AB 3206 Places Billionaire Steve Ballmer's Profits Over Public Health &
Safety
SAN
RAFAEL, Calif., Aug. 9, 2024
/PRNewswire/ -- Alcohol Justice and the California Alcohol Policy
Alliance (CAPA) are calling upon the California State Senate to
stop a dangerous "district" bill that will punch a hole in the
protections of uniform last call and expose the entire Los Angeles area to great risk.
If passed, California AB 3206,
introduced by Assemblymember Tina
McKinnor (D-Inglewood),
would allow the VIP lounge at the new Intuit Dome Arena to keep
selling alcohol long after a Clipper's basketball game or other
event has ended – and long after the legal closing time of any
other bar.
"It's just absurd to think that the success of billionaire
Steve Ballmer's $2 billion dollar investment in the L.A. Clippers
and the Intuit Dome hinges on the ability to keep selling alcohol
until 4 a.m.," stated
Cruz Avila, Executive Director of
Alcohol Justice. "Years of peer-reviewed research has proven
that maintaining existing last call times is a key policy for
reducing the harms from reckless drinking and from alcohol-related
motor crashes. Extending to 4 a.m. is
a fatal step in the wrong direction."
Even one more hour of alcohol sales in just this one venue will
disrupt the protections of California's uniform, statewide 2 a.m. last call. It will expose
surrounding communities–in fact the entire L.A. basin–to increased
harms and costs while only the alcohol sellers in the epicenter of
Ballmer's dome see the marginal economic benefits.
In 2018, the evidence for increased harms was presented to the
legislature in an Alcohol Justice/CAPA report entitled The Late
Night Threat, Science, Harms, and Costs of Extending Bar Service
Hours. It highlighted the existing data supporting how the acute
effects of extending alcohol sales would spread to "Splash Zones"
surrounding various cities in California.
More recently, another analysis was released by the respected
Oakland-based Alcohol Resource
Group (ARG), a project of the Public Health Institute.
"The High Cost of the 4 A.M. Bar
Bill" was a first of its kind cost-benefit analysis
detailing the effects of changing state alcohol policy to allow
later last call at bars, restaurants, and clubs. The analysis
disturbingly documented the worst concerns of Alcohol Justice and
CAPA that public health and safety would be severely compromised if
California's 2 a.m. last call fell.
"Since 2013, there have been six attempts to pass statewide
extension of alcohol sales in bars and restaurants to 4.a.m, but
California said NO to all of them
because it's a recognized, dangerous policy change," stated
Raul Verdugo, Advocacy Director at
Alcohol Justice. "And now it's time to say NO again, this time
to a district bill that will benefit just one entity at the expense
of the entire L.A. area. If the bill becomes law, a flood of
similar district bills will demand the same privilege and soon
every corner of the state will be experiencing increased early
morning consumption, and ensuing costs for public health and safety
harms."
There is considerable and widespread opposition to AB 3206
throughout the state and in the Legislature…
"Despite the narrow scope of this bill, it sets a dangerous
precedent," stated Senator Kelly
Seyarto (R-Murrieta).
"Making an exception for one venue to allow operation into
the early morning hours will add drunk drivers on the roads of
Inglewood and the surrounding
communities, at the time that early morning commuters are getting
on the road. As a retired firefighter who worked in those very
communities, I cannot support AB 3206."
"Driving under the influence kills. Enabling residents to
drink into the early morning hours is dangerous, and public policy
should never worsen an already deadly situation," said
Assemblyman Tom Lackey
(R-Palmdale), a retired
California Highway Patrol Sergeant
who has witnessed tragic, unnecessary deaths.
Despite opposition within the Legislature, AB 3206 has advanced
up to now, most recently by just one vote - in a key Senate
Governmental Organization Committee hearing in June. It will soon
be up for a full Senate floor vote. Advocates are asking Senators
to place public health and safety above Steve Ballmer's bottom line and Vote NO on the
bill.
"Though the language of this bill seeks to collect an impact
assessment report one year after implementation — as advocates for
"communities" and the reduction of harm associated with alcohol, we
firmly hold to the belief that one life lost is one life too
many," added Verdugo on behalf of the California Alcohol Policy
Alliance (CAPA). "Any effort to introduce alcohol
legislation that exacerbates the life-threatening conditions
impacting innocent lives — should never be considered advantageous
to any city or county in our state, VIP status or not."
"This would be another capitulation to deregulation by
California, at a time when
alcohol-related deaths have continued spiraling year after
year," said Carson
Benowitz-Fredericks, Research Director at Alcohol
Justice. "We think of our state as cutting edge, compassionate,
intelligent. But we are losing our friends and neighbors to alcohol
for the same reasons other localities saw horrific death tolls from
COVID-19: a refusal to listen to the science, and a refusal to care
about human lives."
