Because ‘nightlife matters,’ LOCAL Act proposes extending last call in California to 4 am

At USC, students live and breathe the ‘work hard, play hard’ mentality, so nothing is more annoying on a Saturday night than that dreaded, all-too-early 2 am last call. With state senator Scott Weiner’s proposition to give cities the choice to extend last call to 4 am, they could have the chance to play even harder.

As of 1935 California bars and restaurants have had to stop serving alcohol at 2 am. The “LOCAL Act,” or Let Our Communities Adjust Late Night Act, would allow local governments to now extend service as late as 4 am at their discretion with proper authorization from California’s Department of Alcohol Beverage Control.

Wiener sees this bill as an opportunity for big California cities to get on the level of nightlife and tourism hotspots across the country like Chicago, Miami, and New York City, which all permit late-night service.

“California is a diverse state, with cities and neighborhoods that have different needs when it comes to nightlife,” Wiener said. “By granting local control to our cities to extend their late night hours, we can support areas that benefit economically and culturally from a strong nightlife presence, while ensuring that other cities and neighborhoods retain their current rules.”

In 2013 a similar bill was proposed by Wiener’s predecessor, Mark Leno, but it failed to get enough votes.

According to the San Francisco Chronicle, the opposition to this idea both then and now mostly comes from issues of public safety.

Better late than never

“We just don’t need additional hours of business for this substance,” said Michael Scippa, director of public affairs for Alcohol Justice, a San Rafael nonprofit advocacy, research and policy organization. “It’s not like selling coffee and doughnuts. This is a substance which is a class one carcinogenic — it takes thousands in California every year — and is responsible for horrendous costs in various areas.”

Those in support of LOCAL see it both as an economic opportunity and as a positive reclamation of local power.

“We should determine at a city level how to best attract and support local nightlife businesses,” said Jim Lazarus, senior vice president of public policy for the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce. “We can’t take a one size fits all approach when it comes to nightlife… this legislation allows us to capitalize on nightlife as an economic driver, increase jobs and local tax revenue, when deemed appropriate in a specific area of the City.”

For California college students, this could mean even later nights out. More 9-0, anyone?