Yes, in some venues. California can charge a minor with a misdemeanor for merely entering and remaining in a bar-type licensed venue without lawful business there, even if the minor never orders, buys, or drinks anything. The licensee that lets the minor stay commits its own, separate misdemeanor.
The rule: presence without lawful business
Business and Professions Code section 25665 says a person under 21 “who enters and remains in the licensed public premises without lawful business therein is guilty of a misdemeanor.” A separate sentence in the same section makes it a misdemeanor for an on-sale licensee of public premises to permit that. The minor’s penalty is a fine of “not less than two hundred dollars ($200), no part of which shall be suspended.” Unlike the neighboring purchase and possession statutes, this section states no maximum fine and no community-service alternative.
The statute does not define “lawful business.” Whether a particular reason for being inside counts depends on the facts, and no single reason works as an automatic defense.
Which venues this actually covers
This offense applies only to “public premises” as California defines that term. Under Business and Professions Code section 23039, public premises are on-sale licensed premises operated for selling alcohol to the public for consumption there, “in which food shall not be sold or served to the public as in a bona fide public eating place.” Food served only incidentally to the drinks does not change that. A place that does sell and serve food as a bona fide public eating place, such as a genuine restaurant, is not “public premises” under this definition even if it has a full bar, so a minor eating there with family is in a materially different legal position than a minor inside a venue that is really a bar or club. Section 23039 also excludes some venues outright, such as railroad dining and club cars, passenger ships, airplanes, and bona fide clubs that have operated lawfully for at least a year.
What this does not affect
This is a presence-based misdemeanor, not a driving offense, and by itself it does not affect a minor’s driver’s license the way an underage DUI can. None of the offenses that trigger California’s mandatory under-21 license suspension under Vehicle Code section 13202.5 come from the Business and Professions Code.
What this means in practice
If you or your child was cited for simply being inside a bar or club, the actual questions are whether that specific venue counts as “public premises” and whether there was a lawful reason to be there. Both are fact-specific. If the charge stands, the court cannot suspend any part of the fine, which starts at $200.
A citation like this turns on the specific venue and the circumstances. The Law Offices of David S. Chesley can help you work through both. Reach the firm at (800) 755-5174.