Consumerism

Consumerism Legislation

Consumerism Legislation

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SB 44 (Torlakson-D) Dealer document preparation
Increases, from $44 to $55, the maximum fee that a vehicle dealer may charge a purchaser for document preparation.
Chapter 623, Statutes of 2006

SB 202 (Simitian-D) Privacy: telephone calling
Prohibits the purchase or sale of any telephone calling pattern record or list without the written consent of the subscriber making the calls.
Chapter 626, Statutes of 2006
Similar legislation was SB 1651 (Maldonado-R) which died in Senate Judiciary Committee and SB 1665 (Figueroa-D) which died in the Senate Judiciary Committee.

SB 263 (Speier-D) Sellers of travel
Requires anyone who sells land or water-based transportation to comply with the sellers of travel law, establishes conditions for the sale of "travel discount programs" and makes other changes related to enforcement and administration of the sellers of travel.
Chapter 628, Statutes of 2006

SB 440 (Speier-D) Telecommunications: billing
Provides additional protections and information to mobile and wireless telephone customers regarding billing discrepancies.
Vetoed by the Governor

SB 611 (Speier-D) Meat and poultry recalls
Requires a meat or poultry supplier, distributor, broker or processor to immediately notify the Department of Health Services, as specified, when meat or poultry products they sell are subject to a Class I or Class II recall by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Chapter 592, Statutes of 2006

SB 636 (Figueroa-D) Credit cards: photo identification
Prohibits retailers, as defined, from accepting credit card payments, in person-to-person transactions, without checking photo identification, requires retailers to implement related procedures, and authorizes the Attorney General or a district attorney to seek a civil penalty of $250 or more for a violation of this section.
(Died in Senate Appropriations Committee)

SB 768 (Simitian-D) Identify Information Protection Act of 2006
Requires certain security measures be implemented into government-issued identification that incorporate radio frequency identification (RFID) technology, with certain specified exceptions, and prohibits the use of RFID in four classes of widely-issued government documents.
Vetoed by the Governor

SB 774 (Cox-R) Vended water
Requires the telephone number displayed on the machines of vended water be a toll-free telephone number.
(Died in Senate Health Committee)

SB 832 (Perata-D) Punitive damages
Extends, to July 1, 2011, the law on the existing split-recovery statute regarding punitive damage awards.
Vetoed by the Governor

SB 860 (Bowen-D) Credit card processing fees: state agents
Prohibits the University of California, the California State University or the community colleges or any agent thereof from imposing any processing fee or charge for the use of a credit or debit card as payment for any state service or obligation.
(Died in Assembly Banking and Finance Committee)

SB 934 (Vincent-D) Dogs and cats: spay or neuter agreement: penalties
Provides that the entity selling or giving away an unspayed or unneutered dog or cat shall require the adopter or purchaser to execute a written agreement acknowledging that the dog or cat is not spayed or neutered and agreeing that the adopter or purchaser shall be responsible for ensuring that the dog or cat will be spayed or neutered, as specified.
(Died in Senate Business, Professions, and Economic Development Committee)

SB 986 (Escutia-D) Consumer credit reports: employment purposes
Revises the definition of "employment purposes" to require that, when the consumer credit report or the investigative consumer report is used for employment purposes, as described above, the information be directly related to the skills necessary to perform the job.
(Died in Senate Judiciary Committee)

SB 1068 (Escutia-D) Telecommunications: customer protection
Requires telephone corporations to disclose to customers key rates, terms, and conditions of a service contract.
(Died in Assembly Utilities and Commerce Committee)

SB 1104 (Senate Banking, Finance And Insurance Committee) Financial privacy
Excludes specified entities from the California Financial Information Privacy Act (Act), including a provider of health care, a health care service plan, and a state agency. Provides that the Act supplements and does not limit the application of various other provisions, including the Consumer Credit Reporting Agencies Act.
(Died in Senate Judiciary Committee)

SB 1429 (Morrow-R) Punitive damages
Provides, in a case involving injury or harm allegedly caused by a product, that the manufacture, distributor, or seller of the product shall not be guilty of oppression, fraud, or malice if, at the time of manufacture, distribution, or sale, the product, or the aspect, component, warning, or absence of warning contained in or accompanying the product that allegedly caused the injury or harm, was either approved by, or in material compliance with, a statute or the standards, rules, regulations, requirements, or specifications of, a federal or state agency responsible for regulating, evaluating, or approving the product, except as specified.
(Died in Senate Judiciary Committee)

