Please note the following is not an exhaustive list of all relevant laws. For example, updates to COVID-19-related restrictions are not addressed, nor is any Federal law. In addition, the overview provided here does not include every aspect of each bill. This is intended as a highlight to red flag potential issues. For any area of concern, you are encouraged to reach out to local legal counsel.
SB 19 – Allowing 2nd Licensed Branch Premises for Tastings & Retail Sales – Effective 1/1/2022
The former law prohibited a winegrower or brandy manufacturer from selling wine or brandy to consumers, or engaging in winetasting activities, at more than one licensed branch premise. This bill revises the prohibition to allow a winegrower or brandy manufacturer to sell wine or brandy to consumers, or to engage in winetasting activities, at up to TWO licensed branch premises.
CA Business & Professions Code.
AB 239 – Consumer Provided Containers – Effective 1/1/2022
Under prior law, a winery could not, at its Duplicate Type 02 premises, sell or deliver wine to consumers in containers supplied, furnished, or sold by the consumer. AB 239 amends the Alcoholic Beverage Control Act to allow consumers to provide their own bottles and containers to be filled at a Duplicate Type 02 tasting room premises.
CA Business & Professions Code.
AB 1267 – Advertising Charitable Donations with Sale of Alcohol – Effective 1/1/2022
The Alcoholic Beverage Control Act prohibits a licensee from giving a premium, gift or free goods in connection with the sale and distribution of any alcoholic beverage, except as provided. The bill authorizes a winegrower, a beer manufacturer, a distilled spirits manufacturer, a craft distiller, a brandy manufacturer, a rectifier or a wine rectifier to donate a portion of the purchase price of an alcoholic beverage to a nonprofit charitable organization in connection with the sale or distribution of an alcohol beverage, subject to certain limitations.
Promotion or advertisement of the donation shall not directly encourage or reference the consumption of alcoholic beverages.
This carved out exception sunsets on Jan. 1, 2025.
CA Business & Professions Code.
SB 793 – Alcoholic Beverages & Music Venue Licenses – Effective 1/1/2023
This bill establishes a “music venue license,” to be issued by the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control, to a music entertainment facility that may be open to all ages. The license will allow alcoholic beverage service to adults only, including beer, wine, and distilled spirits. The license allows consumption on the premises during the time period from two hours before a live performance at the venue until one hour after the live performance.
CA Business & Professions Code.
SB 1370 – Alcoholic Beverage Licenses – Specific to Nonprofit Radio Broadcasting Companies – Effective 1/1/2023
This bill makes nonprofit radio broadcasting companies eligible for a type 64 license, subject to the same licensing fees as nonprofit theater companies. Similar to nonprofit theater companies, a nonprofit radio broadcasting company is not considered a public premises and may sell alcoholic beverages to ticketholders only from two hours before until one hour after a bona fide performance, and the license is only for a single specified premises.
CA Business & Professions Code.
SB 3 (2016) Minimum Wage Increase – Incrementally Effective 1/1/2023
Due to the incremental enactment of SB 3(2016), the California minimum wage increased to $15.50 per hour, effective Jan. 1, 2023 for all employers.
This hourly wage increase adds businesses with 25 or fewer workers to the existing requirements for employers with more than 25 workers.
CA Labor Code.
SB 1162 – Pay Data Reporting & Transparency – Effective 1/1/2023
Re Any employer with 100 or more employees/100 or more labor contract employees. Employers must submit pay data reports to the CA Civil Rights Department within the Business, Consumer Services and Housing Agency on or before the second Wednesday of May 2023, and for each year thereafter on or before the second Wednesday of May. A separate report is required for each individual location.
The Bill requires the pay data reports to include the median and mean hourly rate for each combination of race, ethnicity and sex within each job category. This Bill deletes the provision authorizing an employer to submit an EEO-1 in lieu of a pay data report. The Bill also includes job posting transparency requirements for pay ranges and contains civil penalties for failure to comply.
CA Government Code; CA Labor Code.
AB 1041 – Family Leave – California Family Rights Act– Effective 1/1/2023
For employers of five or more employees, this Bill expands the class of people for whom an employee may take leave to care for to include a designated person, not necessarily related by blood, but by the equivalent of a family relationship. The bill would authorize an employer to limit an employee to one designated person per 12-month period.
The Bill also expands the definition of the term “family member” to include a designated person, which, for purposes of these provisions, would mean a person identified by the employee at the time the employee requests paid sick days, subject to limitation by the employer, as prescribed.
CA Government Code; CA Labor Code.
AB 1949 – Bereavement Leave – California Family Rights Act – Effective 1/1/2023
This Bill makes it an unlawful employment practice for an employer to refuse to grant a request by an eligible employee to take up to five days of bereavement leave upon the death of a family member, as defined. The bill would require that leave be completed within three months of the date of death. The bill would require that leave be taken pursuant to any existing bereavement leave policy of the employer. Under the bill, in the absence of an existing policy, bereavement leave may be unpaid.
For purposes of this Bill, “Employee” means a person employed by the employer for at least 30 days prior to the commencement of the leave and does not include civil service.
CA Government Code.
AB 1066(2016) – Overtime Pay for Agriculture Workers –Incrementally Effective 1/1/2023
In 2016, Assembly Bill 1066 created a timetable for agricultural workers to receive overtime pay so they will gradually receive overtime pay on the same basis as workers in most other industries (after eight hours per day or 40 hours per week.)
