Proposed legislation takes aim at street vendors and liquor licenses
Items for sale in the Mission District San Francisco (Alice Wertz)
SAN FRANCISCO - The California Senate on Wednesday passed two bills aimed at revitalizing San Francisco.
Senate Bills 276 and 395 combat the sale of stolen goods and spur the creation of new restaurants, respectively. The bills were authored by Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) and sponsored by Mayor Daniel Lurie. Both passed with the full support of the senate, and no opposition.
They now head to the Assembly.
"Today's vote is a big step toward tackling San Francisco's street conditions and breathing life into our downtown," Wiener said in a press release. "With the Mayor's leadership we've seen terrific progress improving San Francisco's streets, but the stale of stolen goods is still presenting real challenges. By holding perpetrators accountable while uplifting our fantastic community of street vendors, restaurants, and bars, these bills help set San Francisco on a path to thriving more brilliantly than ever."
Street vendors
What they're saying:
SB 276, or the SAFE Streets Act, allows law enforcement to issue infractions, and misdemeanors after multiple violations, to vendors who sell "commonly stolen goods" without a permit or proof of purchase, a release about the bill states. The bill does not apply to prepared foods.
The bill, if passed, would require street vendors to obtain a permit to sell merchandise frequently obtained through retail theft, as determined by the Board of Supervisors. Vendors selling without a permit, or without proof of purchase will get two infractions, and on their third offense the violation is punishable with an infraction or a misdemeanor and up to six months in jail.
Wiener's bill is a second attempt to amend SB 946, legislation passed in 2018 that decriminalized vending and requires cities to assign vending regulations to a city agency instead of the police. The San Francisco Department of Public Works currently oversees those regulations.
A 2024 bill aimed at undoing SB 946 died in the Assembly's Appropriations Committee.
SB 276 will now to go the State Assembly, where it will be heard by two policy committees, and the Appropriations Committee.
Liquor licenses
What we know:
SB 395 is aimed at transforming downtown San Francisco's vacant office and retail spaces into a hospitality zone.
Existing laws limit the number of on-sale general licenses for restaurants and bars to one license for every 2,000 county residents. Half of California's 58 counties had, as of 2024, reached the maximum number of on-sale general liquor licenses allowed under state law. San Francisco reached the limit nearly 80 years ago, and state law has effectively capped the number of new licenses since then.
When a county reaches that limits, new restaurants and bars have to buy liquor licenses on a secondary market, where they can reach pries of $200,000 or more, according to a release from Wiener's office.
Legislation passed in 2016 created the Type 87 liquor license, a neighborhood-restricted license for San Francisco's outer neighborhoods, meant to be a more affordable option for new businesses in those areas. The state legislature in 2017 and 2024 increased the total number of Type 87 licenses available, based on the success of the program.
If adopted into law, SB 395 would authorize the City and County of San Francisco to designate a retail district — an area that contains at least 1 million square feet of retail shopping space. The Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control would then be authorized to issue up to 20 new on-sale general liquor licenses within the retail district, at a fee of $20,000.
New nightlife
What we know:
Lurie has made San Francisco's nightlife one of the main focuses of his administration.
He announced in mid-May the creation of five new entertainment zones aimed at revitalizing neighborhoods and the downtown area with night markets and street fairs that loosen restrictions and allow open alcohol containers on the streets for special events.
With that announcement, there are 21 San Francisco entertainment zones that have been designated or are pending. Among those sites are the Castro Night Market, Pier 39, Folsom Street, Yerba Buena Lane, Valencia Street and Ellis Street downtown by John's Grill.