Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control v. Alcoholic Beverage Control Appeals Board

Opinion

WERDEGAR, J.

The Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control (Department) has exclusive licensing authority over entities that sell alcoholic beverages. Its procedures for adjudicating whether licensees have violated the *5terms of their licenses include an evidentiary hearing at which a Department prosecutor makes the Department’s case to an administrative law judge (ALJ), and a second level of decisionmaking in which the Department’s director or a delegee decides whether to adopt the ALJ’s proposed decision. In the three consolidated cases here, consistent with standard Department…