Bill Would Ease Warnings on Alcohol

City and county laws requiring restaurants and bars to warn customers that drinking alcohol can cause birth defects would be eliminated by legislation approved unanimously Tuesday by the Senate Governmental Organization Committee.

The legislation, sponsored by the California Restaurant Assn., would prohibit cities from requiring the posting of alcohol warnings for pregnant women and would wipe off the books such laws already approved by 34 local governments, including Los Angeles, Los Angeles County, Santa Ana, San Diego County and San Francisco.

Instead, establishments that serve alcoholic beverages would be required to provide warnings under less-stringent regulations adopted by the Deukmejian Administration to implement Proposition 65, the anti-toxics initiative.

Under those regulations, restaurants and bars will be required, at a minimum, to print the warnings on their menus or wine lists beginning Oct. 1. However, warning posters--or warning labels on the containers themselves--will not be required.

An estimated 4,000 children are born with birth defects in California each year because their mothers drank alcohol in large or moderate amounts, medical experts say.

Assemblyman Richard E. Floyd (D-Hawthorne), who carried the bill on behalf of the restaurant industry, said the measure would bring uniformity to the alcohol warnings and prevent restaurant chains from having to print different warning signs in different jurisdictions. The bill was approved by the committee on a vote of 8 to 0.

But the Consumers Union, which has advocated tough alcohol warnings for pregnant women, criticized the Senate committee action, saying it would undermine the efforts of local governments to prevent birth defects.

“This bill is a political shell game at the expense of healthy babies,” said Jim Shultz, a lobbyist for Consumers Union. “The bill would permit the removal of all the signs in bars and restaurants (and) permit the warning to be buried in the wine list.”

Shultz also said the bill would put an end to warnings in languages other than English and eliminate enforcement by local health officers who now are responsible for making sure the warning signs are posted.

‘Enough to Do’

In response, Floyd said, “I think the health officers have enough to do to make sure I don’t come down with salmonella (poisoning).

“I think Consumers Union is in over (its) head. Thank God the Consumers Union does not set all the regulations for the state of California or anywhere else.”

While Floyd has frequently accused Gov. George Deukmejian of failing to protect the health of workers and the general public, he said the governor’s alcohol warning regulations under Proposition 65 are sufficient and should be substituted for all local requirements.

Floyd accused Consumers Union leaders of overreacting and said, “They want to put it (warnings) on every door or piece of furniture.”

Consumers Union, along with environmental groups, had lobbied for tougher Proposition 65 regulations that would have required warning labels on all alcoholic beverage containers.