BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



          SENATE COMMITTEE ON
          BUSINESS, PROFESSIONS AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
                              Senator Jerry Hill, Chair
                                2015 - 2016  Regular 

          Bill No:            AB 296          Hearing Date:    June 8,  
          2015
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          |Author:   |Dodd                                                  |
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          |Version:  |February 12, 2015                                     |
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          |Urgency:  |No                     |Fiscal:    |Yes              |
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          |Consultant|Mark Mendoza                                          |
          |:         |                                                      |
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                  Subject:  Weights and measures: inspection: fees.


          SUMMARY: Extends the authority of the Board of Supervisors of a county  
          and the State Department of Food and Agriculture (DFA) to charge  
          fees to recover the costs of the County Sealer related to the  
          inspection and testing of weighing and measuring devices, from  
          January 1, 2016, to January 1, 2019.

          Existing law:
          
          1) Requires the Sealer of a county to inspect and test weighing  
             and measuring devices, as specified, that are used or sold in  
             the county. 


          (Business and Professions Code (BPC) § 12210)

          2) Requires the Sealer of a county to weigh or measure packages  
             to determine whether they contain the amount represented, as  
             provided.  (BPC § 12211)



          3) Authorizes, until January 1, 2016, the Board of Supervisors  
             of a county, by ordinance, to charge fees, not to exceed the  
             county's total cost of actually inspecting or testing  
             weighing and measuring devices required of the County Sealer,  
             to recover the costs of the County Sealer to perform these  







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             duties. 


          (BPC § 12240)

          4) Requires, until January 1, 2016, the DFA Secretary to  
             establish by regulation an annual administrative fee to  
             recover reasonable administrative and enforcement costs  
             incurred by the DFA for exercising supervision over and  
             performing investigations in connection with the activities  
             performed by Sealers described above, and requires the  
             administrative fee to be collected for every device  
             registered with each county office of weights and measures  
             and paid annually to the DFA.  (BPC § 12241)


          This bill:  Extends the authority of a County Board of  
          Supervisors and the DFA to charge fees to recover the County  
          Sealer's costs related to the inspection and testing of weighing  
          and measuring devices, from January 1, 2016, to January 1, 2019.





          FISCAL  
          EFFECT:  This bill is keyed "fiscal" by Legislative Counsel.   
          According to the Assembly Appropriations analysis written on  
          March 25, 2015:
          
          1)Absent a sunset extension on the fee authority, the state  
            would incur costs of approximately $650,000 to cover the DFA's  
            oversight functions. 


                     The DFA collected approximately $650,000 in 2013-14  
                 to cover its costs of supervision, investigation, and  
                 enforcement of the county programs.  The fee is an  
                 annual, per-device fee that ranges from $.10 (submeters)  
                 to $12.00 (scales greater than 10,000 pounds capacity)  
                 depending on the type of device. The majority of devices  
                 are charged $1.10.










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          1)Counties collected $23.1 million in fee revenue statewide in  
            2012-13 to defray their costs of the device registration  
            program.  Existing law prohibits a county from charging fees  
            that exceed its total cost of performing the required County  
            Sealer duties.  Absent a sunset extension on the fee  
            authority, counties would be required to fund this program  
            from other sources, most likely county general fund.





          COMMENTS:


          1. Purpose.  The  California Agricultural Commissioners and  
             Sealers Association  is the  Sponsor  of the bill.  According to  
             the Author's office, "This bill would extend a statutory  
             sunset date of AB 1623 (Yamada, 2012) which is set to expire  
             on January 1, 2016.  AB 296 extends the sunset through to  
             January 1, 2019.  This will allow local governments to  
             continue to recover costs associated with the administration  
             of the annual device registration program.  Accurate  
             measurements are vital to protecting consumers from  
             fraudulent and inadvertent errors. Precise scales allow  
             consumers to make informed decisions about their purchases  
             while maintaining a level and competitive marketplace for  
             businesses."

