Consumerism

Consumerism Legislation

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SB 20(Padilla-D) Food facilities: menu labeling

Repeals current law governing menu labeling requirements for food facilities and instead, conforms state law to federal law.
Chapter 415, Statutes of 2011

SB 102(Correa-D) Cell telephone customer privacy

Requires a commercial seller of mobile telephony service communications devices (commonly known as "cell phones") that incorporate geotagging, as defined, capability to disclose this capability to a potential purchaser prior to completing a sale of the device. Prohibits the commercial seller from selling a mobile telephony service communications device to a purchaser with the geotagging capability activated or operational without first obtaining the purchaser's consent, in writing, acknowledging that the purchaser has been informed of the existence of the geotagging capability and consents to this capability being activated or operational.
(In Senate Energy, Utilities and Communications Committee)

SB 147(Leno-D) Furniture: flammability standards

Requires the Bureau of Electronic and Appliance Repair, Home Furnishings and Thermal Insulation, on or before 3/1/13, to modify Technical Bulletin 117 regarding product standards for fire retardant furniture to include a smolder flammability test to provide an alternative method of compliance that can be met without the use of chemical fire retardants and does not compromise fire safety.
(Failed passage in Senate Business, Professions and Economic Development Committee)

SB 180(Corbett-D) Consumer transactions: veterans services

Prohibits unreasonable fees charged or received for assistance in procuring veterans benefits provided by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs and the California Department of Veterans Affairs.
Chapter 79, Statutes of 2011

SB 287(Fuller-R) Conditional sale contracts

Limits the award of attorney's fees to a prevailing party in an action instituted by a person who has suffered injury in fact and has lost money or property as a result of a violation governing conditional sales contracts for motor vehicles.
(In Senate Judiciary Committee)

SB 402(Vargas-D) Outdoor advertising: Imperial County

Provides an exemption from the regulations of the Outdoor Advertising Act for an advertising display located within 1,800 feet of the intersection of State Highway Routes 8 and 111 in the County of Imperial if certain conditions are satisfied.
(In Senate Rules Committee)

SB 567(DeSaulnier-D) Labeling: plastic products

Requires plastic products sold in the state and labeled as "compostable," "home compostable," or "marine degradable" to meet specified standards. Prohibits the sale of plastic products labeled as "biodegradable," "degradable," or "decomposable."
Chapter 594, Statutes of 2011

SB 602(Yee-D) Reader Privacy Act

Enacts the Reader Privacy Act, placing restrictions relative to user information on commercial businesses that offer "book services," the rental, purchase, borrowing, browsing, or viewing of books, to the public.
Chapter 424, Statutes of 2011

SB 658(Negrete McLeod-D) Licensed funeral establishments: price list: posting

Requires funeral establishments that maintain an Internet Web site to make their general price list available on its Web site, as specified, by 1/1/13.
Chapter 386, Statutes of 2011

SB 708(Corbett-D) Debt Settlement Consumer Protection Act

Enacts the Debt Settlement Consumer Protection Act to provide for the licensure and regulation of debt settlement providers, caps the fee allowed at 20% of the amount of debt saved, and requires numerous disclosures from the provider to the consumer before entering into an agreement for debt settlement services.
(In Senate Rules Committee)

SB 761(Lowenthal-D) Consumerism: computer spyware

Requires the Attorney General, by 7/1/12, to adopt regulations that would require online businesses to provide California consumers with a method for the consumer to opt out of the collection or use of his/her information by the business.
(In Senate Appropriations Committee)

SB 818(Wolk-D) Food labeling: olive oil

Redefines California's olive oil labeling requirements to conform to United States labeling standards as outlined in the United States Standards for Grades of Olive Oil and Olive-Pomace Oil published in the Federal Register that took effect on 10/25/10.
Chapter 567, Statutes of 2011

SB 823(Corbett-D) Made in California Program

Creates the Made in California Program within the Governor's Office of Economic Development, and makes it an unfair method of competition or an unfair or deceptive business practice to use a designated Made in California label without participating in the Made in California Program.
(In Assembly Appropriations Committee)