FACTS
- AB 3206 will allow extending alcohol sales to 4 a.m. in the VIP lounge at Steve Ballmor's
Intuit Dome Arena where his L.A. Clippers will play.
- The risks of extended service times apply to VIPs the same as
they do to anyone else, POSSIBLY MORE—consumption tends to increase
with wealth. Rich people running into working-class people.
- These "VIP" areas are notoriously devoid of accountability and
incentivized to cover up violence, sexual assault, and injury, much
more so than bars open to the public
- Keeping consumption confined in a "VIP" area creates a space
even more devoid of accountability than most late-night bars and
clubs
- AB 3206 trades the public health and safety of the greater
Los Angeles area for enhancing an
Inglewood corporation's
profits
- AB 3206 will subsidize and reward nightlife alcohol-sellers at
tax-payer expense
- AB 3206 concentrates profit while spreading risk, disruption
and harm
- Aside from the risk of assault, accidental injury, and motor
vehicle crashes, drinking until 4
a.m. creates conditions where exhaustion + alcohol becomes
more deadly than either would be alone
- AB 3206 would create a slippery slope to strip away statewide
uniform protections of 2 a.m. last
call
- A later last call does not fill any need expressed by any
reasonable adult, and granting this will make every major venue
with a "VIP" room demand the same
- AB 3206 disregards 40 years of peer-reviewed, public health
research on the dangers of extending last call
- AB 3206 would cost cities and towns in the Inglewood/L.A. "Splash Zones" millions in
harm, disruption, and additional police and ambulance service
- Alcohol-related deaths are out of control in California, climbing from 70% in only six
years. (From 10,800 deaths annually in 2015 to 19,335 in 2021.
Esser et al. 2020; Jiménez, Demeter & Pinsker 2023)
- Alcohol-related driving fatalities also continued to rise, from
966 in 2019 to 1370 in 2021. (California Office of Traffic Safety
2023)
- AB 3206 ignores $35 billion in
annual alcohol-related harm in California
- A 4 a.m. last call anywhere in
Los Angeles is a threat to all of
Los Angeles
"We keep forgetting that, when someone gets wasted and
crashes their car, they often crash into someone else," added
Benowitz-Fredericks. "AB 3206, like so many ill-conceived
alcohol free-for-alls that are so popular in Sacramento, might make one extraordinarily
wealthy person's night a little more fun, earn one billionaire
another couple thousand dollars. And the cost? The life of an
innocent early-morning commuter who never asked for any of this,
never benefitted from it, never voted for it, and leaves a family
behind."
CAPA Member Organizations
- Alcohol Justice
- Alcohol-Narcotics Education Foundation of California
- ADAPP, Inc.
- ADAPT San Ramon Valley
- Bay Area Community Resources
- Behavioral Health Services, Inc.
- CA Council on Alcohol Problems
- CASA for Safe & Healthy Neighborhoods
- Center for Human Development
- Center for Open Recovery
- Eden Youth & Family Center
- Institute for Public Strategies
- FASD Network of Southern CA
- FreeMUNI – SF
- Friday Night Live Partnership
- Koreatown Youth & Community Center
- Laytonville Healthy Start
- L.A. County Friday Night Live
- L.A. Drug & Alcohol Policy Alliance
- L.A. County Office of Education
- Lutheran Office of Public Policy – CA
- MFI Recovery Center
- Mountain Communities Family Resource Center
- National Asian Pacific American Families Against Substance
Abuse
- Partnership for a Positive Pomona
- Paso por Paso, Inc.
- Project SAFER
- Pueblo y Salud
- Reach Out
- San Marcos Prevention Coalition
- San Rafael Alcohol & Drug Coalition
- SF DogPAC
- SAY San Diego
- Saving Lives Drug & Alcohol Coalition
- South Orange County Coalition
- Tarzana Treatment Centers, Inc.
- The Wall Las Memorias Project
- UCEPP Social Model Recovery Systems
- Women Against Gun Violence
- Youth For Justice
Jeanne Shimatsu, Prevention
Director at the Asian American Drug Abuse Program (AADAP)
stated, "Our organization has long partnered with the
Inglewood community to provide
treatment services, including educating, informing, and advocating
a safer and healthier environment for youth and families. We want
to emphasize that extended bar service hours are detrimental to
Inglewood's community wellness. A
few drinks after 2 a.m. can cost more
than material damage—it will cost lives."
TAKE ACTION to STOP AB 3206
https://www.votervoice.net/AlcoholJustice/Campaigns/115851/Respond
Or Text PUBLICSAFETY to 50457
For More Information go to:
https://alcoholjustice.org/projects/california-alcohol-policy-alliance/ or
https://alcoholjustice.org/
CONTACT:
Michael Scippa 415 847-3006
Raul Verdugo 415 686-3325
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SOURCE Alcohol Justice and the California Alcohol Policy
Alliance (CAPA)