LOS ANGELES, May 2, 2019 /PRNewswire-HISPANIC PR WIRE/ — California Alcohol Policy Alliance (CAPA), Alcohol Justice, and Los Angeles City Councilmember Paul Koretz have come together again to host a press event to oppose another 4 a.m. bar bill. SB 58 is State Senator Scott Wiener’s 3rd attempt in three years to disrupt the state’s uniform mandatory closing time for alcohol sales. In response, Councilmember Koretz introduced a resolution (Council File: 19-002-S39) opposing SB 58 on March 5, 2019. Friday’s press event participants will report on the city and statewide public health and safety threats the bill would create by allowing a patchwork quilt of cities – including Los Angeles – to extend alcohol sales to 4 a.m. If passed and signed into law by Governor Newsom, SB 58 would launch a dangerous ten-city, five-year experiment that could expose over 76% of California’s population to increased alcohol-related harm. The bill faces a Senate Appropriations Committee determination by May 16, 2019.
What: Press Event/Opposition Rally/Call to Action
When: Friday, May 3, 2019, 9:00 a.m.
Where: Los Angeles City Hall, 200 N Spring St. Los Angeles CA, 90012 (First Street steps)
Who:
- Paul Koretz, Los Angeles City Council District 5
- Marqueece Harris-Dawson, Los Angeles City Council District 8
- Sonny Skyhawk, Alcohol Justice
- Melissa Estelle, Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD)
- Miriam Castro, Promotora – Mujeres Transformando La Comunidad
- Richard Zaldivar, The Wall Las Memorias Project
- Brenda Villanueva, Los Angeles Drug & Alcohol Policy Alliance (L.A.DAPA)
- Gennesis Lopez, Coalition to Reduce Alcohol Related Harms in LA Metro (CoPalm)
- Veronica De Lara, California Alcohol Policy Alliance (CAPA)
Why:
- Having failed to pass two previous 4 a.m. bar bills (SB 384 in 2017, SB 905 in 2018), State Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) authored SB 58, a poorly conceived and inadequately funded ABC “pilot project” to extend last call to 4 a.m. in ten cities.
- SB 58 disregards 40 years of peer-reviewed, public health research on the dangers of extending last call.
- SB 58 will strip away uniform protections of the existing 2 a.m. last call, and spread additional alcohol overconsumption, loss of life, injury, and nuisance across the state.
- According to California Office of Traffic Safety (OTS), fatal DUI is a chronic, worsening problem for California.
- The U.S. Community Preventive Services Task Force found that every 2-hour increase in last-call times results in greater vehicle crash injuries and E.R. admissions.
- There is no such thing as “local control” in alcohol policy. The harm from one city’s decision to change last-call times “splashes” over every surrounding community.
- SB 58 will cost the state at least $3-4 million per year to administer, mitigate the harm, and clean the blood off the highway; and cost cities and towns in “Splash Zones” millions more.
- According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC), California already suffers over 10,500 alcohol-related deaths annually, $35 billion in total costs, and $14.5 billion in state costs.
- SB 58 subsidizes and rewards late-night alcohol-sellers at tax-payer expense.
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
- DogPAC of San Francisco
- Dolores Huerta Foundation
- 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
- National Council on Alcoholism & Drug Dependence – Orange County
- 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
- 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
TAKE ACTION to STOP SB 58: https://bit.ly/2vuTUxF or Text Justice to 313 131
READ MORE:
https://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-koretz-4am-bar-bill-20190426-story.html
https://dailybruin.com/2019/04/18/risk-of-alcohol-related-incidents-outweighs-potential-benefits-of-proposed-bill/
CONTACT: Michael Scippa 415 548-0492
Jorge Castillo 213 840-3336
Alison Simard 213-473-7467
Logo – https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/147418/alcohol_justice_logo.jpg
SOURCE Alcohol Justice
