republic-os/legislation/us/states/ca/20232024/sb-844.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Alcoholic beverage control: retail license transfers and beer returns."
description: "Existing law, the Alcoholic Beverage Control Act, which is administered by the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control, regulates the application for, and the issuance and suspension of, alcoholic beverage licenses. Existing law allows licenses for the retail sale of alcoholic beverages to be issued for, or transferred to, premises that are to be constructed or are in the process of construction."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20232024"
identifier: "SB 844"
citation: "California SB 844 (20232024)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Alcoholic beverage control", "retail license transfers and beer returns"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Jones"]
version_count: 7
action_count: 28
vote_count: 6
first_action: "2023-02-17"
last_action: "2023-09-30"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/a7891411-0171-4538-9c21-b8ff6ad1d080"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240SB844"
source_hash: "a77da06c11e075029c80892c2a5172c00dfd9806ba4bcdc8dda2b9215205496b"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-ca"]
---

# California SB 844 (20232024) — Alcoholic beverage control: retail license transfers and beer returns.

Existing law, the Alcoholic Beverage Control Act, which is administered by the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control, regulates the application for, and the issuance and suspension of, alcoholic beverage licenses. Existing law allows licenses for the retail sale of alcoholic beverages to be issued for, or transferred to, premises that are to be constructed or are in the process of construction.

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **02/17/23 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202320240SB844&version=20230SB84499INT)
2. **03/20/23 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202320240SB844&version=20230SB84498AMD)
3. **06/15/23 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202320240SB844&version=20230SB84497AMD)
4. **09/08/23 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202320240SB844&version=20230SB84496AMD)
5. **09/30/23 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202320240SB844&version=20230SB84494CHP)
6. **SB844** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240SB844)
7. **09/19/23 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202320240SB844&version=20230SB84495ENR)

## Votes

- Unfinished Business SB844 Jones Urgency Clause Concurrence — **39–0** (pass) · upper
- SB 844 Jones Third Reading Urgency By Villapudua — **80–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] with the recommendation: To Consent Calendar — **15–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass. To Consent Calendar. — **15–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] with recommendation: To Consent Calendar — **20–0** (pass) · lower
- Consent Calendar — **39–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Jones — primary (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2023-02-17** Introduced. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. To print. `introduction, reading-1`
- **2023-02-21** From printer. May be acted upon on or after March 20.
- **2023-03-01** Referred to Com. on RLS. `referral-committee`
- **2023-03-20** From committee with author's amendments. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on RLS. `amendment-passage, committee-passage, reading-1, reading-2, referral-committee`
- **2023-03-29** Re-referred to Com. on G.O. `referral-committee`
- **2023-04-18** Set for hearing April 25.
- **2023-04-25** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR with recommendation: To consent calendar. (Ayes 15. Noes 0. Page 874.) (April 25). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable, referral-committee`
- **2023-05-01** Set for hearing May 8.
- **2023-05-08** From committee: Be ordered to second reading pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8 and ordered to consent calendar. `committee-passage, reading-2`
- **2023-05-09** Read second time. Ordered to consent calendar. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2023-05-11** Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 39. Noes 0. Page 1055.) Ordered to the Assembly. `passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2023-05-11** In Assembly. Read first time. Held at Desk. `reading-1`
- **2023-05-18** Referred to Com. on G.O. `referral-committee`
- **2023-06-15** From committee with author's amendments. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on G.O. `amendment-passage, committee-passage, reading-1, reading-2, referral-committee`
- **2023-07-12** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. with recommendation: To consent calendar. (Ayes 20. Noes 0.) (July 12). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable, referral-committee`
- **2023-08-23** From committee: Do pass. Ordered to consent calendar. (Ayes 15. Noes 0.) (August 23). `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2023-08-24** Read second time. Ordered to consent calendar. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2023-08-24** From consent calendar on motion of Assembly Member Bryan.
- **2023-08-24** Ordered to third reading.
- **2023-09-08** Read third time and amended. `amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2023-09-08** Ordered to third reading.
- **2023-09-11** Read third time. Urgency clause adopted. Passed. (Ayes 80. Noes 0. Page 3143.) Ordered to the Senate. `passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2023-09-11** In Senate. Concurrence in Assembly amendments pending.
- **2023-09-14** Urgency clause adopted.
- **2023-09-14** Assembly amendments concurred in. (Ayes 39. Noes 0. Page 2836.) Ordered to engrossing and enrolling. `amendment-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2023-09-21** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 4 p.m.
- **2023-09-30** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2023-09-30** Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 295, Statutes of 2023. `became-law`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/a7891411-0171-4538-9c21-b8ff6ad1d080`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).