Starting Jan. 1, 2023, employers with 25 or fewer employees must pay agriculture workers overtime after 9 hours per day or 50 hours per week. Large employers with 26 or more employees since January 1, 2022, must pay agriculture workers overtime after 8 hours in a day or 40 hours in a week.
Additional increments go into effect 1/1/2024 and 1/1/2025.
CA Labor Code.
AB 2183 – Labor Peace Contracts for Ag Employees – Effective 1/1/2023
Existing law grants agricultural employees the right to form and join labor organizations and engage in collective bargaining with respect to wages, terms of employment and other employment conditions, and authorizes employees to elect exclusive bargaining representatives for these purposes.
This Bill refers to the election by secret ballot process as a polling place election. The bill establishes alternative procedures to the polling place election and authorize a labor organization to be certified as the exclusive bargaining representative of a bargaining unit through either a labor peace election or a non-labor peace election, as prescribed, dependent on whether an employer enrolls and agrees to a labor peace election for labor organization representation campaigns. The Bill establishes a schedule for agricultural employers to indicate to the board whether they agree to a labor peace compact.
This bill prescribes civil penalties to be imposed upon an agricultural employer who commits an unfair labor practice.
CA Labor Code.
SB 1013 – Beverage Container Recycling – Effective 1/1/2024
This bill amends the California Beverage Container Recycling and Litter Reduction Act (Bottle Bill). This bill requires a wine direct shipper permitholder, before sending any shipment to a resident of California, to register with the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery as a beverage manufacturer and distributor under the California Beverage Container Recycling and Litter Reduction Act. The act requires a distributor to pay a redemption payment for every beverage container sold or offered for sale in the state to the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery and requires the department to deposit those amounts in the California Beverage Container Recycling Fund. This amendment revises the definition of beverage to include distilled spirits and wine or wine from which alcohol has been removed in whole or in part, whether sparkling or carbonated.
Wine direct shipper permitholders are required to register with CalRecycle as a beverage manufacturer and to comply with the Bottle Bill, including the reporting and payment provisions applicable to the permitholder as a beverage manufacturer and distributor. Failure to comply may result in suspension or revocation of the shipper permit.
A violation of the act is a crime.
Additional labeling requirements go into effect in 2025.
CA Business & Professions Code; CA Public Resources Code.
Micro-Winery Ordinance Specific to Napa County Only – Effective 5/5/2022
The Ordinance streamlines the use permit application process to allow family farm winegrape growers to produce and sell wine at their farms. The application is processed by the zoning administrator, rather than going through the more formal process with the planning commission.
This process is only available to micro-wineries fermenting on-site at least 201 gallons of wine annually but having a capacity for no more than 5,000 gallons annually. Subject wineries must be on parcels of at least 10 acres, and within the Ag Preserve and the Ag Watershed zones. Facilities must be no more than 5,000 square feet, including storage, processing facilities, tasting areas and caves. At least 75% of the grapes used in fermentation on-site are grown on the same property as the micro-winery or contiguous parcels under the same ownership. No more than 20 Average Daily Trips are generated by visitors, employees or deliveries. Tours, tastings and retail sales may be conducted on-site, but only between the hours of 9 a.m. and 6 p.m.
Once micro-winery use permit is approved, no additional or expanded permit will be considered for a two-year period post-approval.
The Ordinance sunsets in May 2025, at which time Napa County will re-evaluate the process.
Napa County Code of Ordinances
References
abc.ca.gov
calcivilrights.ca.gov/family-medical-pregnancy-leave/
dds.ca.gov/rc/vendor-provider/minimum-wage/
dir.ca.gov/
leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/
Botting, M., “California Tied-House Laws.” https://www.californiacraftbeer.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/ABC-Tied-House-Law.pdf
Corrigan, J. “7 California Employment Law Changes in 2023.” January 3, 2023. https://www.hcamag.com/us/specialization/employment-law/7-california-employment-law-changes-in-2023/431662
Gardner, D., Bollag, S., “Here are 13 new laws Californians must start following in 2023.” December 5, 2022. https://www.sfchronicle.com/politics/article/new-california-laws-2023-17626931.php
Auerbach Allderdice, L., Haney, J.H., Hill, T.E., Polk, L.N., Stone, S.J, Tellado, T, Vu, M.T., Sahachartsiri, B., “New California Labor & Employment Laws for 2023.” December 29, 2022. Holland & Knight Alert. https://www.hklaw.com/en/insights/publications/2022/12/new-california-labor-and-employment-laws-for-2023
McGuire Woods. “New California Employment Laws Take Effect in 2023.” January 4, 2023. https://www.mcguirewoods.com/client-resources/Alerts/2023/1/new-california-employment-laws-take-effect-in-2023
Neish, S., “New Napa Law Gives Micro-Wineries a Fighting Chance.” June 29, 2022. https://www.thedrinksbusiness.com/2022/06/new-napa-law-gives-micro-wineries-a-fighting-chance/
Tilley-Coulson, E., “California Leave Law Updates.” February 2023. https://www.lockelord.com/newsandevents/publications/2023/02/california-leave-law-updates2023#:~:text=The%20second%20new%20law%2C%20also,months%20of%20a%20qualifying%20death.
Trindad, J., Hobel, B., Mercurio, M., “New Laws Expand Winery Off-Site Tasting Room Privileges and Manufacturer Charitable Donation Advertising.” September 24, 2021. https://www.dpf-law.com/blogs/lex-vini/new-laws-expand-winery-off-site-tasting-room-privileges-and-manufacturer-charitable-donation-advertising/
