California Grocers Association - New California Laws

New California Laws - 2009

By the midnight, September 30 deadline for action by the governor on measures passed in 2008, Governor Schwarzenegger had signed 772 bills and vetoed 415 bills.

CGA tracked over 200 bills at the state level and actively engaged on 56 measures during 2008 on critical issues including proposals to increase the tobacco retailer license fee; roll back cost-saving workers’ compensation reforms; increases to employer liability exposure; and a tax on freight movement. All measures passed in 2008 become effective on January 1, 2009 unless specified.

Business
Removal or Notice on Recalled Products
Assembly Bill 1860 (Chapter 569, Statutes of 2008) enacts the Product Recall Safety and Protection Act, which requires immediate removal from the market of products subject to recall or warnings and notice to consumers.

A product is deemed to be unsafe only if it meets one or both of the following criteria: the product has been recalled because it does not conform to state or federal laws and regulations setting forth standards for the product, and/or the product has been recalled for any safety hazard reason in cooperation with the federal Consumer Product Safety Commission, or voluntarily recalled for any safety hazard reason.

A retailer that receive notice of a recall or warning regarding a product that was sold during the previous 18 months are required to do the following within three days:

remove the product from the shelves of its stores or program its registers to ensure the item cannot be sold and prominently post the recall notice or warning for at least 60 days,
remove the product from the retailer’s website or remove the ability to purchase the product through the website.
contact the purchaser and send the recall or warning notice

Retailers must accept any recalled product for the purpose of retuning it to the manufacturer or distributor.

Price Accuracy Verification
Assembly Bill 1907 (Chapter 434, Statutes of 2008) revises the criteria for an initial standard inspection of a point-of-sale (POS) system, including the size of the random sample. The minimum random sample of items for retail establishments with three or fewer POS checkout registers is decreased for an initial standard inspection from 25 to ten items.

The minimum random sample of items for retail establishments with four to nine POS checkout registers is decreased for an initial standard inspection from 50 to 25 items. The initial standard inspection for retail establishments with ten or more POS checkout registers must be performed by testing a minimum random sample of 50 items.

The minimum random sample size shall not apply to inspections of any establishment at which fewer items than the number specified as the minimum sample size are marked or displayed with a posted or advertised item price.

A board of supervisors may charge a reinspection fee for reinspections of a retail establishment that fails the prior inspection.

Food Issues
Trans Fat Prohibition
Assembly Bill 97 (Chapter 207, Statutes of 2008) requires food facilities (defined as an operation that stores, prepares, packages, serves, vends, or otherwise provides food for human consumption at the retail level, regardless of whether the food is consumed on or off the premises, to maintain on the premises the label required for any food or food additive that is, or includes, any fat, oil, or shortening, for as long as the food or food additive is stored, distributed, or served by, or used in the preparation of food within, the food facility.

Food facilities are prohibited from storing, distributing, serving or using in food preparation any oil, shortening, or margarine containing artificial trans fat for use in spreads or frying beginning January 1, 2010. Artificial trans fats may be used for deep frying of yeast dough and cake batter until January 1, 2011.

Beginning January 1, 2011, food facilities are prohibited from storing, distributing, serving or using in food preparation any food containing artificial trans fat.

A food containing artificial trans fat is defined as a food that contains vegetable shortening, margarine, or any kind of partially hydrogenated vegetable oil, unless the label lists the trans fat content as less than 0.5 grams per serving.

Foods sold or served in a manufacturer's original, sealed package are exempted.

Food Facilities Nutritional Information
Senate Bill 1420 (Chapter 600, Statutes of 2008), requires food facilities that operate under common ownership or control with at least 19 other food facilities with the same name that sell substantially the same menu items, or operate as a franchised outlet of a parent company with at least 19 other franchises with the same name that sell substantially the same menu items to post calorie information on their menus and indoor menu boards by January 1, 2011.

And beginning July 1, 2009, brochures containing either calorie content information or other nutritional information, such as grams of saturated fat, grams of carbohydrates and milligrams of sodium, must be provided at the point of sale for consumers. Every brochure must include the following statement: "Recommended limits for a 2,000 calorie daily diet are 20 grams of saturated fat and 2,300 milligrams of sodium." Violators can be fined up to $500.

Grocery and convenience stores are exempted from the requirements; however chain restaurants operated within grocery or convenience stores must comply.