(a) It is the intent of the Legislature to establish minimum crowd safety standards to guide local authorities when permitting large outdoor events throughout the state.
(b) It is the intent of the Legislature to ensure that the minimum crowd safety standards, as established pursuant to this section, inform the event permitting processes administered by cities, counties, and local public safety agencies to ensure public health and safety at large outdoor events by outlining best practices for the permitting process.
(c) For the purposes of this section, the following definitions apply:
(1) “Large outdoor event” means an organized outdoor event that is held in a nonpermanent venue featuring performances on one or more stages that has an estimated attendance level of more than 10,000 participants per day.
(2) “Local authority” means any city, including a charter city, county, including a charter county, city and county, including a charter city and county, or any applicable local public agency, including a local fire, police, or sheriff’s department.
(3) “Nonpermanent venue” means a location not designed to host concerts or festivals on a regular basis, such as a green field or parking lot, that may erect temporary structures for a concert or festival, including, but not limited to, stages, seating, security barriers, or concession services and other event tents.
(4) “Promoter” means an individual, association, corporation, partnership, or other organization that arranges, holds, organizes, or otherwise conducts a large outdoor event.
(d) (1) A local authority shall adopt the minimum crowd safety standards set forth in subdivision (e).
(2) A local authority that has preexisting special events protocols that substantially address crowd safety in accordance with the minimum standards set forth in subdivision (e) is exempt from this section.
(e) (1) Under the direction and at the discretion of local authorities, a promoter that seeks to hold a large outdoor event shall prepare an event operations plan that addresses all potential risks of the event. The plan shall include all of the following:
(A) Event overview.
(B) Site plan, to scale, depicting the event perimeter, all structures onsite, points of ingress and egress, including emergency exits, and crowd circulation areas.
(C) Festival management structure.
(D) Incident command post operations.
(E) Security plan.
(F) Crowd management for ingress, venue circulation, egress, and front-of-stage management.
(G) Medical plan.
(H) Emergency action plan that includes, but is not limited to, response to a severe weather natural disaster, a person presenting a substantial threat, response to injury, an emergency show stop procedure, and communications plans for both internal and public-facing communication.
(2) Notwithstanding paragraph (1), if the event is a performance that by its nature places the performers at risk, including, but not limited to, rodeos and monster truck rallies, the event operations plan need not address that risk.
(f) A local authority may approve a large outdoor event upon satisfactory review of the event operations plan, as described in subdivision (e).
(g) A local authority may charge the promoter a fee, which may not exceed the reasonable costs to the local authority for the review and approval of the event operations plan.
(h) This section does not apply to the permitting of any of the following types of events:
(1) An event held at a fair that has adopted the Department of Food and Agriculture’s “Contract Policy and Recommended Best Practices for Contracting by California Fairs.”
(2) An event regulated pursuant to Chapter 3 (commencing with Section 27200) of Division 6 of Title 4 of Part 6 of the Penal Code.
(3) An event that is part of an annual fair within the network of California fairs, as described in Division 3 (commencing with Section 3001) of the Food and Agricultural Code, if the primary purpose of the event is to exhibit or promote the state’s agriculture, livestock, or industrial or natural resources through exhibits, vendors, or other educational programming.
(4) This section does not prevent or otherwise limit the ability of a local authority to adopt additional or more stringent requirements applicable to large outdoor events than the requirements of this section.
(Added by Stats. 2022, Ch. 441, Sec. 2. (AB 2681) Effective January 1, 2023.)