California Bill Would Let Cities Extend Last Call to 4 a.m. in Some Downtown Areas

The night is young — keep those drinks flowing!

That’s at least what San Francisco Assemblymember Matt Haney is aiming to do with new legislation to allow venues in certain areas throughout the state to extend last call until 4 a.m. on Fridays, Saturdays and holidays.

AB 342, co-authored by state Sen. Scott Wiener, a fellow San Francisco Democrat, would give local governments the option to create “hospitality zones” in their cities, allowing various nightlife establishments to keep the liquor flowing for up to two hours beyond the state-mandated 2 a.m. cutoff. It would take effect next year.

The bill comes amid ongoing efforts to lure more visitors to the many downtown districts across the state that have struggled to recover since the pandemic.

“We need people in our downtowns. We need them to come here, not just during the day, but at night,” Haney told reporters at a press briefing in downtown Los Angeles on Monday morning. “We know that when people come to our cities, whether for conventions, for basketball games, for big events, even to work or to live, they are often looking for not only thriving daytime opportunities, but nighttime opportunities as well.”

Under the bill, local governments could also establish temporary “special events hospitality zones” for up to a month at a time to coincide with music festivals and other major events, including next year’s World Cup and the 2028 Summer Olympics, both slated to take place in L.A.

Ben Bleiman, founder of the SF Bar Owner Alliance and owner of Harrington’s Bar & Grill in the city’s downtown, said Haney’s most recent effort to extend last call is “near and dear” to his heart.

“We don’t believe that it’s OK for cities just to be clean and safe in California, though those are very important,” Bleiman said at Monday’s briefing. “We believe they also have to be fun. And we want California to be able to compete with other very fun places in the U.S. and in the world.”

California cities, he said, need to “re-envision” their downtowns if they want to remain viable.

“I believe nightlife is going to be the catalyst,” he said. “It’s going to be the main engine for bringing activity and business and life and culture back to our downtowns.”

Haney’s amended bill, a more limited version than the one he introduced in January, requires cities that are interested in creating hospitality zones to consider public safety resources, access to transportation and hotels, walkability, and cultural appropriateness, among other factors.

“Right now, there is a one size fits all, top down mandate that every single business in California stops serving at 2 a.m. It makes no sense,” Haney said. “It’s out of step with over 12 states across the country and most cities around the world that are world-class destinations. It is time that we have a pro-local control, pro-business solution that allows California cities to do what they need to do to recover and to attract the conventions, the visitors, the events that all of us can benefit from.”

The legislation follows multiple failed efforts to challenge California’s blanket prohibition — dating back to 1935 — on the sale of alcohol between 2 a.m. and 6 a.m.

In 2022, lawmakers rejected Haney and Wiener’s bid to authorize weekend alcohol service until 4 a.m. at bars, nightclubs and restaurants in San Francisco, West Hollywood and Palm Springs, citing concerns about an uptick in drunk driving incidents. The Legislature also rebuffed Wiener’s 2019 bill to extend alcohol sales in 10 cities, a year after then-Gov. Jerry Brown vetoed a similar bill of his.

“I believe we have enough mischief from midnight to 2 without adding two more hours of mayhem,” Brown wrote in his veto message.

In fact, the only venue in the entire state where you can now legally buy booze until 4 a.m. is the Intuit Dome in Inglewood, home of the Los Angeles Clippers — following legislation Gov. Gavin Newsom signed last year. And that’s only for dues-paying VIP members.