohibit videos of the retailer’s premises, personnel, and customers from being longer than 60 seconds in duration. The bill would remove the requirement that the specified information and any pictures, illustrations, or depictions be relatively inconspicuous in relation to the advertisement as a whole. Existing law authorizes specified information of a winegrower, wine importer, or winegrower’s agent licensee, the brand names of wine being featured, and the time, date, location, and other identifying information of a wine promotional lecture at retail premises to be listed in advance of the event in an advertisement of the off-sale or on-sale retail licensee. This bill would also authorize the advertisement to include pictures, illustrations, videos, and depictions of the winegrower, wine importer, or winegrower’s agent licensee and would authorize the advertisement to contain or consist of pictures, illustrations, videos, or depictions of the winegrower, wine importer, or winegrower’s agent. graphical depictions. Existing law authorizes a licenseholder or on-sale retail licensee to advertise an instructional tasting event to the general public, and specifies that permitted advertisements include flyers, newspaper ads, internet communications, and interior signage. This bill would instead authorize a licenseholder or on-sale retail licensee to advertise an instructional tasting event, and would remove the provision that specifies what advertisements are permitted. Digest Key Vote: MAJORITY Appropriation: NO Fiscal Committee: YES Local Program: NO Bill Text The people of the State of California do enact as follows: SECTION 1. Section 25503.4 of the Business and Professions Code is amended to read: 25503.4. (a) Notwithstanding any other provision of this division, a winegrower, California winegrower’s agent, wine importer, or any director, partner, officer, agent, or representative of that person, may conduct or participate in, and serve wine at, an instructional event for consumers held at a retailer’s premises featuring wines produced by or for the winegrower or, imported by the wine importer, subject to the following conditions: (1) No premium, gift, free goods, or other thing of value may be given away in connection with the instructional event by the winegrower, California winegrower’s agent, wine importer, or retailer, except as authorized by this division. (2) No alcoholic beverages may be given away in connection with the instructional event except that minimal amounts of wine, taken from barrels or from tanks, may be supplied and provided as samples at the instructional event. A person authorized by this subdivision may also provide no more than three one-ounce tastes of wine per consumer at the instructional event from bottles of wine provided by the authorized person. For purposes of this section, minimal amounts of the samples or tastes provided at the instructional event do not constitute a thing of value. Following the instructional event, any unused wine provided by the authorized person shall be removed from the retailer’s premises by the authorized person. (3) No alcoholic beverages may be sold at the instructional event, except that orders for the sale of wine may be accepted by the winegrower if the sales transaction is completed at the winegrower’s premises. (b) Notwithstanding Section 25502.2, a person identified in subdivision (a) appearing at an instructional event described in subdivision (a) may, in addition to other permitted activities, provide autographs to consumers on consumer advertising specialties given by the person to a consumer or on any item provided by a consumer. No purchase of any alcoholic beverage shall be required in connection with such autographing. (c) Notwithstanding any other provision of this division, in addition to any point-of-sale advertising or other advertising items allowed under this division or under rules of the department, a winegrower, California winegrower’s agent, or wine importer, in advance of an instructional event for consumers being held at a retailer’s premises, may list or reference list, reference, or include in any advertisement for the instructional event the name, address, telephone number, email address, internet website address, and any other electronic media of the retailer, the names of the wines being featured at the instructional event, pictures, illustrations, videos, and depictions of the retailer’s premises, personnel, and customers, and the time, date, and location of, and other information about, the instructional event, and the advertisement may contain or consist of pictures, illustrations, videos, and depictions of the retailer’s premises, personnel, and customers, graphical depictions, if both of the following conditions are satisfied: (1) The advertisement does not also contain the retail price of the wines. (2) Laudatory references to the retailer in these advertisements are not authorized and the advertisement as a whole shall not otherwise promote a retailer beyond its participation in the event. Videos of the retailer’s premises, personnel, and customers in the advertisement shall not be longer than 60 seconds in duration. The reposting of social media posts, including posts by the retailer, is permitted provided that the reposting complies with all the requirements of this section. (d) Notwithstanding any other provision of this division, the name, address, telephone number, email address, internet website address, and any other electronic media media, and pictures, illustrations, videos, and depictions of a winegrower, wine importer, or winegrower’s agent licensee, the brand names of wine being featured, and the time, date, location, and other identifying information of a wine promotional lecture at retail premises may be listed or referenced listed, referenced, or included in advance of the event in an advertisement of the off-sale or on-sale retail licensee, and the licensee. The advertisement may contain or consist of pictures, illustrations, videos, or depictions of the winegrower, wine importer, or winegrower’s agent. and graphical depictions. (e) Nothing in this section authorizes a winegrower, wine importer, or winegrower’s agent licensee to share in the costs, if any, of the retailer licensee’s advertisement. (f) Nothing in this section authorizes any person to consume any alcoholic beverage on any premises licensed