SB 869(Yee-D) Automotive repair dealers: airbag estimates

Provides that an automotive repair dealer who prepares a written estimate for repairs that includes replacement of a deployed airbag, who fails to restore the airbag, as specified, is guilty of a misdemeanor that is punishable by a $5,000 fine, by one year imprisonment in a county jail, or by both that fine and imprisonment.
Chapter 430, Statutes of 2011

SB 875(Price-D) Rental vehicles

Provides that the provision of law which authorizes a rental vehicle fuel gauge installed by a vehicle's manufacturer, to be used in a rental transaction by a rental company, to calculate an optional charge for fueling, applies to passenger and nonpassenger vehicle rental transaction by a rental company made on or after 1/1/00.
(In Senate Judiciary Committee)

SB 890(Leno-D) Fair Debt Buyers Practices Act

Enacts the Fair Debt Buyers Practices Act imposing various restrictions on debt buyers who seek to take steps to collect purchased debt including (1) prohibiting the collection of a debt without valid documentation, (2) requiring a debt buyer who receives payment to provide a receipt, (3) prohibiting suit or other action to collect a consumer debt if the statute of limitations has expired, (4) requiring specified documentation of the debt to be attached to a complaint, and (5) requiring a dismissal of the action, with prejudice, if a debt buyer seeks a default judgment without complying with specified requirements.
(On Senate Inactive File)

SB 915(Calderon-D) Plastic bags: recycled content

Establishes a mandatory level of recycled content in plastic bags according to a specified schedule. Requires the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery to establish a working group of stakeholders to develop strategies for increasing the recycling of plastic bags and develop suggestions for funding increased consumer awareness.
(In Senate Environmental Quality Committee)

SB 932(Leno-D) Cellular telephones: notice requirements

Requires cellular telephone retailers to prominently display a notice relating to radiofrequency energy emitted by a cellular telephone (1) adjacent to the purchase price at the physical retail location, (2) on the retailers' Internet Web site, and (3) on the exterior packaging of the phone. Requires the notice to state "This device emits radiofrequency energy. Do not hold or carry it directly against the body when connected to a network or you may be exposed to levels greater than the safety limit established by the Federal Communications Commission. Consult the user's manual for additional information on safe use."
(On Senate Inactive File)

AB 87(Logue-R) Home furnishings: inspections: compensation

Deletes provisions allowing a chief or inspector from the Bureau of Electronic and Appliance Repair, Home Furnishings, and Thermal Insulation to take any articles or samples of upholstered furniture or bedding for purposes of analysis.
(In Assembly Appropriations Committee)

AB 88(Huffman-D) Food labeling: salmon and finfish

Requires that genetically engineered (GE) salmon or other finfish products prepared from those fish or the progeny of GE fish be conspicuously disclosed on the label. GE fish without this label will be considered misbranded.
(Failed passage in Assembly Appropriations Committee; reconsideration granted)

AB 237(Galgiani-D) Cosmetics: safety

Requires any manufacturer of cosmetic products sold in California that does not currently comply with a voluntary federal cosmetic ingredients reporting program to provide similar information, as that disclosed to the federal program, to the Department of Public Health.
(In Assembly Appropriations Committee)

AB 238*(Huber-D) Conditional sales contracts: motor vehicles

Provides that a motor vehicle conditional sales contract shall not be made unenforceable solely because of a violation of requirements to disclose specified government fees and the total of those and other fees.
Chapter 526, Statutes of 2011

AB 336(Dickinson-D) Consumer loans

Establishes standards, prohibitions, and requirements on lenders that provide loans collateralized by a motor vehicle.
(In Assembly Banking and Finance Committee)

AB 621(Charles Calderon-D) Rental car agreements

Requires a rental car company that enters into a vehicle rental agreement with a renter who is not a resident of this country to do the following when that renter purchases liability insurance as part of the agreement: (1) accept service of process of any summons and complaint against the renter for any accident resulting from the operation of the rental car within California; and (2) mail a copy of the summons and complaint and any other to the renter. Specifies how process must be served on the rental car company and requires that the plaintiff agree to limit his/her recovery to the limits of protection provided by the insurance. Sunsets on 1/1/15.
Chapter 531, Statutes of 2011

AB 753(Monning-D) Vehicles: rentals

Prohibits car rentals companies from renting or selling cars that are subject to federal recall notices.
(In Senate Appropriations Committee)

