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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