Last year, I authored a bill (SB 384) to allow, but not require, cities to extend their nightlife past 2 a.m., as late as 4 a.m. This local control bill got strong bipartisan support but hit an unexpected snag down the home stretch.

I don’t give up that easily, and today we’re announcing that we’ll try again in 2018!

(Announcing the 4 a.m. nightlife bill with community leaders.)

California is a diverse state, with cities and neighborhoods that have varying needs and challenges around nightlife. The state shouldn’t mandate a one-size-fits-all closing time for our bars, nightclubs, and restaurants, yet that is what we currently do, requiring every nightlife venue to stop serving alcohol at 2 a.m., whether in a big city or a small town. Nightlife is central to the culture and economy of a number of our cities, and local communities should be empowered to decide for themselves whether to extend alcohol service hours past 2 a.m. if they choose to do so.

That’s why earlier this year I introduced the LOCAL Act, which would have allowed every city in California the choice to extend alcohol sales as late as 4 a.m. for restaurants, bars, and nightclubs (but not liquor stores). The bill took off, gaining support up and down the state and from both sides of the political aisle. The bill passed the Senate with a 2/3 bipartisan vote and received strong support in the Assembly. Despite this momentum, we ran into a roadblock in the Assembly where the bill was effectively killed in its final committee hearing.

Though disappointed at the time, I promised we would not give up and that we would try again in 2018. Today, at a press conference at the SF Eagle (formerly the Eagle Tavern) in SOMA, we officially announced we are doing just that. We were joined by a diverse array of community members, including iconic drag queen Heklina (co-owner of Oasis), other nightlife operators and workers, the Teamsters, restaurant and hotel owners, and community activists who have worked for years to allow for later nightlife hours.

Our new version of the LOCAL Act — which will be officially introduced in January — contains the exact same provisions as the previous bill, but instead of allowing every city in the state to extend hours (which had caused concerns in some cities that never would have extended hours anyway), the new bill is a 5-year pilot program limited to the six cities whose Mayors have expressed interest in having the local option to extend hours: San Francisco, Los Angeles, Oakland, Sacramento, Long Beach, and West Hollywood. These cities will have the opportunity to engage in a local process and determine for themselves whether to extend hours past 2 a.m.

I want to thank San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf, Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg, Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia, and West Hollywood Mayor John Heilman for expressing support for allowing local control to extend alcohol service hours. Each of these cities is unique in so many ways, but they have a shared embrace of nightlife and the positive benefits it brings to a community.

To be clear, this bill will not automatically extend alcohol sales hours in bars, nightclubs, and restaurants in these cities. Rather, it will simply create local control by allowing locally elected officials (i.e. the city council or Board of Supervisors) in the six cities to deliberate and decide if it makes sense to extend hours. The bill also allows these local officials, as with the original version of the bill, total control over how and where such changes might be implemented. A city can decide to extend hours only in certain areas or certain days of the week or year (ranging from one night a year to 365 nights a year). The hours could be extended to any time between 2 a.m. and 4 a.m. (for example, 3 a.m.). The entirety of those decisions are left up to local officials and the communities they represent, after engaging in a public process that includes public safety and transportation assessments.

This bill is a balanced and nuanced pilot program that allows these six cities to explore extending nightlife in a thoughtful manner.