TO: Board of Supervisors
FROM: Brian D. Bordona, Director of Planning, Building & Environmental Services
REPORT BY: Andrew M. Mize, Legislative & Policy Analyst
SUBJECT: AB 720 Implementation Discussion
RECOMMENDATION
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Receive presentation and provide direction regarding the County’s implementation of Assembly Bill 720 (Rogers). (No Fiscal Impact.)
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BACKGROUND
Effective January 1, 2026, under Assembly Bill 720 (Rogers, D-Santa Rosa), the California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) will offer an estate tasting event permit (known as a “Type 93 permit”) that may be issued to a licensed winegrower. The permit will grant the winegrower the ability to exercise its tasting room privileges, for wine manufactured by or for the winegrower, on either property adjacent to their licensed premises that is owned by or under control of the licensee, or a nonadjacent vineyard that is owned by or under control of the licensee. The purpose of the permit is to enable winegrowers to host special events in areas adjacent to their winery that are currently unlicensed or in their vineyard that is not licensed for alcohol sales and consumption.
In order to exercise the privileges of the permit, the winegrower must apply to ABC for an event authorization, and a permit holder is capped at receiving no more than 36 event authorizations per calendar year. Upon receiving the event authorization from ABC, the permit holder will be able to exercise its tasting room privileges in the approved area. Tasting room privileges that may be exercised include both on-sale and off-sale of the winegrower’s wine.
Key Elements
Regulatory Scope of Type 93 Permits
Type 93 permits allow special events to occur on properties containing vineyards, but do not contain a winery production facility. The authority to host these events stems from having a valid Type 02 winegrower license, and the purpose of a winegrower license from the ABC is authorization of the production and sale of wine by wineries and requires facilities and equipment for the conversion of fruit into wine.
The Bill clearly acknowledges that local governments have broad land use authority, with each municipality having the authority to establish its own approval requirements for special events. It is the responsibility of all winegrowers to obtain any approvals required from their local jurisdiction prior to holding an event, and an event authorization approved by ABC does not supersede or relieve the winegrower from receiving any approvals necessary from their local jurisdiction. The Bill is silent on application of other State regulations, including building and fire safety, ADA accessibility, food safety, water, and public health requirements.
Existing Policies Regulating Events and Marketing of Wine
For Napa County, Type 93 permits are a new category of events not previously contemplated in existing Napa County Code. They do not fall within the category of a Temporary Event (County Code Chapter 5.36).
The County regulates First Amendment temporary event activity under its Temporary Events ordinance. Under the code, a temporary event is any festival, fair, show, showcase, house or garden design tour, concert, dance, rally, parade, demonstration or competition of creative athletic form, or any other gathering or assemblage of individuals for the purpose of observing or engaging in expressive activities within the ambit of the First Amendment to which the public is invited or admitted with or without the payment of an admission charge.
Most temporary events require a ministerial permit that imposes reasonable “time, place, and manner” regulations on First Amendment activities, which under the ordinance, the County is required to permit everywhere in the unincorporated areas of the County. The temporary event license process was created because the County’s general plan and zoning do not provide a constitutionally sufficient opportunity for such events to occur in conformance with the County’s zoning regulations and General Plan. The temporary event license method of imposing health and safety (not zoning) regulations accomplishes this purpose.
First Amendment activities must feature an expressive activity, and the sale of a product must be purely incidental. Conduct is only entitled to constitutional protection if it is “sufficiently imbued with elements of communication.” Elements of communication requires, at the very least: (1) an intent to convey a particularized message along with (2) a great likelihood that the message will be understood by those viewing it.
Similarly, a winery use permit is required to be able to conduct marketing events because the winery is defined as agriculture and functions as the primary use to which the “marketing of wine” is accessory, subordinate, and incidental. Furthermore, marketing event activities (County Code section 18.08.370) are limited to the “marketing of wine” only at the winery parcel. Type 93 permits are not issued on parcels containing the winery.
The existing regulatory framework subjects these activities to applicable building and fire safety, ADA accessibility, food safety, water, and public health requirements, commensurate with the size, location, and intensity of the activity.
Request for Direction
Although Type 93 permits are not presently addressed within the existing regulatory framework, staff believes there are opportunities to establish a narrowly defined set of de minimis vineyard visits that could be integrated into the current regulatory structure for County’s Road and Street Standards (RSS). Fire Marshal Downs has indicated allowing a small number of shuttled visitors and vehicles to use defined agricultural roads would not be contradictory to current processes. At a minimum, such a limited scope would include the following parameters:
• Vineyard visits would occur no more than 36 days a year as allowed by AB 720.
• Each vineyard visit would be limited to no more than 15 people.
• Visitors must be shuttled in no greater than two vehicles to vineyards by the winegrower or its employees, and no visitor vehicles will be allowed at the vineyard.
• The vineyard visit would be limited to travel on agricultural roads with intermittent stops to provide educational experiences related to agriculture, grape growing and wine.
• Vineyard visits would be limited to travel-ways that meet the definition of “agricultural roads” in the RSS.
• A recommended observation period of approximately 12 months would provide sufficient time to collect data, engage with stakeholders, and inform future policy considerations.
Next Steps
Based on the Board’s direction, staff would require additional time to evaluate a potential mechanism to develop standards for a de minimus exemption for Type 93 permits that fall within the standards. It is anticipated that staff could return to the Board with the proposed regulatory framework for said exemption within 60 - 90 days.
FISCAL IMPACT
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Is there a Fiscal Impact? |
No |
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT
ENVIRONMENTAL DETERMINATION: The proposed action is not a project as defined by 14 California Code of Regulations 15378 (State CEQA Guidelines) and therefore CEQA is not applicable.