Passage of Assembly Bill 1221 in 2017 created the Responsible Beverage Service Training Program Act. The bill required the Alcoholic Beverage Control to create the Responsible Beverage Service Training Program (RBSTP) to ensure servers and their managers of alcoholic beverages are educated on the dangers of serving alcohol to minors and over-serving alcohol to patrons with the intention of reducing alcohol-related harm to local communities. The new mandate creates a new training requirement for alcohol servers and managers of alcohol servers at an estimated 56,000 ABC licensees with on-premises alcohol sales privileges. The alcohol servers and managers who work at those locations must register with the ABC, be trained, pass an exam, and be certified by August 31, 2022, or 60 days after their first date of employment. The passing of Assembly Bill 82, on June 29, 2020, extended the date in which this requirement is enacted to beginning July 1, 2022. This change was made to alleviate the financial strain on the hospitality industry caused by the COVID-19 state of emergency.

Beginning July 1, 2022, any alcohol server and their manager must have a valid RBS certification from an ABC accredited RBS training provider and pass an online ABC administered RBS exam within 60 calendar days from the first date of employment.

Visit the California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control to learn more about the program.