Special business regulations: shopping carts.

Senator Cortese's proposal to modify California's shopping cart regulations would establish uniform statewide standards for cart retrieval while increasing penalties for non-compliance. The legislation permits local governments to retrieve abandoned shopping carts and return them to retailers' premises, with cost recovery capped at $500 per cart.

The measure revises notification requirements for cart impoundment, mandating that local authorities maintain documented proof of delivery when informing cart owners about recovered carts. It also raises the maximum fine from $50 to $150 for retailers who fail to retrieve their carts more than three times within a six-month period. Local jurisdictions retain the authority to immediately impound carts that obstruct emergency services without prior notice.

Under the modified framework, shopping carts not reclaimed within 30 days of violation notice may be sold or disposed of by the impounding authority. The legislation preserves existing cart retrieval contracts between local governments and private entities that were established before June 1996, while implementing new documentation standards for all future enforcement actions.