Proposal seeks to improve cleanup of abandoned shopping carts in California
A proposal brought on by Northern California lawmaker is seeking to improve the process of cleaning up abandoned shopping carts in the state, which are often a source of blight on streets and waterways.
State Sen. Dave Cortese (D-San Jose) announced Monday that he introduced Senate Bill 753, a measure that is also being backed by officials in the Bay Area's largest city, including Mayor Matt Mahan.
"My bill eliminates blight and creates incentives for retailers to work collaboratively with local governments," Cortese said in a statement.
Under SB753, the measure would make multiple changes to the state's current laws on abandoned shopping carts, which his office said were "ineffective" at preventing carts from being abandoned and incentivizing proper recovery. Currently, cities are required to store carts at an impound lot and wait for retailers to pick them up.
If approved, cities would be able to return abandoned carts directly to retailers, instead of impounding them. Cities would also be able to recover costs by billing stores for retrieval services.
Other provisions of the proposal include cities and counties being able to set their own fines, which are currently capped at $50. Violations would also be re-defined, according to Cortese's office, to "each instance where a retailer fails to retrieve a cart within three business days after being notified by the city or county, rather than being based on a single day's collection of carts under the current law."
"I am sick and tired of seeing shopping carts litter our streets and waterways, and I know I'm not alone," Mahan said. "I appreciate Senator Cortese's shared urgency — letting cities return stolen carts immediately and creating avenues to recover costs keeps them where they belong — in stores, not on our streets."
It was not immediately known when the measure would be considered in the legislature.
