AB 592: Outdoor Dining Authorizations Extended and Open-Front Restaurants Allowed

Updated November 8, 2026. This article was first written at the end of October 2025, three weeks after Governor Newsom signed AB 592 and before it took effect on January 1, 2026. It describes the law as enacted then. Later developments are kept separate in the “Current context” section near the end. It is general information, not legal advice.

The parking-lot patio gets a longer runway

In the spring of 2020, many California restaurants did something that would have been unthinkable a few months earlier: they set tables in their parking lots, on adjacent sidewalks, and in spaces next door, and served drinks there. ABC made that possible for alcohol through a temporary permission called a COVID-19 Temporary Catering Authorization. Several years later, a surprising number of those outdoor areas are still in use, and the law that keeps them legal has been extended more than once.

The latest extension is Assembly Bill 592 (Gabriel, Chapter 469, Statutes of 2025), approved by the Governor on October 9, 2025. It does three things restaurant operators should know about:

1. It moves the expiration of COVID-19 Temporary Catering Authorizations from July 1, 2026 to January 1, 2029, and bars ABC from issuing new ones on or after January 1, 2027.
2. It makes certain pandemic-era food facility and parking relief permanent.
3. It creates a new path for restaurants to operate with open windows, folding doors, or nonfixed storefronts, if they have an approved pest management and food safety plan.

Our 2023 article on patio season and COVID temporary authorizations covered the earlier stage of this story. This piece focuses on what AB 592 changes.

What a Temporary Catering Authorization is

Business and Professions Code section 25750.5, as amended by AB 592, describes the authorization. ABC may permit licensees to exercise license privileges in an expanded license area authorized under a COVID-19 Temporary Catering Authorization approved in accordance with the department’s Fourth Notice of Regulatory Relief, issued May 15, 2020.

The authorization allows on-sale consumption of the alcoholic beverages the licensee is already allowed to sell on-sale, on property that is adjacent to the licensed premises and within the licensee’s control. It does not add new types of alcohol, and it does not let a business serve on land it does not control.

The authorization remains subject to the terms and conditions ABC established in the Fourth Notice and the related application form. Section 25750.5(b) makes clear that it can be canceled as the department determines, including upon objection by local law enforcement or if operating the area conflicts with state or local public health directives. Section 25750.5(d) adds that if ABC finds a licensee abusing the relief, or if the licensee’s actions jeopardize public health, safety, or welfare, the department may summarily rescind it at any time.

The new dates

Before AB 592, section 25750.5 was set to remain in effect only until July 1, 2026. AB 592 changes the timeline in two ways:

• January 1, 2027: ABC may not issue any new COVID-19 Temporary Catering Authorizations on or after this date.
• January 1, 2029: Section 25750.5 remains in effect only until this date and is repealed as of that date.

Put simply, existing authorizations can keep operating, subject to their conditions, until the section is repealed at the start of 2029. A licensee that does not have one has until the end of 2026 to obtain one, if ABC approves it. After that, the only way to keep serving in an expanded outdoor area will be through ABC’s ordinary, permanent licensing processes.

Why the extension is a planning window, not a permanent fix

The word “temporary” is still in the name. An outdoor area that depends on a Temporary Catering Authorization has a hard end date. For many businesses, the outdoor seats are now a significant share of revenue, which makes it risky to leave the transition until late 2028.

A sensible plan for each authorized area:

• Confirm your paperwork. Locate your approved authorization and the conditions attached to it. Make sure the area you actually use matches the area ABC approved.
• Ask what permanent option fits. Depending on the layout, the answer may be a modification of the licensed premises, a different license type, or other ABC authorizations. Your local ABC district office is the right first call.
• Check local approvals. City or county permits for outdoor dining often run on separate timelines from ABC. A permanent ABC change may require local zoning, building, or encroachment permits.
• Budget for construction. A permanent area may need barriers, lighting, accessibility work, or other improvements.

Licensees that cater off-site events under other permits should keep those separate. Our explainer on Type 58 catering authorizations for off-site events covers a different set of rules that are not affected by this extension.

Parking relief and satellite food service become permanent

AB 592 also amends two non-ABC laws that many restaurants relied on during the pandemic.

Parking. Government Code section 65907 says that if an outdoor expansion of a business to mitigate COVID-19 restrictions on indoor dining interferes with required parking for existing uses, a local jurisdiction that has not adopted its own parking-relief ordinance for outdoor dining must reduce the required parking by the number of spaces it determines are needed for the outdoor area. That provision had been set to expire on July 1, 2026. The Legislative Counsel’s Digest says AB 592 makes it operative indefinitely.

