Retail theft crackdown bills sail through in several states
Retail theft bill sails through Florida Senate
Tallahassee FL Feb 19, 2022
A study shows 69% of retailers have seen increased organized crime within the last year.
The Senate passed a bill Thursday cracking down on organized retail theft in Florida.
The bill (HB 1511) stiffens penalties against thieves who steal multiple items from multiple stores in a short period of time. The Senate passed the bill unanimously after a brief debate. Bradenton Republican Sen. Jim Boyd and Newberry Republican Rep. Chuck Clemons sponsored the proposal.
Under the measure, theft of 10 or more items from at least two different locations is deemed a third-degree felony if committed within 30 days. The theft of 20 or more items, meanwhile, would be a second-degree felony.
Businesses would need to tabulate their losses within those 30 days. The items must total more than $750.
“Men and women who put their life savings into stores and building their businesses are really loved and they’re being robbed because the thieves know they can’t be prosecuted,” Boyd said. “All we’re saying in this bill is that is not going to be tolerated in Florida.”
Organized retail theft is a national problem. In December, Florida garnered national news when more than $1 million in goods were stolen from a small business in Palm Beach.
The issue, though, is more than a few isolated incidents. A study shows 69% of retailers have seen increased organized crime within the last year.
“The increasingly risky environment has repercussions that extend well beyond a company’s bottom line into actual threats against employees and customers,” the National Retail Federation warned in the study.
Lawmakers, including St. Petersburg Republican Sen. Jeff Brandes, probed about the measure’s details before signing on. Attorney General Ashley Moody’s office is also supporting the bill.
“Thank you, Sen. Jim Boyd and the Florida Senate, for passing this important legislation that will help us better prosecute organized retail theft in our state — building a stronger (and) safer Florida,” Moody tweeted after the passage.
The bill now awaits House consideration. If approved, the increased penalties would take effect in October.
Roberts’ bill to reduce retail theft, online scams passes Colorado House
Denver CO February 19, 2022 It was after a visit to the Avon Home Depot that state Rep. Dylan Roberts realized just how much of a problem retail theft has been causing for Colorado stores and consumers alike, he said.
Employees of the Avon Home Depot spoke about something that has come to be known as “organized retail theft” where people from around Colorado and beyond steal large quantities of “high value items” and then resell those items online to unsuspecting buyers, Roberts said.
“It’s become a real problem, not only in Colorado but across the country,” Roberts said in an interview Thursday. “So, that tour really kicked off a lot of research and conversations for me to figure out what we might be able to do at the state level to help protect businesses from this type of theft.”
It wasn’t long before Roberts, a Democrat from Avon, co-sponsored House Bill 1099 with Rep. Terri Carver, a Republican from Colorado Springs who had been hearing similar stories from her own constituents.
The bill, which passed through the Colorado House of Representatives Wednesday, seeks to combat retail crime and fraudulent online marketplace sellers, Roberts said Thursday.
If signed into law, the bill would require online marketplaces like Amazon and Facebook Marketplace to verify the information of individual sellers and would allow buyers to report suspicious activity, according to a recent press release.
In this way, the bill gets at the root cause of the problem by making it harder for people to resell stolen goods online in what Roberts called a “smart-on-crime bill.”
“We are going after the reason why the crime is happening, and that is because (criminals) have a platform on the internet to sell stolen and counterfeit goods,” he said. “So if we can legitimize those online marketplaces and prevent people who steal goods and make counterfeit goods from selling them online, we will significantly decrease the demand for the theft to happen in the first place.”
More specifically, the bill would require online marketplaces to verify the bank account information, tax identification number and contact information of “high-volume sellers,” Roberts said.
The bill would also require sellers to disclose personal contact information to buyers, such as their name and address, to assist in the authentication process for purchasing goods online, according to the press release.
It would not apply to smaller, private online marketplaces like Eagle County Classifieds, nor would it apply to small-scale sellers, Roberts said.
“We’re not trying to target a neighbor trying to sell their old ski boots or the mom trying to sell some of her kid’s toys to another mom,” he said. “That’s not what this bill is about.”
Rather, the bill would apply specifically to sellers who are trying to sell “either 200 or more items or $5,000 or more in goods,” he said. This would then trigger the reporting requirements stipulated by the bill.
The bill passed through the House Wednesday by a vote of 60-3 due to what Roberts called “strong bipartisan support.” He said he has no doubt that the bill will also pass through the Colorado Senate, where it is co-sponsored by Republican Rob Woodward and Democrat Rachel Zenzinger.
“We worked really closely with the online marketplaces — representatives from Amazon, Facebook, eBay and other online platforms — to make sure that this wasn’t an overly burdensome regulation,” Roberts said. “This is something they can comply with but that will also make a difference.”
The legislation is helpful to online marketplaces, too, as their reputations are hurt when buyers fall victim to online scammers on their platforms, he said.
The bill has also received strong support from Colorado law enforcement agencies, who dedicate a lot of resources to combating these types of crime.
“As a former deputy district attorney myself, crime and safety is a top concern for me,” Roberts said. “I think this is a really good step forward for Colorado, and it shows that, as policymakers, we can be smart on crime and try to tackle the reasons why crime is happening in the first place to try to prevent it from happening.”
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