with an off-sale retail license. SEC. 2. Section 25503.45 of the Business and Professions Code is amended to read: 25503.45. (a) Notwithstanding any other provision of this division, a licensed beer manufacturer or a holder of beer and wine importer’s general license, or any director, partner, officer, agent, or representative of that person, may instruct consumers at an on-sale retail licensed premises authorized to sell its product with the permission of the on-sale retail licensee. The instruction may include serving beer sold by the on-sale retail licensee to the consumer and providing information on the history, nature, values, and characteristics of the beer, and methods of presenting and serving the beer. Orders for the sale of beer may be accepted by the beer manufacturer conducting an instructional event if the sales transaction is completed at the beer manufacturer’s licensed premises. (b) A person authorized by subdivision (a), in advance of an authorized instructional event, may list or reference list, reference, or include in an advertisement for the instructional event the name, address, telephone number, email address, internet website address, and any other electronic media of the retailer, the names of the beers being featured at the instructional event, pictures, illustrations, videos, and depictions of the retailer’s premises, personnel, and customers, and the time, date, and location of, and other information about, the instructional event, and the advertisement may contain or consist of pictures, illustrations, videos, and depictions of the retailer’s premises, personnel, and customers, graphical depictions, subject to the following limitations: (1) The advertisement does not also contain the retail price of the beers. (2) Laudatory references to the retailer in these advertisements are not authorized and the advertisement as a whole shall not otherwise promote a retailer beyond its participation in the event. Videos of the retailer’s premises, personnel, and customers in the advertisement shall not be longer than 60 seconds in duration. The reposting of social media posts, including posts by the retailer, is permitted provided that the reposting complies with all the requirements of this section. (c) An on-sale retail licensee’s advertisement of an authorized instructional event may include the name, address, and brand names of the person authorized by subdivision (a), however nothing in this section allows that person to share in the costs of the on-sale retail licensee’s advertisement. (d) For purposes of this section, a licensed beer and wine wholesaler shall not be a representative of a beer manufacturer or a holder of a beer and wine importer’s general license. (e) Notwithstanding any other provision of this division, no alcoholic beverage may be given away in connection with the instructional event authorized by this section. SEC. 3. Section 25503.56 of the Business and Professions Code is amended to read: 25503.56. (a) An authorized licensee, or a designated representative of an authorized licensee acting as an agent of the authorized licensee, may conduct, on the area specified by paragraph (1) of subdivision (c) of Section 23396.6, an instructional tasting event for consumers on the subject of wine, beer, or distilled spirits, including, but not limited to, the history, nature, values, and characteristics of wine, beer, or distilled spirits, and the methods of presenting and serving wine, beer, or distilled spirits. (1) (A) Except as provided in subparagraph (B), the instructional tasting event may include the serving of alcoholic beverages to an attendee of legal drinking age. An instructional tasting event on the subject of wine or distilled spirits shall be limited to not more than three tastings per person per day. A single tasting of distilled spirits shall not exceed one-fourth of one ounce and a single tasting of wine shall not exceed one ounce. An instructional tasting event on the subject of beer shall be limited to not more than the tasting of eight ounces of beer per person per day. The wine, beer, or distilled spirits tasted shall be limited to the products that are authorized to be sold by the authorized licensee and the licenseholder under its off-sale license. (B) A beer and wine wholesaler may conduct an instructional tasting event but shall not serve tastes of beer unless the beer and wine wholesaler also holds a beer manufacturer’s license, an out-of-state beer manufacturer’s certificate, or more than six distilled spirits wholesaler’s licenses. (C) No charge of any sort shall be made for the tastings. Except for the purposes of Section 23985, the serving of tastings shall not be deemed a sale of products pursuant to this division. (D) A person under 21 years of age shall not serve wine, beer, or distilled spirits at the instructional tasting event. (E) All tastes shall be served by an employee of the authorized licensee, the designated representative of the authorized licensee, or by an employee of the designated representative of the authorized licensee. (F) An authorized licensee, or a designated representative of an authorized licensee, shall either supply the wine or distilled spirits to be tasted during the instructional tasting event or purchase the wine or distilled spirits from the licenseholder at the original invoiced cost. An authorized licensee, or a designated representative of an authorized licensee, shall purchase beer to be tasted during the instructional tasting event from the licenseholder at the original invoiced cost. (G) Any unused wine, beer, or distilled spirits remaining from the tasting shall be removed from the off-sale licensed premises by the authorized licensee or its designated representative. (2) If the instructional tasting event is conducted by a designated representative of an authorized licensee, the designated representative shall not be owned, controlled, or employed directly or indirectly by the licenseholder on whose premises the instructional tasting event is held. (3) An instructional tasting event shall be limited to a single type of alcoholic beverage. For purposes of this paragraph, “type of alcoholic beverage” means distilled spirits, wine, or beer. (b) For purposes of this section: (1) “Authorized licensee” means a winegrower, California winegrower’s agent, be [Text truncated for display. Full text available on Congress.gov.]