          2. County Sealers.  The inspection and testing of weighing and  
             measuring devices is overseen by a County Sealer of Weights  
             and Measures.  Historically, these Sealers have been  
             responsible for ensuring that 'equity prevails' in the  
             marketplace and that consumers reliably get precisely what  
             they paid for.  As such, these Sealers and their offices  
             enforce the laws and regulations of the state under the  
             general direction and oversight of the DFA Secretary.  In  
             practice, this oversight involves the inspection and testing  
             of packaged commodities and all commercially-used weighing  
             and measuring devices.   

          In order to help pay for the cost of the inspection and testing  
             program, legislation was passed in 1982 to authorize County  
             Boards of Supervisors to establish fees for business  








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             locations to partially fund local weights and measures  
             enforcement programs.  That program and the related fee  
             authorization have been amended many times since then to add  
             new devices to the registration program and adjust the  
             schedule of maximum fees in statute.  The program now applies  
             to virtually all weighing and measuring devices used  
             commercially (such as gas pumps, water meters, grocery  
             scales, taxi meters, etc.), with the exception of farm milk  
             tanks and grocery store check-out scanners.  In 2012-13, the  
             device registration program had expenditures of $23.1 million  
             statewide.

          These fees are the single largest source of revenue for the  
             county program outside of the County General Fund, and the  
             authorization has been extended by statute nine separate  
             times since 1985, mostly recently by AB 1623 (Yamada) in  
             2012.  It is important to note that this same authorization  
             also permits the DFA to establish by regulation an  
             administrative fee to recover costs incurred for supervision  
             and investigation of the same program.  However, this bill  
             does not change any of the "fee caps" for location fees,  
             specific device fees, and total registration fees, which are  
             usually negotiated between the counties and the businesses  
             affected and then codified in statute.  The fee authorization  
             statute is currently set to expire on January 1, 2016. 

          3. Previous Legislation.   AB 1623  (Yamada, Chapter 234, Statutes  
             of 2012) extended the sunset date on the County Board of  
             Supervisor's authority to charge fees to recover the costs of  
             the County Sealer to perform specified inspections until  
             January 1, 2016, and established or revised certain device  
             fee caps.

              AB 2361  (Ruskin, Chapter 260, Statutes of 2010) extended the  
             sunset date on the authority of the Board of Supervisors of a  
             county to charge fees to recover the costs of the county  
             sealer to perform specified duties until January 1, 2013.

              AB 889  (Ruskin, Chapter 529, Statutes of 2005) extended the  
             sunset date to January 1, 2011, and established a gradual  
             increase in the fees that may be adopted by a Board of  
             Supervisors in order to more fully fund the local weights and  
             measure device inspection program.  The bill also established  
             a two-tiered fee schedule that provided both a location fee  








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             and a device fee to more effectively capture the cost of the  
             initial device inspection.

              AB 1810  (Wiggins, Chapter 512, Statues of 2000) extended the  
             sunset dates on the civil penalty authority and on device  
             registration fees to January 1, 2006.

              SB 189  (Kelley, Chapter 476, Statutes of 1997) extended the  
             sunset date of the fee authorization to January 1, 2001.

              AB 1728  (Murray, Chapter 47, Statutes of 1995) extended the  
             sunset date of the fee authorization to January 1, 1998.

             SB 1644  (Kelley, Chapter 592, Statutes of 1994) established  
             the current administrative fine provisions for weights and  
             measures.   

          4. Arguments in Support.  According to the  Rural County  
             Representatives of California  (RCRC), "County Agriculture  
             Commissioners and Sealers perform valuable services for  
             county residents and those within the local agriculture  
             industry.  For example, one of those roles is ensuring that  
             actual weights and sizes are accurate.  Weighing and  
             measuring devices must be inspected in a timely manner so  
             that consumers are protected against unscrupulous business  
             operators. 
             
             In order to perform the much-needed services, County  
             Agriculture Commissioners must recover their costs. Thus, we  
             believe it appropriate that Boards of Supervisors continue to  
             be able to adopt fee schedules so that a county's costs can  
             be recovered, while at the same time balancing the needs of  
             industry with the protections of consumers."
          
          SUPPORT AND OPPOSITION:
          
          Support:  

          California Agricultural Commissioners and Sealers Association  
          (Sponsor)
          California State Association of Counties
          City and County of San Francisco 
          County of Santa Clara
          Rural County Representatives of California








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           Opposition:  

          None received as of June 2, 2015.



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