SB 1492 (Speier-D) Insurance claims
Requires the Department of Insurance to establish a Rapid Dispute Resolution program in order to resolve disputes over automobile insurance claims.
(Died in Senate Appropriations Committee)

SB 1532 (Bowen-D) Household substances: packaging
Adds empty packages used for household products to the definition of "package" under the California Poison Prevention Packaging Act. Revises the definition of "package" to include any empty container, used by a person in a household, designed to hold any "household substance" as defined.
Vetoed by the Governor

SB 1542 (Migden-D) Vehicles: key information access
Establishes a statutory scheme whereby a motor vehicle owner or family member could, through the use of a registered locksmith, access the needed information from the motor vehicle manufacturer to enable the locksmith to reproduce a replacement key that will enable the vehicle owner to enter, start and operate the motor vehicle.
Chapter 433, Statutes of 2006

SB 1666 (Bowen-D) Personal information: prohibited practices
Provides that no person shall obtain or attempt to obtain, cause to be disclosed, or attempt to cause to be disclosed, personal information contained in records about a customer or employee of a business by making false, fictitious, or fraudulent statements or representations to an officer, employee, agent, or customer of the business.
(Died on Assembly Inactive File)

SB 1737 (Figueroa-D) Consumer rebates
Regulates the offering and fulfillment of consumer rebates, including requiring that consumers have a minimum of 30 days to submit a rebate request and companies have a maximum of 60 days to mail the rebate after receipt of the request. Limits what companies can require the consumer to provide in order to complete a rebate request form.
Vetoed by the Governor

SB 1744 (Bowen-D) Information privacy: consumer credit reports
Requires consumer credit reporting agencies to establish an electronic method and a toll-free telephone number for taking requests from consumers to temporarily lift a security freeze within 15 minutes.
(Died in Assembly Banking and Finance Committee)

SB 1848* (Figueroa-D) Consumer warranties
Permits a member of the armed forces, as defined, who is stationed in or a resident of this state at the time he or she purchased a motor vehicle from a manufacturer who sells consumer goods in this state or when he or she filed an action under the Song-Beverly Consumer Warranty Act, to exercise his or her rights under that act, regardless of in which state the vehicle is purchased or registered.
(Died in Assembly Rules Committee)

AB 175 (Calderon-D) Gift cards: multiple sellers
Requires a seller or issuer of a gift card usable with multiple sellers of goods or services to clearly disclose to the consumer the card's purchase price and any service, maintenance, dormancy or other fees associated with the card.
(Died in Senate Judiciary Committee)

AB 303 (Calderon-D) Automotive repair dealers: insurers
Modifies the provision excepting insurers from the definition of "customer," by allowing an individual to authorize his/her insurer to act on the customer's behalf after being advised of the individual rights the original customer has under California law.
(Died in Senate Banking, Finance and Insurance Committee)

AB 319 (Chan-D) Phthalates and bisphenol-A in children's products
Prohibits the use of Bisphenol-A and phthalates in toys and childcare products designed for babies and children under three years of age.
(Failed passage in Assembly Appropriations Committee)

AB 695 (Mullin-D) Retail sales
Requires retailers that uses a "return authorization system" to disclose information about it at specified locations, limits the ways a retailer can use customer information stored in its "return authorization system," and requires every retailer to provide customers with a legible receipt.
Vetoed by the Governor

AB 801 (Jones-D) Outdoor advertising
Exempts, from the prohibition against placing advertising displays adjacent to landscaped freeways, an advertising structure (billboard or sign) used to advertise development projects or business centers in the County of Sacramento. The exemption will be subject to several conditions.
Vetoed by the Governor

AB 1041 (Umberg-D) Advertising disclosures
Requires a professional sports franchise that includes a geographic location in its name but does not play a plurality of its games in the location used in its name, to include on all tickets, advertisements, and promotional materials a notice indicating that the franchise does not regularly participate in sporting events in the location indicated by its name, and specifies placement and size of the notice on print media, billboards, transportation vehicles, and television.
(Died in Senate Business and Professions Committee)

