New liquor license applications in California: the ABC daily report and export
Updated · Rotomal
California's Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) posts a Daily Report of New Applications on its Licensing Reports page, next to daily Issued Licenses and Status Changes reports, and offers a free download of all pending and active licenses as CSV or fixed-width text. The report for Wednesday 28 October 2026 listed 29 applications with 34 license lines, 20 of them restaurant licenses (types 41 and 47). Texas and New York publish pending applications as daily open data.
California ABC reports that list new applications
| Report | What it lists | Frequency | Link |
|---|---|---|---|
| New Applications | New applications taken by ABC on the selected report date | Daily; earlier dates selectable | abc.ca.gov ↗ |
| Issued Licenses | ABC licenses issued on the selected report date | Daily | abc.ca.gov ↗ |
| Status Changes | Licenses whose status changed on the selected report date | Daily | abc.ca.gov ↗ |
| Data export | Raw data of all pending and active licenses, as CSV or fixed-width text | Each business day at 7 a.m. PT, per ABC; file last modified 29 Oct 2026 in our check | abc.ca.gov ↗ |
Weekly reports of filed and finalized legal proceedings are posted on Wednesdays for the prior week's business days.
Our count: the report for 28 October 2026
We read the Daily Report of New Applications for Wednesday 28 October 2026 on 29 October 2026. It listed 29 applications; one application can cover several license types, so it had 34 license lines.
| License type | Who it is issued to | Lines |
|---|---|---|
| 41 On-Sale Beer & Wine - Eating Place | Restaurants | 15 |
| 47 On-Sale General - Eating Place | Restaurants | 5 |
| 20 Off-Sale Beer & Wine | Retail stores | 3 |
| 21 Off-Sale General | Retail stores | 3 |
| 48 On-Sale General - Public Premises | Bars and night clubs | 2 |
| Other types (02, 09, 17, 58, 70, 86) | Various | 6 |
By action: 19 lines were person-to-person transfers (PER), 7 original licenses (ORI), 4 premises-to-premises transfers, 3 fiduciary (FID) and 1 dropping partner (DPR).
Read the action column: new outlet or new owner
- ORI (original): a new license rather than a transfer.
- PER (person to person): the license moves to a new owner, so the business has changed or is changing hands.
- PREM (premises to premises, shown as PRM in the report): the license moves to a new address.
- Status PEND (pending) means the application has not been decided yet.
- Type codes and action codes are defined on ABC's License Types page and glossary.
The export file
The Licensing Reports page offers the raw data of all pending and active licenses as a zipped CSV and as zipped fixed-width text. In our check on 29 October 2026, the CSV zip was about 7.4 MB and last modified that morning. ABC publishes the fixed-width layout: 460-character records with license type, file number, license or application type, status, original issue and expiration dates, fee codes, geo and district codes, primary name, premises address and county, DBA name, mailing address and census tract.
To find new applications in bulk, keep yesterday's file and compare: file numbers that appear for the first time with a pending status are applications that are new since your last copy.
Texas and New York: pending applications as open data
| State | Dataset | Updated | Our check, 29 October 2026 | Link |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Texas | TABC Pending Original New Primary and Subordinate License Applications (status Received or In Review) | Daily | 975 pending; 216 of them submitted 19–25 Oct 2026 | data.texas.gov ↗ |
| New York | Current SLA Pending Licenses | Daily | 2,955 pending; 135 received 19–25 Oct 2026, 49 of them described as restaurants | data.ny.gov ↗ |
Both datasets also answer as Socrata APIs with no key for light use, filtered by submission or received date and, in New York, by description such as Restaurant. Both hold only applications that are still pending, so an application drops out once it is decided. Counts for a past week shrink over time.
Using applicant data responsibly
- Many applicants are individuals: treat names and addresses as personal data.
- The FTC says CAN-SPAM has no exception for business-to-business email; include a postal address and honor opt-outs within 10 business days.
- The TCPA restricts autodialed or prerecorded calls and texts to mobile numbers without prior express consent.
- None of this is legal advice.
From a daily report to a weekly list
Reading one California report a day is manageable; adding Texas and New York, removing transfers you do not want, and spotting the same restaurant again when its license is issued is where the time goes. Opening Weekly collects these applications with Chicago license inspections and New York City pre-permit inspections, matches them by place, and sends one list every Monday, labeled ORI or PER, with a link to each source.
Questions
How do I find new liquor license applications in California?
Open ABC's Licensing Reports page and choose New Applications under Daily Reports. Pick a report date to see the applications ABC took that day, with license type, status, owner, premises address and action code.
Is there a CSV of all California liquor licenses?
Yes. The Licensing Reports page offers the raw data of all pending and active licenses as a zipped CSV and as fixed-width text; the CSV zip was about 7.4 MB on 29 October 2026.
What do the ORI and PER action codes mean?
In ABC's glossary, ORI is an original license and PER a person-to-person transfer. An ORI line is a new license rather than a transfer; a PER line is a license moving to a new owner.
Which license types are restaurants?
Type 41 (On-Sale Beer & Wine - Eating Place) and type 47 (On-Sale General - Eating Place) are issued to restaurants; type 48 (On-Sale General - Public Premises) is issued to bars and night clubs.
Is there a list of pending liquor license applications in Texas or New York?
Yes. TABC publishes pending original applications and the New York State Liquor Authority publishes current pending licenses, both as open data updated daily.
Sources
- California ABC: Licensing Reports Source: abc.ca.gov
- California ABC: Daily Report of New Applications Source: abc.ca.gov
- California ABC: Daily Report of Issued Licenses Source: abc.ca.gov
- California ABC: Daily Report of Status Changes Source: abc.ca.gov
- California ABC: data export fixed-width layout definition Source: abc.ca.gov
- California ABC: License Types Source: abc.ca.gov
- California ABC: Glossary (status and action codes) Source: abc.ca.gov
- Texas open data (TABC): Pending Original New Primary and Subordinate License Applications Source: data.texas.gov
- New York open data (SLA): Current SLA Pending Licenses Source: data.ny.gov
- FTC: CAN-SPAM Act compliance guide for business Source: ftc.gov
- US Code: 47 U.S.C. 227 (TCPA) Source: law.cornell.edu