BILL ANALYSIS
SENATE LOCAL GOVERNMENT COMMITTEE
Senator Dave Cox, Chair
BILL NO: AB 918 HEARING: 6/16/10
AUTHOR: Adams FISCAL: No
VERSION: 6/9/10 CONSULTANT: Detwiler
COLLECTION BOXES
Background and Existing Law
The California Constitution allows cities and counties to
adopt local police, sanitary, and other ordinances that
don't conflict with the state's general laws. Using this
police power to regulate private behavior to achieve public
goals, cities and counties can adopt zoning ordinances.
Some local zoning ordinances require property owners to
obtain use permits for certain land uses.
Public nuisances include offensive behavior and land uses
that injure public health. Cities and counties can adopt
local ordinances that identify and then abate public
nuisances.
For 50 years, state law has regulated how organizations
solicit and sell "salvageable personal property" by
telephone, by advertising, or by placing boxes on public
property or abutting public sidewalks, streets, or in
businesses open to the public. These organizations must
keep separate accounts and books. State law doesn't limit
cities and counties from imposing additional requirements
on soliciting and selling salvageable personal property (SB
928, McBride, 1959).
Charitable organizations collect salvageable property such
as clothes, books, and furniture for resale and
distribution to the poor. Some groups operate from
storefronts, while others collect goods from unattended
collection boxes. Some for-profit firms also have drop
boxes which can be indistinguishable from those owned by
charitable organizations. Donors may not know if their
property is going to a charity or to a for-profit company.
Some charities want legislators to require the owners of
unattended collection boxes to inform donors about where
their donations go.
AB 918 -- 6/9/10 -- Page 2
Proposed Law
I. Collection box notices . Assembly Bill 918 requires the
front of every unattended collection box to display the
name, address, telephone number, and Internet Web address
of the collection box's owner and operator.
If a nonprofit organization owns and operates the
collection box, it must conspicuously display a statement
in at least two-inch type that read: "this collection box
is owned and operated by a nonprofit organization." The
box's front must also conspicuously display a statement
that describes the charitable cause that will benefit from
the donations.
If a commercial fundraiser owns and operates the collection
box, the organization may post notice of donations to a
charitable cause only the box's sides. These notices must
be smaller in size than the organization's name and
address, and cover only 25% of the notice space. AB 918
relies on an existing statutory definition of a "commercial
fundraiser for charitable purposes" to define "commercial
fundraiser."
If a for-profit organization owns and operates the
collection box, it must conspicuously display a statement
in at least two-inch type that reads: "this collection box
is owned and operated by a for-profit organization." The
box's front must also conspicuously display a statement
that reads: "this donation is not tax deductible." This
notice must be smaller in size than the organization's name
and address, and cover only 25% of the notice space.
II. Consent to locate . Assembly Bill 918 requires a
collection box's owner to obtain written permission from
the property owner or lessee or their authorized agent,
certifying permission to place the box on the property. If
the property owner, lessee, or authorized agent doesn't
provide written consent, the collection box's owner can use
verbal consent if documented with contact information.
When requested by the city or county or an interested
person, the box's owner must make this written or verbal
consent available.
III. Abatement and enforcement . Assembly Bill 918
declares that a city or county can declare violations of
AB 918 -- 6/9/10 -- Page 3
its requirements as public nuisances under the existing
nuisance abatement laws. AB 918 states that it does not
supersede or limit the State Department of Justice's
authority over charitable fundraising. The bill also
states that it does not limit or infringe on the powers of
cities and counties to impose additional requirements on
soliciting or selling salvageable personal property.
Comments
1. Informed donor . When you give away your old clothes,
who benefits? It's easy to know who benefits from a
donation when a charitable organization solicits in person,
by telephone, or in the mail. It's not as easy when you
drop those old clothes into an unattended collection box.
Maybe a worthy charity gives the clothes to the poor.
Maybe the charity sells your donated clothes and uses the
money to deliver services to poor or disabled people. But
the donated materials might be going to a commercial
fundraiser or even a company that resells the goods for
private profit. Charitable organizations depend on the
goodwill of informed donors. By requiring drop boxes to
display information about their owners and operators and
explain who benefits, AB 918 informs donors about who gets
their property.
2. Market shares . Charities, charitable fundraisers, and
for-profit companies compete for donations of clothes,
books, furniture, and other salvageable property. Even
within the charitable sector, organizations compete with
each other for donations. While AB 918 gives donors more
information about who benefits from their donations, the
bill's new requirements erect statutory barriers. An
established charity that resents unattended collection
boxes in supermarket parking lots could use the bill to
demand to see the property owners' written consent. The
Committee may wish to consider whether the bill advances
the state's policy interest in informed philanthropy or
whether its new regulations will be used to harass
competitors.
3. Can cities still say no ? AB 918 says that its new
regulations don't "limit or infringe" on cities and
counties' powers to impose additional requirements on
soliciting and selling salvageable property. That language
AB 918 -- 6/9/10 -- Page 4
is similar to a statement in the 50-year old state law
regulating those activities. However, before the June 9
amendments, the bill said that it didn't affect local
officials' authority to "regulate, monitor, or prohibit"
collection boxes. The Committee may wish to consider if
the new language still allows cities and counties to
regulate the locations where groups can place their
collection boxes or even ban them. Should state law
preempt local zoning or other ordinances on the location or
existence of collection boxes?
4. Says who ? If AB 918's premise is that donors should
know more about who benefits from their giving to
unattended drop boxes, then it's superfluous for the bill
to require the property owners' written or verbal consent
for locating the collection boxes. Zoning enforcement,
trespass laws, and nuisance statutes give property owners
and local officials plenty of authority to get rid of
unwelcome drop boxes. The Committee may wish to consider
deleting the new requirement that collection box owners
obtain and make available this paperwork.
5. Legislative history . When the Senate Local Government
Committee heard AB 918 on June 17, 2009, it took testimony
but didn't vote on the bill. AB 2610 (Davis, 2008) tackled
the problems posed by unattended collection boxes with a
combination of state standards, local enforcement, and
defined penalties. The Senate Local Government Committee
initially defeated the 2008 Davis bill on a 2-3 vote,
reconsidered, and passed the bill on a 3-2 vote. Governor
Schwarzenegger vetoed the bill, saying that it was not a
priority.
Assembly Actions
Assembly Judiciary Committee:10-0
Assembly Floor: 75-0
Support and Opposition (6/10/10)
Support : Council of California Goodwill Industries,
California Association of Nonprofits, Campus California TG,
City of Sacramento, Planet Aid.
Opposition : Unknown.
AB 918 -- 6/9/10 -- Page 5