Not to provoke extra discussion, but there are several threads around the various boating forums concerning this. It appears that some boaters are/were (recently) finding alcohol still for sale in hardware stores in California.
I have zero info about where this 'ban' is happening, regarding county or city, tho.
Given its use in many industries and in painting, the whole story seems quite odd to me up here in Portland. When it comes to solvents in general, all of the "usual suspects" are for sale near our house, and just yesterday I bought another gallon of lacquer thinner for $18. Seemed like it may have gone up some, but it is what it is.