Alcoholic beverages: additional licenses: hospitality zone.

Senator Wiener's proposal to create a designated hospitality zone in San Francisco would authorize up to 20 new on-sale general liquor licenses for restaurants, addressing decades-old population-based license caps that have constrained the city's food and beverage sector.

The legislation establishes specific criteria for the hospitality zone, which must encompass at least 1 million square feet of retail shopping space. San Francisco's governing body would designate the zone's boundaries through local ordinance and determine whether additional licenses serve public convenience. The Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control could issue 10 licenses in the first year following the zone's designation, with remaining licenses distributed at up to five per year thereafter.

These new licenses would carry distinct operational parameters. They cannot be transferred between counties or outside the hospitality zone, nor can they be sold for more than their original purchase price. Current on-sale general license holders within the zone would be ineligible to apply for these additional permits. The department may classify these as special-use licenses while maintaining all specified restrictions. No new licenses under this program would be issued after July 1, 2033.