Bill Text: CA AB1347 | 2023-2024 | Regular Session | Introduced

California Assembly Bill 1347

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

Bill Title: Solid waste: paper waste: proofs of purchase.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Engrossed) 2023-09-01 - In committee: Held under submission. [AB1347 Detail]

Download: California-2023-AB1347-Introduced.html

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2023–2024 REGULAR SESSION

Assembly Bill

No. 1347

Introduced by Assembly Member Ting

February 16, 2023

An act to add Chapter 3.7 (commencing with Section 42190) to Part 3 of Division 30 of the Public Resources Code, relating to solid waste.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST

AB 1347, as introduced, Ting. Solid waste: paper waste: proofs of purchase.

Existing law prohibits certain stores from providing a single-use carryout bag to a customer at the point of sale and prohibits full-service restaurants from providing single-use plastic straws to consumers unless requested by the consumer.

This bill would require a business, as defined, that accepts payment through cash, credit, or debit transactions, subject to certain exceptions, to provide a proof of purchase to a consumer only at the consumer’s option and would prohibit a business from printing a paper proof of purchase if the consumer opts to not receive a proof of purchase, unless otherwise required by state or federal law. The bill would require the proof of purchase to be provided in electronic form or paper form, at the consumer’s option, if a consumer opts to receive a proof of purchase, unless a prescribed form is otherwise required by state or federal law or the business is incapable of sending an electronic proof of purchase due to unexpected technical difficulties. The bill would prohibit a paper proof of purchase provided to a consumer by a business from containing bisphenol A or bisphenol S, and from including items not essential to the transaction, including, but not limited to, coupons or advertisements. The bill would specify that the first and 2nd violations of any of those provisions would result in a notice of violation and any subsequent violation would be punishable by a civil penalty of $25 for each day the business is in violation, but not to exceed an annual total of $300. The bill would authorize the Attorney General, a district attorney, or a city attorney to enforce those provisions.

Vote: MAJORITY Appropriation: NO Fiscal Committee: YES Local Program: NO

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.

The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:

(a) The report titled “Skip the Slip: Environmental Costs & Human Health Risks of Paper Receipts with Proposed Solutions” from Green America found that more than 3,000,000 trees and 9,000,000,000 gallons of water in America are used to create proof of purchase receipts.

(b) Receipts generate 302,000,000 pounds of waste and 4,000,000,000 pounds of carbon dioxide, the equivalent of more than 425,000 cars on the road, and most paper receipts contain chemicals that would contaminate other recyclable paper materials.

(c) The Ecology Center found that 93 percent of paper receipts are coated with bisphenol A (BPA) or bisphenol S (BPS) chemicals. The United States Food and Drug Administration has banned BPA from baby bottles because those chemicals are known to disrupt hormones, causing cancerous tumors, birth defects, and other developmental issues.

(d) The BPA or BPS on receipts can enter people’s bodies simply through touch, which poses a major risk to retail workers, who have 30 percent more BPA or BPS found in their bodies than others who do not have regular contact with receipts, according to the Environmental Working Group and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

(e) The State of Connecticut banned the use of receipt paper containing BPA in 2011, and the European Union will restrict the use of BPA in thermal paper beginning in 2020 and is also investigating similar restrictions on the use of BPS.

(f) Prohibiting businesses from providing paper receipts except upon request would have significant positive environmental and public health effects.

SEC. 2.

Chapter 3.7 (commencing with Section 42190) is added to Part 3 of Division 30 of the Public Resources Code, to read:

CHAPTER 3.7. Proof of Purchase

42190.

For purposes of this chapter, the following definitions apply:

(a) (1) “Business” means a person that accepts payment through cash, credit, or debit transactions.

(2) “Business” does not include either of the following:

(A) A health care provider, as defined in Section 123105 of the Health and Safety Code.

(B) An entity organized as a nonprofit institution that has annual gross sale receipts of less than two million dollars ($2,000,000).

(b) “Consumer” means a person who purchases, and does not offer for resale, food, alcohol, other tangible personal property, or services.

(c) “Invoice” means an itemized list of goods or services provided before or after the point of sale through a contract stating the amount due.

(d) “Person” includes any individual, firm, association, organization, partnership, limited liability company, business trust, corporation, or company.

(e) “Proof of purchase” means a receipt for the retail sale of food, alcohol, or other tangible personal property, or for the provision of services, provided at the point of sale, but does not include an invoice.

42190.1.

(a) On and after January 1, 2024, a proof of purchase shall be provided to a consumer by a business only at the consumer’s option, unless a proof of purchase is otherwise required to be given to the consumer by state or federal law.

(b) On and after January 1, 2024, a paper proof of purchase shall not be printed by a business if the consumer opts to not receive a proof of purchase, unless otherwise required by state or federal law.

(c) (1) On and after January 1, 2024, if a consumer opts to receive a proof of purchase pursuant to subdivision (a), the proof of purchase shall be provided in electronic form or paper form, at the consumer’s option, unless a prescribed form is otherwise required by state or federal law.

(2) Notwithstanding paragraph (1), a business is not required to provide an electronic proof of purchase if, due to limited internet connectivity, a power outage, or other unexpected technical difficulties, the business is incapable of sending an electronic proof of purchase.

(d) A paper proof of purchase provided to a consumer by a business shall not contain bisphenol A or bisphenol S.

(e) (1) A paper proof of purchase provided to a consumer by a business shall not include printouts of items nonessential to the transaction if those nonessential items make the paper proof of purchase longer than necessary to provide the consumer with the essential items to the transaction.

(2) “Items nonessential to the transaction” include, but are not limited to, coupons or advertisements.

(f) The Attorney General, a district attorney, or a city attorney may enforce this section. The first and second violations of this section shall result in a notice of violation, and any subsequent violation shall be punishable by a civil penalty of twenty-five dollars ($25) for each day the business is in violation, but not to exceed three hundred dollars ($300) annually.

(g) (1) Nothing in this section shall be construed to alter a consumer privacy protection required pursuant to the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 (Title 1.81.5 (commencing with Section 1798.100) of Part 4 of Division 3 of the Civil Code).

(2) Nothing in this section is intended to alter the consumer rights of individuals.