AB 817(Gatto-D) Vehicle rental contracts

Requires the California Law Revision Commission to study whether the laws regulating rental car companies and their customers would benefit from greater clarity and concision and report its findings and recommendations to the Legislature by 12/31/12.
(On Senate Inactive File)

AB 858(Jones-R) False advertising

Provides that a product that is made all or virtually all in the United States, within the meaning of the Enforcement Policy Statement on United States Origin Claims issued by the Federal Trade Commission, be deemed merchandise that has been entirely or substantially made, manufactured, or produced within the United States.
(In Senate Judiciary Committee)

AB 929(Wieckowski-D) Debtor exemptions: bankruptcy

Revises and expands the set of specific asset exemptions available to bankruptcy debtors (the "703 exemptions") to generally conform to the exemptions under existing law available to all debtors in California seeking to exempt specified property from enforcement of a monetary judgment (the "704 exemptions").
(On Senate Inactive File)

AB 994(Cedillo-D) Outdoor advertising

Authorizes outdoor advertising displays, within an individual redevelopment agency project, considered to be on premises to continue to be considered as on premises advertising displays after a redevelopment agency is dissolved, if the agency consented to the advertising display before 1/1/11.
(In Assembly Governmental Organization Committee)

AB 1061(Eng-D) Consumer warranties: vehicles

Requires every manufacturer, distributor, or retailer making express warranties with respect to a new vehicle also to fully set forth, in simple and readily understood language, a detailed list of items that are not covered under the warranty.
(In Assembly Business, Professions and Consumer Protection Committee)

AB 1108(Nielsen-R) Consumer remedies: attorney's fees

Creates a "loser pays" rule within the Consumer Legal Remedies Act which provides that the losing party pay the attorney's fees of the prevailing action brought by a consumer to enforce his/her rights.
(Failed passage in Assembly Judiciary Committee)

AB 1215(Blumenfield-D) Vehicles: processing of documents

Requires new car dealers to participate in a program to electronically title and register vehicles that they sell. Allows vehicle dealers to charge car buyers higher add-on fees on the sale of new and used vehicles. Prohibits a dealer from displaying or offering for sale at retail a used vehicle unless the dealer first obtains a vehicle history report from the National Motor Vehicle Title Information System (NMVTIS). If the NMVTIS report indicates that the vehicle is or has been a junk or salvage automobile, or the vehicle has been reported as such by a junk or a salvage yard, or an insurance carrier, or the certificate of title contains a brand, requires the dealer to post a specified disclosure and provide the retail purchaser with a copy of the report upon request prior to sale. Requirements associated with obtaining a NMVTIS vehicle history report would become inoperative if all NMVTIS data providers cease to make these reports available to the public.
Chapter 329, Statutes of 2011

AB 1219*(Perea-D) Credit cards

Provides clarification for those instances when an entity that accepts credit cards may not request certain types of personal identification information to complete the transaction. Creates an express exemption from the prohibition against the collection and retention of zip code information when the zip code is used solely for prevention of fraud, theft, or identify theft in a sales transaction at a retail motor fuel dispenser or retail motor fuel payment island automated cashier.
Chapter 690, Statutes of 2011

AB 1277(Hill-D) Sherman Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Law

Changes the schedule of licensing inspections by the Department of Public Health for drug and medical device manufacturers from once every two years to once every four years, as specified.
(In Senate Health Committee)

AB 1298(Blumenfield-D) Mobile billboards

Expands the ability of local governments to regulate advertising on non-motorized vehicles and allows local governments to regulate specified advertising signs on motor vehicles parked or left standing upon a public street.
Chapter 538, Statutes of 2011

AB 1319(Butler-D) Product safety: bisphenol A

Enacts the Toxin-Free Infants and Toddlers Act, which would, except as specified, prohibit, on and after 7/1/13, the manufacture, sale, or distribution in commerce of any bottle or cup that contains bisphenol A, at a detectable level above 0.1 parts per billion, if the bottle or cup is designed or intended to be filled with any liquid, food, or beverage intended primarily for consumption by infants or children three years of age or younger. Ceases this prohibition to be implemented for an item, on the date that a prescribed notice is posted regarding the Department of Toxic Substances Control's adoption of related regulations.
Chapter 467, Statutes of 2011
 
 

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