BILL NUMBER: SB 1171 CHAPTERED
BILL TEXT
CHAPTER 354
FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE SEPTEMBER 7, 1999
APPROVED BY GOVERNOR SEPTEMBER 7, 1999
PASSED THE SENATE AUGUST 24, 1999
PASSED THE ASSEMBLY AUGUST 19, 1999
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY JUNE 30, 1999
AMENDED IN SENATE MAY 19, 1999
AMENDED IN SENATE MAY 6, 1999
AMENDED IN SENATE APRIL 12, 1999
INTRODUCED BY Senator Johnson
FEBRUARY 26, 1999
An act to add Section 17210 to the Business and Professions Code,
to add Section 1865 to the Civil Code, and to amend Section 365 of
the Penal Code, relating to public accommodations.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 1171, Johnson. Public accommodations.
Existing law regulates the operations of a hotel, inn,
boardinghouse, or lodginghouse, as specified. Existing law also
prohibits unfair competition, as specified.
This bill would authorize an innkeeper to evict a guest who stays
beyond the contractual period, as specified. This bill would also
authorize a hotel, as defined, to prohibit the distribution of
handbills on the premises, as specified, and would make a prohibited
distribution of handbills on the premises punishable by a civil
penalty as unfair competition under existing law.
Existing law makes it a misdemeanor for a person, and every agent
or officer of any corporation, carrying on business as an innkeeper
to refuse, without just cause, to receive and entertain any guest.
This bill would make certain exceptions with respect to guests who
are minors, as specified.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 17210 is added to the Business and Professions
Code, to read:
17210. (a) For purposes of this section, "hotel" means any hotel,
motel, bed and breakfast inn, or other similar transient lodging
establishment, but it does not include any residential hotel as
defined in Section 50519 of the Health and Safety Code. "Innkeeper"
means the owner or operator of a hotel, or the duly authorized agent
or employee of the owner or operator.
(b) For purposes of this section, "handbill" means, and is
specifically limited to, any tangible commercial solicitation to
guests of the hotel urging that they patronize any commercial
enterprise.
(c) Every person (hereinafter "distributor") engages in unfair
competition for purposes of this chapter who deposits, places,
throws, scatters, casts, or otherwise distributes any handbill to any
individual guest rooms in any hotel, including, but not limited to,
placing, throwing, leaving, or attaching any handbill adjacent to,
upon, or underneath any guest room door, doorknob, or guest room
entryway, where either the innkeeper has expressed objection to
handbill distribution, either orally to the distributor or by the
posting of a sign or other notice in a conspicuous place within the
lobby area and at all points of access from the exterior of the
premises to guest room areas indicating that handbill distribution is
prohibited, or the distributor has received written notice pursuant
to subdivision (e) that the innkeeper has expressed objection to the
distribution of handbills to guest rooms in the hotel.
(d) Every person (hereinafter "contractor") engages in unfair
competition for purposes of this chapter who causes or directs any
other person, firm, business, or entity to distribute, or cause the
distribution of, any handbill to any individual guest rooms in any
hotel in violation of subdivision (c) of this section, if the
contractor has received written notice from the innkeeper objecting
to the distribution of handbills to individual guest rooms in the
hotel.
(e) Every contractor who causes or directs any distributor to
distribute, or cause the distribution of, any handbills to any
individual guest rooms in any hotel, if the contractor has received
written notice from the innkeeper or from any other contractor or
intermediary pursuant to this subdivision, objecting to the
distribution of handbills to individual guest rooms in the hotel has
failed to provide a written copy of that notice to each distributor
prior to the commencement of distribution of handbills by the
distributor or by any person hired or retained by the distributor for
that purpose, or, within 24 hours following the receipt of the
notice by the contractor if received after the commencement of
distribution, and has failed to instruct and demand any distributor
to not distribute, or to cease the distribution of, the handbills to
individual guest rooms in any hotel for which such a notice has been
received is in violation of this section.
(f) Any written notice given, or caused to be given, by the
innkeeper pursuant to or required by any provision of this section
shall be deemed to be in full force and effect until such time as the
notice is revoked in writing.
(g) Nothing in this section shall be deemed to prohibit the
distribution of a handbill to guest rooms in any hotel where the
distribution has been requested or approved in writing by the
innkeeper, or to any individual guest room when the occupant thereof
has affirmatively requested or approved the distribution of the
handbill during the duration of the guest's occupancy.
SEC. 2. Section 1865 is added to the Civil Code, to read:
1865. (a) For purposes of this section, "hotel" means any hotel,
motel, bed and breakfast inn, or other similar transient lodging
establishment, but it shall not include any residential hotel as
defined in Section 50519 of the Health and Safety Code. "Innkeeper"
means the owner or operator of a hotel, or the duly authorized agent
or employee of such owner or operator.
(b) For purposes of this section, "guest" means, and is
specifically limited to, an occupant of a hotel whose occupancy is
exempt, pursuant to subdivision (b) of Section 1940 of the Civil
Code, from Chapter 2 (commencing with Section 1940) of Title 5 of
Part 4 of Division 3 of the Civil Code.
(c) In addition to, and not in derogation of, any other provision
of law, every innkeeper shall have the right to evict a guest in the
manner specified in this subdivision if the guest refuses or
otherwise fails to fully depart the guest room at or before the
innkeeper's posted checkout time on the date agreed to by the guest,
but only if both of the following conditions are met:
(1) If the guest is provided written notice, at the time that he
or she was received and provided accommodations by the innkeeper,
that the innkeeper needs that guest's room to accommodate an arriving
person with a contractual right thereto, and that if the guest fails
to fully depart at the time agreed to the innkeeper may enter the
guest's guest room, take possession of the guest's property, re-key
the door to the guest room, and make the guest room available to a
new guest. The written notice shall be signed by the guest.
(2) At the time that the innkeeper actually undertakes to evict
the guest as specified in this subdivision, the innkeeper in fact has
a contractural obligation to provide the guest room to an arriving
person.
In the above cases, the innkeeper may enter the guest's guest
room, take possession of the guest's property, re-key the door to the
guest room, and make the guest room available to a new guest. The
evicted guest shall be entitled to immediate possession of his or her
property upon request therefor, subject to the rights of the
innkeeper pursuant to Sections 1861 to 1861.28, inclusive.
(d) As pertains to a minor, the rights of an innkeeper include,
but are not limited to, the following:
(1) Where a minor unaccompanied by an adult seeks accommodations,
the innkeeper may require a parent or guardian of the minor, or
another responsible adult, to assume, in writing, full liability for
any and all proper charges and other obligations incurred by the
minor for accommodations, food and beverages, and other services
provided by or through the innkeeper, as well as for any and all
injuries or damage caused by the minor to any person or property.
(2) Where a minor is accompanied by an adult, the innkeeper may
require the adult to agree, in writing, not to leave any minor 12
years of age or younger unattended on the innkeeper's premises at any
time during their stay, and to control the minor's behavior during
their stay so as to preserve the peace and quiet of the innkeeper's
other guests and to prevent any injury to any person and damage to
any property.
SEC. 3. Section 365 of the Penal Code is amended to read:
365. Every person, and every agent or officer of any corporation
carrying on business as an innkeeper, or as a common carrier of
passengers, who refuses, without just cause or excuse, to receive and
entertain any guest, or to receive and carry any passenger, is
guilty of a misdemeanor. However, an innkeeper who has proceeded as
authorized by Section 1865 of the Civil Code shall be rebuttably
presumed to have acted with just cause or excuse for purposes of this
section.