SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Californians can continue ordering their Paloma cocktails to go under a new law signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday.
The legislation, Senate Bill 389, allows California restaurants to serve to-go alcoholic beverages to customers until the end of 2026.
The bill requires customers to buy a meal with their to-go drinks and limits customers to a maximum of two beverages per meal. Restaurants are also required to package the beverages with a secure lid or cap “designed to prevent consumption without removal of the lid or cap by breaking the seal,” according to the bill’s text.
“Restaurants have been hit hard by the pandemic and the ability to sell carry-out cocktails has been critical to ensuring they can survive,” said Sen. Bill Dodd, D-Napa in a statement. “Making this permanent will ensure their recovery, protecting jobs and our economy. I thank my fellow legislators for supporting this important proposal.”
Under the bill, mixed drinks and cocktails can’t exceed more than 4.5 ounces of distilled spirits.
Last year, the California Department of Alcohol Beverage Control permitted restaurants to sell alcohol to go in an effort to prevent restaurants from losing revenue amid the COVID-19 health crisis. Without Dodd’s bill, that policy was set to expire at the end of this year.
The California Restaurant Association also supported the legislation.
Newsom signed the measure at Kingston 11, a Jamaican restaurant in Oakland. The restaurant’s owner, Nigel Jones, said the state’s temporary rules that allowed him to sell takeout drinks helped keep his business afloat during the pandemic. He said his restaurant has “bounced back” thanks to the the to-go drinks and the pandemic rules that let him expand his restaurant’s eating area outside.
In a statement, the group’s senior vice president Matt Sutton commended the bill as it would help the restaurant community “rebuild over the next few years from the current economic devastation — and return as one of California’s largest private-sector employers.”
Co-authors of the bill include Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco and Assemblymembers Laura Friedman, D-Glendale and Cristina Garcia, D-Bell Gardens.
On Tuesday, Newsom also signed bills to help restaurants maintain the outdoor eating areas many created because of COVID-19. The new legislation will let businesses keep their temporary outdoor spaces until 2024 or until a year after the pandemic emergency ends, whichever comes first.
“Eat your heart out, Paris!” Newsom said before signing the bills, referencing the French city’s famous outdoor dining. “This is a pathway for these businesses to frankly make up for a lot of the constraints that have been imposed upon them over these last 18 months.”
———