AB 1082 (Ruskin-D) Telecommunications: consumer protection
Prescribes the circumstances under which telephone and telegraph corporations, including mobile telephony service providers, as defined, or an affiliate, as defined, may release certain information regarding residential subscribers without their express consent, as defined, and adds a residential subscriber's electronic mail or other contact information as an item of prescribed information. Requires that any telephone or telegraph company that maintains an Internet web site that enables a subscriber to provide express consent pursuant to a certain law pertaining to electronic transactions, contain a readily viewable page that a subscriber can use to cancel the express consent, and requires that, upon a subscriber rescinding the subscriber's express consent, the corporation cease making the prescribed information available within a reasonable period of time, not to exceed 30 days, following receipt of notice of rescission.
(Died in Assembly Utilities and Commerce Committee)

AB 1103 (Karnette-D) Bicycle sales: notice
Requires a bicycle retailer and bicycle dealer who sells, furnishes, or gives a bicycle to any person to provide a disclosure to the purchaser or recipient that states that a bicycle may be recycled and that state law permits a tax deduction for qualified charitable contributions of bicycles, as specified.
(Died in Assembly Natural Resources Committee)

AB 1163 (Yee-D) Motor vehicle replacement parts
Provides that a "certified aftermarket crash part," not manufactured by the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) of the vehicle for which the aftermarket crash part is being used to repair, is of like kind and quality to an OEM aftermarket crash part, and requires manufacturers or distributors of the non-OEM part, and insurers, to warrant non-OEM certified aftermarket crash parts.
(Died in Assembly Business and Professions Committee)

AB 1291 (Pavley-D) Consumer products: state-certified logo
Requires the California Environmental Protection Agency to, by January 1, 2007, design a state-certified logo that could be affixed to consumer products that do not contain, produce, or emit, certain substances, as specified, or that for which the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment issues a certificate of compliance that the substance, if present in the product, will not harm the health or development of a developing fetus, infant, or child, and requires a manufacturer that wishes to affix the logo to a product to submit a certificate of compliance to the Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) and requires DTSC, upon determining the certificate of compliance meets the bill's requirements, to authorize the manufacturer of that product to affix the label.
(Died in Assembly Health Committee)

AB 1375* (Nation-D) Corporation Tax Law: tax surcharge: credit issuer
Imposes an additional 2.5 percent tax on the net income of every bank or financial corporation measured by net income for each taxable year beginning on or after January 1, 2006, and defines a "bank of a financial corporation" to include a bank or financial corporation that satisfies specified requirements.
(Died in Assembly Revenue and Taxation Committee)

AB 1382 (Nakanishi-R) Prescription lenses
States legislative findings and intent regarding the inappropriate sale and use of plano (cosmetic) contact lenses, recasts the definition of prescription ophthalmic devices, and establishes a deceptive practice the representatives by any means that a plano contact lens, as defined, may be lawfully obtained without an eye examination or confirmed valid prescription.
Chapter 148, Statutes of 2006

AB 1499 (Benoit-R) Outdoor advertising
Creates an exemption to the Outdoor Advertising Act to permit the City of Riverside to erect an outdoor advertising display along Highway 91 to promote economic activity for the Riverside Plaza.
Vetoed by the Governor

AB 1518 (Jerome Horton-D) Outdoor advertising
Exempts, from the prohibition against placing advertising displays adjacent to landscaped freeways, any billboard located on property owned by the Lennox School District, subject to certain conditions.
(Died on Assembly Inactive File)

AB 1641 (Harman-R) Consumer warranties
Requires the seller of a service contract covering any motor vehicle, home appliance, or home electronic product to honor its obligations under the contract for whichever is longer: (1) the full number of months or years stated in the contract, or (2) for some other period as disclosed to the buyer in writing at the time of purchase. Provides that, if the contract provides that the seller's obligation under the contract may be satisfied by replacement of the product with a similar product, or if the seller replaces the product in response to a claim under the contract, the seller's obligation under the contract will continue to apply for the remaining term of the contract to all replacement products provided to the buyer.
(Died in Assembly Business and Professions Committee)

AB 1694 (Leno-D) Consumer credit reporting
Requires a consumer credit reporting agency, upon the request of a consumer whose personal information was breached by a computerized data system, to place a security freeze on the consumer's credit report without charge to the consumer for this service, and authorizes the consumer credit reporting agency to charge the agency responsible for the breach, and requires the consumer to submit a copy of notification of the breach to the consumer credit reporting agency, as a condition of receiving the security freeze.
(Died in Assembly Banking and Finance Committee)

AB 1854 (Oropeza-D) Saltwater: damaged vehicles
Expands the definition of "nonrepairable vehicle" to include vehicles that have had their passenger compartment immersed in saltwater to the extent that specified parts have been comprised, and makes it a misdemeanor, subject to specified civil penalties, the titling, registration, sale, or transfer of these vehicles.
(Died in Assembly Transportation Committee)

