SACRAMENTO, CA — The Chair of the Downtown Recovery Select Committee, Matt Haney’s (D-San Francisco) legislation that authorizes cities to create “Hospitality Zones” passes out of the Assembly. Within these zones, local governments can opt-in to extend “last call” times for specific, permitted venues to 4 a.m. on Fridays, Saturdays and official state holidays. When creating these Hospitality Zones, local governments will be required to consider public safety resources, access to transportation, proximity of hotels and arenas, walkability, and the cultural, historic and economic appropriateness of the zone.
“Downtowns in California are still struggling to return to pre-pandemic levels almost half a decade later,” said Haney. “As Chair of the Select on Downtown Recovery, I’ve heard from cities all over the state that are begging for the flexibility to attract people during evening, night and weekend hours,” said Assemblymember Haney. “Tourists, downtown residents and convention planners are all looking for cities with both vibrant daytime and nighttime cultures. Unfortunately many California downtowns become ghost towns after 5 p.m. A thriving nightlife has extensive positive effects on many other sectors, including retail, the arts, restaurants, housing, and large conventions, and will bring more people into downtowns that desperately need them during both the day and night.”
The one-size-fits-all, top-down “last call” law in California has limited the ability of cities to attract visitors and tourists and hamstrung businesses who rely on limited nighttime hours to survive. As the state prepares to host five major worldwide events over the next three years, our cities need every tool to be able to capitalize on this moment, especially for our state’s hospitality sector small businesses. Over a dozen other states, including many that compete with California for tourists, conventions and large events, including Nevada, Florida, New York and Illinois, already allow for their cities to determine their own, later “last call” hours.
AB 342 will allow – not require – the creation of Hospitality Zones that local governments have full control over, determining who within the zones would be granted extended closing times and on what days (though limited to Fridays, Saturdays and holidays). Venues would then have to receive special permits from their city to authorize them to extend their last call, and cities could limit these permits further (e.g. solely to Saturdays or New Year’s Eve) or place additional requirements on the venues.
AB 342 is headed to the CA State Senate and pending policy committee referral.
Editors Note:
The bill passed in a 50-11 Assembly vote with Bains, Bauer-Kahan, Davies, Dixon, Ellis, Gallagher, Hadwick, Irwin, Lackey, Ramos, Sanchez all voting against. 18 Assemblymembers did not cast a vote on this bill.
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- April 7 – Bill Allows Downtowns to Establish “Hospitality Zones” to Extend Last Call on Weekends and Holidays
