CA: Public safety groups want to cut off bill to let California bars serve until 4 a.m.

The San Diego Union-Tribune

By Joshua Stewart, Contact Reporter

August 23, 2017

As California lawmakers consider allowing bars to push back last call until 4 a.m., some public safety organizations are arguing that allowing people to drink alcohol later into the morning will increase crime.

“We believe that public safety matters more than alcohol profits,” said Lisa Bridges, a prevention specialist with the Community Action Service Advocacy for Safe and Healthy Neighborhoods.

She and others held a news conference on Tuesday to oppose a Senate Bill 384 by state Sens. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, and co-author Joel Anderson, R-El Cajon, that would allow some businesses to serve alcohol from 6 a.m. until as late as 4 a.m., pushing back closing time by two hours. A series of local requirements would have to be satisfied before any bars could extend their hours.

Wiener said the criticisms mischaracterize the bill and facts.

“We have worked closely with law enforcement — particularly the Police Chiefs Association and California Highway Patrolmen Association — on amendments to ensure that public safety is taken into account and that law enforcement has a seat at the table in any community considering extended hours,” he said, before noting that statewide law enforcement groups have taken a neutral stance on the bill.

Wiener and other supporters said that allowing bars to serve alcohol for two more hours would boost the entertainment, tourist and hospitality industries that are vital to the state’s economy, while giving counties and cities decide if they want to allow their businesses to stay open later.

The costs aren’t worth it, said Brian Curry, the former chair of the Pacific Beach Planning Group.

“Where’s the positive economic impact of our current law which allows drinking until 2 a.m.?” he said. “Does it in any way come close to exceeding the negative impacts resulting from injury, death, and law enforcement, (on) city services, and anti-social behavior?”

San Diego already struggles to keep streets clean, collect trash, and retain police officers, and extending bar hours will only create additional public nuisance and make law enforcement more challenging, he said.

The bill has provisions that allows communities to reject the extended bar hours if they don’t want them, Anderson said.

“This bill will allow tourist destinations an opportunity to apply to stay open later only with local support. Every scenario suggested by the naysayers would quickly fail to be approved in the process,” he said.

If the bill becomes law, cities and municipalities would have to create a task force that includes members from both local police departments and the Highway Patrol and others to evaluate the impact of allowing the extended alcohol licenses.

Before permits could be approved, the task force would have to determine that there was a public necessity or convenience by allowing the additional hours, businesses and residents support additional hours and areas near these bars would benefit. The panel would also consider how public safety would be affected, among other thing. Local governments would also have to pass an ordinance allowing for the additional hours.

The Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control would evaluate bars’ applications and determine if the extra hours “would unreasonably interfere with the quiet enjoyment of their property” by residents.

Different bar hours between different cities would only encourage people to drive — oftentimes while drunk — in order to find a business that is open late and still serving alcohol, critics said.

“This uniform time prevents bar hopping to find one last drink at establishments with later closing times,” said Christi Walker, a program specialist with Mothers Against Drunk Driving,.

The bill was passed by the state Senate in late May and is currently before the Assembly Appropriations Committee, chaired by Lorena Gonzalez Fletcher, D-San Diego.

The extended licenses could be issued as soon as January 1, 2020, if the bill becomes law.