AB 1989 (Garcia-R) Disclosure of global positioning system capabilities
Requires the Public Utilities Commission to require every telecommunications service provider, as defined, that sells, leases, or otherwise provides to a customer a handset or other voice communication device that is equipped with global positioning system (GPS) capability, to disclose to the customer the existence of the device's GPS capability.
(Died in Assembly Energy and Utilities Committee)

AB 2022 (Ruskin-D) Product safety
Requires the California State Fire Marshal to approve and list portable gasoline containers that are designed and constructed to child-resistant standards and bans the sale of gasoline containers that are not on the list.
Chapter 473, Statutes of 2006

AB 2073 (Matthews-D) Home improvement: fire alarms
Exempts the sale, installation, and servicing of a fire alarm sold in conjunction with an alarm system, if all costs associated with the fire alarm do not exceed $500. Exempts any costs associated with monitoring a burglar or fire alarm system from the home improvement contract regulations and requires the alarm system licensees to, instead, meet certain other conditions.
Chapter 114, Statutes of 2006

AB 2210 (Goldberg-D) Vehicle towing practices
Enhances protections provided to motorists from unfair vehicle towing practices and unauthorized vehicle towing from private property.
Chapter 609, Statutes of 2006

AB 2214 (Tran-R) Asian food: study
Establishes the Asian Traditional Food Act which requires the Department of Health Services to conduct a study of the sale and consumption of traditional Asian food, as a means of finding methods that may permit the sale and consumption of these foods while providing adequate health and sanitation standards that protect public health.
Chapter 610, Statutes of 2006

AB 2271 (Koretz-D) Household batteries
Imposes a fee on each non-rechargeable household battery distributed for sale in California and earmarks revenue generated by the fee to support development and operation of a non-rechargeable household recycling process.
(Died in Assembly Appropriations Committee)

AB 2285 (Assembly Business And Professions Committee) Point-of-sale systems
Revises the information that a business using a "point-of-sale system" must display a customer during a transaction so that, in the case of an item that is offered on sale, the discounted price or the original price minus the discount must be displayed as the item is rung up, requires any surcharges and the total value of the transaction to be displayed at least once before the customer is required to pay for the transaction, and replaces references to "automatic checkout system" with "point-of-sale system."
Chapter 566, Statutes of 2006

AB 2415 (Nunez-D) Network security
Requires devices that include an integrated and enabled wireless access point that are manufactured on or after October 1, 2007, to include a warning that advises consumers about how to protect their personal information, mitigates unauthorized use of their Internet access, and provides other specified protection measures.
Chapter 860, Statutes of 2006

AB 2416 (Torrico-D) Consumer loans
Provides that the California Finance Lender licensee may collect a fee, not to exceed the actual cost, for an automated valuation model result in lieu of an appraisal.
Chapter 356, Statutes of 2006

AB 2441* (Klehs-D) Outdoor advertising
Authorizes an advertising display in the redevelopment zone of the city of San Leandro subject to specified conditions.
Vetoed by the Governor

AB 2664 (Houston-R) Health studio contracts
Provides that health studios (i.e., health clubs) that enter into a contract with a consumer for $1,500 or less are not subject to 20-, 30-, or 45-day timeframes during which the consumer may cancel his or her contract.
Chapter 219, Statutes of 2006

AB 2815 (Bogh-R) Vehicle service contracts
Expands the definition of "motor vehicle" and "watercraft" for purposes of vehicle service contracts and makes other changes to the vehicle contract service laws.
Chapter 196, Statutes of 2006

AB 2862 (Ridley-Thomas-D) Sale of animals at pet stores
Requires the Department of Consumer Affairs to adopt regulations to regulate the care and handling of companion animals sold to the general public at retail outlets.
Vetoed by the Governor

AB 2959* (Ridley-Thomas-D) Video providers
Requires an unspecified state agency to adopt regulations to accredit public or private institutions to offer training programs and certification of inside customer premises video providers. Requires all video providers to use certified inside customer premises video providers to provide services inside customers' premises.
(Died in Assembly Energy and Utilities Committee)

ACR 64 (Chavez-D) Entertainment Ratings and Labeling Awareness Month
Proclaims the month of June 2005, as Entertainment Ratings and Labeling Awareness Month.
(Died in Senate Rules Committee)

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