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§25660 lists: (1) a driver license or ID card issued by a U.S. state DMV; (2) federal ID card; (3) a valid U.S. armed forces ID; (4) a valid passport (U.S. or foreign), each bearing photo, physical description, date of birth, and signature (or for some passports, equivalent biometric features). Yearbooks, warehouse-club cards, and employer IDs are NOT bona fide identification, regardless of how convincing they look, and accepting them gives the server no §25660 defense.

Industry standard — and recommended in the ABC RBS curriculum — is to card anyone who appears under 30. This buffer protects against misjudging a 22-year-old who looks 19 or a 19-year-old who looks 24. Many establishments use 'Under 40 — show your ID' signs as a stronger policy. Carding only those who 'look under 21' (a) misses many borderline cases. When in doubt, always card; the few seconds is cheap insurance against a §25658 misdemeanor.

California DMV issues vertical (portrait) licenses to applicants who are under 21 at the time of issuance and horizontal (landscape) licenses to applicants who are 21 or older. A vertical license does NOT automatically mean the holder is still under 21 — they may have turned 21 since issuance — but it is a strong cue to read the date of birth carefully before serving alcohol. The format itself is a deliberate visual safeguard for licensees.

Bus. & Prof. Code §25658.4 authorizes a licensee or employee to seize an ID reasonably believed to be fictitious, altered, or belonging to another person, and to deliver it to a local law enforcement agency within 24 hours along with a written report describing the circumstances. The statute provides civil and criminal immunity for good-faith seizure. Destroying (a) is not authorized; selling or keeping it (b, c) is unlawful.

Under §25666 and ABC regulations, decoys must be under 20, must display the appearance generally expected of a person under 21 (no aging makeup or disguise), must carry their own valid identification, must answer truthfully if asked their age, and may not encourage the seller to sell. These rules protect licensees from entrapment defenses and ensure compliance checks are fair. Any sale to such a decoy is grounds for a §25658 citation.

Servers verify: (1) the document is on the §25660 list; (2) it is not expired (most establishments require non-expired ID though §25660 itself does not always require it for the defense); (3) photo matches the customer; (4) physical description (height/eye color) matches; (5) date of birth shows age 21+ as of today; (6) no signs of tampering, peeling lamination, mismatched fonts, ghost-image alterations. Astrological compatibility (c) is not part of any ID check.

Genuine CA driver licenses include UV-reactive elements visible under a blacklight, a state-seal hologram on the laminate, micro-printed text (e.g., 'CALIFORNIA' repeated in tiny type), a ghost (secondary) image of the photo, and a tactile feel along the edges. Many fakes fail on UV check or on the bend test (real cards flex without cracking the laminate). Magnetic strips (b), scratch panels (c), and social-media QR codes (d) are not features of California licenses.

Each patron purchasing or being served alcohol must individually present valid ID matching themselves under §25660. 'Pass-along' or 'hand-off' attempts — where one friend tries to use the same ID to obtain drinks for two — are a classic underage tactic that the server must recognize. The server must require ID from the actual consumer, refuse service if none can be produced, and may seize an obviously borrowed ID under §25658.4 (turning it over to local law enforcement within 24 hours). Reciting an address (d) is not a §25660-listed verification method and is no defense to §25658 if the ID later turns out to be borrowed.

§25660 protects sales when the server relies in good faith on documents described in the statute. Most ABC guidance and licensee policies require non-expired ID for the §25660 defense to clearly apply. Even where an expired ID is permitted by establishment policy for clearly-of-age patrons, accepting expired IDs creates evidentiary risk and is widely refused. Servers should follow house policy, which is usually 'unexpired only.' Surcharging (c) is not lawful.

§25660 lists U.S.-state DMV-issued licenses/IDs, U.S. federal IDs, U.S. armed-forces IDs, and passports (both U.S. and foreign passports are accepted, each bearing a photo, date of birth, physical description, and signature). Foreign national ID cards (e.g., Mexican INE/IFE/credencial, EU national identity cards, Filipino national ID) are NOT enumerated in §25660 and acceptance gives the licensee no statutory defense to a §25658 charge. Tourist patrons should present a passport — the universal RBS gold standard for foreign visitors — or a U.S.-state DMV-issued license if they have one. Manager approval (d) cannot override the statute.

Nervous behavior — sweating, hesitating, attempting to retract the ID, presenting it face-down — are red flags for a fake or borrowed ID. The server should slow down, examine the ID under good light, check for tampering, and may ask casual confirming questions about the birthday or address. Genuine holders answer easily; underage borrowers stumble. Ignoring red flags (a, b) defeats the purpose of carding.

Under §25658(a) and California law generally, a person attains the age of 21 on the day of their 21st birthday. From the start of that calendar day (12:00 a.m.), they may lawfully be served alcohol. There is no extra waiting period. The 6 a.m. – 2 a.m. service-hours rule (§25631) still applies to the establishment. Serving the night before the birthday (e.g., a midnight-strike celebration at 11:30 p.m. on the 20th) is still a §25658 violation.

Real driver licenses are polycarbonate or PVC with bonded layers — edges are smooth and the card bends slightly without separating. Tampered licenses often have raised lamination over the altered area, peeling corners, mismatched textures, or delaminate when bent. The 'edge feel' and 'bend test' are standard non-destructive checks. Heating, washing, or cutting (b, c, d) destroy the ID and may constitute property damage if the ID turns out to be real.

California law does not require ID for every patron. The legal duty under §25658 is not to sell to a person under 21; §25660 then provides an affirmative defense when ID is checked in good faith on those who could possibly be underage. For obviously-of-age patrons (clearly 30+, no doubt), carding is not legally required, though many establishments still card 100% as a uniform internal policy that removes any judgment risk. Title 4 CCR §165 (c) imposes RBS training requirements but does not create a universal carding mandate. Servers should focus carding effort on anyone who might reasonably be under 30.

Hair color can change, but eye color and height are stable physical identifiers. A combination of mismatched eye color and height inconsistent with the listed description supports a reasonable belief the ID does not belong to the holder, triggering §25658.4 seizure authority. The seized ID goes to local law enforcement within 24 hours. Accepting (a, b) exposes the server to a §25658 misdemeanor; verification fees (d) are not lawful.