BILL NUMBER: SB 446	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Senator Walters

                        FEBRUARY 26, 2009

   An act to amend Section 22435.5 of the Business and Professions
Code, relating to shopping carts.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   SB 446, as introduced, Walters. Shopping carts: electronic tags.
   Existing law makes it unlawful to, among other things, remove a
shopping cart or laundry cart with a specified sign from the premises
or parking area of a retail establishment and to abandon those carts
at a location other than the premises or parking area of the retail
establishment, with the intent to deprive the owner or retailer
possession of the cart. Under existing law, in civil proceedings,
carts affixed with a specified sign establish a rebuttable
presumption affecting the burden of producing evidence that the cart
belongs to the person or business named in the specified sign.
   This bill would state that carts affixed with a specified
electronic tag also establish a rebuttable presumption.
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no.
State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  Section 22435.5 of the Business and Professions Code is
amended to read:
   22435.5.  (a) In any civil proceeding, any shopping cart or
laundry cart which has a sign affixed to it pursuant to Section
22435.1  or an electronic tag as described in subdivision (c)
 shall establish a rebuttable presumption affecting the burden
of producing evidence that the property is that of the person or
business named in the sign  or the electronic tag  and not
abandoned by the person or business named in the sign  or the
electronic tag  .
   (b) In any criminal proceeding, it may be inferred that any
shopping cart or laundry cart which has a sign affixed to it pursuant
to Section 22435.1 is the property of the person or business named
in the sign and has not been abandoned by the person or business
named in the sign. 
   (c) For the purpose of this section, "electronic tag" means an
electronic tag contained below the surface of a shopping cart or
laundry cart that stores the name, address, and toll-free telephone
number of the cart owner, in a format that is readable to the public
generally.