Alcoholic beverage control: neighborhood-restricted special on-sale general licenses.

Assembly Member Mark González builds a county-focused licensing framework that would introduce a limited, neighborhood-restricted category of on-sale licenses for bona fide public eating places in Los Angeles County, beginning in 2026. The measure authorizes up to 12 new original neighborhood-restricted special on-sale general licenses per year, with a hard cap of 40 licenses issued overall, constrained to premises located in specific census tracts identified in three groups. Each group cannot exceed 20 licenses concurrently across its tracts, preventing concentration within any single geographic block.

The license issuance would follow the standard on-sale process for bona fide eating places, but with carve-outs and conditions specific to this program. A license may not be issued until any existing on-sale licenses for the same premises are canceled, and applicants must meet all criteria applicable to bona fide eating-place licenses. Eligibility includes prohibitions on individuals who currently hold or have held an on-sale license or an interest in one within the past year in relation to the same premises. Transfers are highly restricted: licenses may not transfer between counties and, generally, may not transfer to a different premises, with limited exceptions for destruction of premises or transfers within the same neighborhood; a license may not be sold for more than the original fee paid. The department may designate these licenses as “on-sale general for special use” without altering substantive privileges or restrictions, and it may adopt rules to enforce the section.

Implementation and oversight would fall to the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control, which would must establish processes to track tract-group allocations, enforce per-group concurrency limits, manage the annual and cumulative caps, and ensure compliance with the applicable sections governing licensing procedures and transfers. The measure stipulates effective dates and a finite issuance horizon—no new licenses after the 40 total cap is reached, with eligibility and procedural requirements anchored in the broader ABC licensing framework—while providing no explicit statewide appropriation, leaving fiscal considerations to the standard committee review. The accompanying findings contend that a special statute is necessary due to the unique distribution and market conditions of liquor licenses in Los Angeles County, guiding the geographic and regulatory narrowness of the measure.

Taken together, the proposal creates a discrete, county-specific pathway for expanding restaurant-based alcohol service within tightly defined neighborhoods, balanced by group-based caps, strict transfer controls, and alignment with existing licensing procedures. The framework positions the ABC to administer a targeted pilot-like program while preserving the broader structure of California’s alcohol licensing regime and the bona fide eating-place standard.