By KENNETH SCHRUPP | THE CENTER SQUARE
The California Senate and now a key Assembly committee have passed a bill that would allow cities to charge businesses up to $650 for returning shopping carts stolen from them.
The measure, Senate Bill 753, was introduced at the urging of the city of San Jose, which faces major homelessness and budget crises.
“[San Jose] Mayor Mahan has a homelessness problem and a budget problem, and his solution to solve both of those is to charge retailers more to get their stolen property back,” said Daniel Conway of the California Grocers Association at the California Assembly Local Government Committee hearing that advanced the bill. “Our property is being stolen and taken offsite.”
Under current law, cities can only charge businesses $50 for each shopping cart found and retrieved by the city off of the businesses’ property after the first three violations within a six-month period, or for failing to pick up retrieved carts within three business days.
Shopping carts also currently have to be held for 30 days before the city disposes of them, which bill author state Sen. Dave Cortese, D-San Jose, said creates a nuisance for cities. Cortese’s bill would authorize cities to return the carts to businesses, and charge the businesses up to $500 for the service of returning each cart and up to an additional $150 in fines.
“The bill modernizes California law by allowing cities to immediately collect abandoned shopping carts, return them directly to retailers without a three-day waiting period, and recover the actual costs associated with managing cart recovery program,” said Cortese in support of the bill.
Assemblywoman Rhodesia Ransom, D-Tracy, who abstained from voting for or against the bill — which passed with zero “no” votes but four abstentions — shared her concern that it’s unfair to charge businesses for being victims of crime.
“This is not happening because of their negligence or nuisance,” said Ransom at the hearing. “This is happening because people are taking the shopping carts off the property, and I do not think it is fair to allow the city to impose something without giving them the opportunity to retrieve what is stolen property.”
That’s California for you. Punish the victim to solve the problem.
Assemblywoman Rhodesia Ransom agreed with you Dave; then she abstained. Pinnacle cowardice.
So groceries aren’t expensive enough. I guess the solution is that they disallow customers from taking the carts beyond the store’s front doors. Oh, you have 10 bags of groceries? Well, go get your car and have someone wait with the cart. Stupid….
What a moronic, harebrained scheme!
How about arresting the person who stole the shopping cart or the person using it . Now talking about Kamala for governor of Cali . Things will get much worse with that drunken hyena at the helm
Everyone knows that shopping carts cause cancer in California and DEFINITELY ought to be banned…
Democrat’s are SO STUPID
If only Californians could pass enough (coercive) laws, their state would be a paradise.
The ignorant malice of statists never sleeps, and never dies.
If only California had common-sense shopping cart control laws.
The stores should sue the cities that do this.
Hah, yes… because the judges can be relied upon to us common sense.
Hah, yes… because the judges can be relied upon to use common sense.
When will they start charging the homeowners because someone broke into their house and stole their stuff? Surely, it is your fault for owning stuff.
You can’t make this sh// up.
Why don’t Democrats ever hold the true criminals accountable and only seek to punish and demonize the victims? What a clown world they live in.
Maybe if people see a shopping cart somewhere it doesn’t belong, they could be good samaritans and bring it back during their daily walk?
Why not, probably because democrats are for the most part, only self serving and into service of interest that benefit them.
People, it is time to be more involved in your community or else you local democrat will find a way to tax you for it and say they will do it for you, without actually doing it.
Just do a deposit system like Aldi does.
$50.00 for a returned cart is a great deal.
They have to cost at least a couple hundred each.
But, fining the victim… now that is over the top.
Well, they will do it here next week.
And, where will the money go?
Same as the 10 cent bag money.
It will just be gone…
That is odd, I looked at this article earlier this afternoon, at maybe 2:00 or 3:00 PM, and there were a number of comments posted, I’d say between five and seven. Now, at 6:25 PM, I am seeing only two comments. Very strange.
Removing shopping carts will also reduce the obesity rate. This is an opportunity for private shopping carts services.
Kommiefornia is an enemy state.
So now they have to invest in the lock wheel carts, are you kidding me.
Let the absurdities continue, in California.
Punish the victim? What an amazing new policy idea for the left! This will ‘transform’ America- just like the policies of past leaders, like Biden- or even, Obama! Go, Dems, GO!!
Only to Californians does this make sense. I just finished hosting a large group of Californiacs this past week. Most of them were of this brain addled ilk. Constantly criticizing culture and lifestyle here. A couple were level-headed and apologized for the rest of the group. These fruits and nuts are real. And they multiply. And now that they’re done destroying California and Oregon and Washington, they’ve set their sights on Idaho and Alaska. It’s coming boys and girls. The battle might not be tomorrow, but it’s coming soon.
Simple solution; the grocers should all agree to do away w/ shopping carts.
Let the voters there schlep their grocery bags to the car w/out any carts.
Maybe that will wake CA voters up & change some voting habits ….. but I doubt it, the place seems to have an incurable disease.
The interesting part of this read is that 4 members abstained from voting, and one of them remarked it was wrong to do this, but they failed to vote no…. the failure of standing up to this nonsense and saying loud and clear “NO” is the responsibility of the elected officials.
LOL,You noticed that also?
They are not completely stupid.
They are just looking to get re-elected which would be impossible by voting against the madness.
They are just going along to get along.
How about just filing charges on the people that steal the carts? How did California people get so dumb to elect these type of lawmakers? Hopefully the people moving here from California are running from this stupidity and will not try to pass that type of thinking on to this State.