Bus. & Prof. Code, § 25668 · Article 3. Women and Minors
Bus. & Prof. Code, § 25668
Text — As published in the Legislative Counsel's database, tables dated October 18, 2026 (pubinfo_2025.zip)
(a) A qualified student may taste an alcoholic beverage, and both the student and the qualified academic institution in which the student is enrolled shall not be subject to criminal prosecution under subdivision (a) of Section 25658 and subdivision (a) of Section 25662, if all of the following criteria are met:
(1) The qualified student tastes the alcoholic beverage while enrolled in a qualified academic institution.
(2) The qualified academic institution has established an associate’s degree or bachelor’s degree program in any of the following:
(A) Hotel management.
(B) Culinary arts.
(C) Enology or brewing that is designed to train industry professionals in the production of wine or beer.
(3) The qualified student tastes the alcoholic beverage for educational purposes as part of the instruction in a course required for an associate’s degree or bachelor’s degree.
(4) The alcoholic beverage remains in the control of an authorized instructor of the qualified academic institution who is at least 21 years of age.
(b) This section shall not be construed to allow a student under 21 years of age to receive an alcoholic beverage unless it is delivered as part of the student’s curriculum requirements.
(c) A license or permit is not required to be held by a qualified academic institution engaging in the activities authorized by this section, provided an extra fee or charge is not imposed for the alcoholic beverages tasted.
(d) For the purposes of this section, the following terms have the following meanings:
(1) “Qualified academic institution” means a public college or university accredited by a commission recognized by the United States Department of Education.
(2) “Qualified student” means a student enrolled in a qualified academic institution who is at least 18 years of age.
(3) “Taste” means to draw an alcoholic beverage into the mouth, but does not include swallowing or otherwise consuming the alcoholic beverage.
Notes and commentary — not statutory text
History
Amended by Stats. 2020, Ch. 370, Sec. 20. (SB 1371) Effective January 1, 2021.
Source of truth
- Edition
- As published in the Legislative Counsel's database, tables dated October 18, 2026 (pubinfo_2025.zip)
- Official file
- https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=BPC§ionNum=25668.
- Text hash
- sha256 9274f2f9526988bfee4d3f5481472592fd0c9dde07ec53cd5ad6f3ab73fc6e89
- Composed by
- compose_ca.py 2026-10-22: the Legislative Counsel's CAML content files read by a tokenizer (caml_readers.reader_a); an independent xml.etree reading (caml_readers.reader_b) agrees on every section
This section cites
Provisions in this library that the text above cites, as it prints each citation. A range cited as “ss. 61.13-61.16” links its first and last provisions.
Business and Professions Code
Cited by 2 provisions
Provisions in this library whose text cites Bus. & Prof. Code, § 25668. Each shows the citation as that text prints it.
Procedural information only. Not legal advice and not a substitute for the advice of an attorney. Confirm the current text with the official publisher before relying on it.