Temporary satellite food service. Health and Safety Code section 114067(k) lets a permitted food facility in a jurisdiction subject to COVID-19-related retail food restrictions prepare and serve food as a temporary satellite food service without a separate satellite permit or submitting written operating procedures. The written procedures must still be kept on site for review. The digest says this, too, becomes operative indefinitely.

Open-front restaurants: a new option with conditions

The most novel part of AB 592 is a new subdivision (d) in Health and Safety Code section 114266. The Retail Food Code generally requires permanent food facilities to be fully enclosed. The new subdivision allows a restaurant, meaning a bona fide public eating place as defined in Business and Professions Code section 23038, to operate using open windows, folding doors, or nonfixed storefronts during hours of operation if it meets several conditions:

• It develops an integrated pest management and food safety risk mitigation plan and submits it to the local enforcement agency for approval before operating that way.
• The facility is fully enclosed during nonoperating hours.
• The restaurant can operate fully enclosed when necessary.

The plan must be written and available to local environmental health officers on request. At minimum it must include a risk assessment of the layout, operations, storage, and surroundings; control procedures for trash, compost, dust, and debris; ongoing monitoring at a frequency matched to the risk; employee training on hire and annually; and records, including dates and times of self-closures for vermin and records of pest control operator visits, with receipts kept on site for 12 months.

The restaurant must review and update the plan annually or whenever the facility or operation changes. If staff see vermin activity inside, including droppings or markings, the restaurant must self-close and remain closed until all vermin are eliminated.

The statute also limits local agencies. They may not unreasonably withhold approval and must make reasonable efforts to identify conditions that would allow the open-front configuration. Approval must be granted unless the agency shows, based on substantial evidence, that unique circumstances at that facility create a significant risk no reasonable measures can mitigate. Agencies keep their authority to suspend or revoke approval if the plan is not followed or vermin are found.

Where responsible service fits

Outdoor and open-front service changes the alcohol picture as well as the food safety picture. Servers can lose sight of guests who drift between indoor and outdoor areas. Drinks can leave the approved area. Minors may approach from the sidewalk. Staff should know the exact boundaries of the authorized area, keep drinks inside it, and keep checking identification and watching for signs of intoxication just as they would at the bar. Our guide to cocktails to-go rules covers a related set of pandemic-era privileges with their own conditions.

Questions to settle before 2027

Do we have an authorization, or just a habit? Some businesses have used an outdoor area for years without confirming that a Temporary Catering Authorization was approved for exactly that space. Find the approval and compare it with the area in use.

Has the area changed? If tables have moved beyond the approved boundary, or onto property the business no longer controls, the authorization may not cover them.

Is the landlord on board? The authorization covers adjacent property within the licensee’s control. A lease change or a new neighbor can affect that.

Is the local permit still valid? City outdoor dining programs have their own rules and expiration dates, and an ABC authorization does not replace them.

What is the permanent plan? Whether the answer is a premises modification, a different license, or retiring the area, decide early enough to complete the process before January 1, 2029.

Writing these answers down, with copies of approvals and leases, will make any later conversation with ABC or a city planner much easier.

Training staff for an open front

If your restaurant adopts an open-front configuration, the pest management plan’s training requirement applies to every employee on hire and annually. Fold that training into existing onboarding: how to spot droppings or markings, who decides to self-close, how to close the facility fully, and where the plan and records are kept. Pair it with a reminder about keeping drinks inside the licensed area.

Current context as of November 8, 2026

ABC’s 2025 Chaptered Legislation summary lists AB 592 as effective January 1, 2026 and confirms the new dates: COVID-19 Temporary Catering Authorizations expire January 1, 2029, and ABC may not issue new ones on or after January 1, 2027. As of this update, the January 1, 2027 cutoff for new authorizations has not yet arrived. Licensees still considering an application should contact ABC well before the end of 2026.

The bottom line

AB 592 buys outdoor dining areas time, not permanence. Existing Temporary Catering Authorizations can run until January 1, 2029, new ones stop on January 1, 2027, and some pandemic food safety and parking relief is now permanent. Use the extra years to put each outdoor area on a permanent footing, and keep training staff to serve responsibly wherever the tables are.

Sources

1. California Legislature: AB 592 (Gabriel, Chapter 469, Statutes of 2025), chaptered text
2. ABC: 2025 Chaptered Legislation (current note)

This article is general information, not legal advice.