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	<ns0:Description>
		<ns0:Id>20250SB__044297AMD</ns0:Id>
		<ns0:VersionNum>97</ns0:VersionNum>
		<ns0:History>
			<ns0:Action>
				<ns0:ActionText>INTRODUCED</ns0:ActionText>
				<ns0:ActionDate>2025-02-18</ns0:ActionDate>
			</ns0:Action>
			<ns0:Action>
				<ns0:ActionText>AMENDED_SENATE</ns0:ActionText>
				<ns0:ActionDate>2025-03-27</ns0:ActionDate>
			</ns0:Action>
			<ns0:Action>
				<ns0:ActionText>AMENDED_SENATE</ns0:ActionText>
				<ns0:ActionDate>2025-04-21</ns0:ActionDate>
			</ns0:Action>
			<ns0:Action>
				<ns0:ActionText>REVISED</ns0:ActionText>
				<ns0:ActionDate>2025-06-26</ns0:ActionDate>
			</ns0:Action>
		</ns0:History>
		<ns0:LegislativeInfo>
			<ns0:SessionYear>2025</ns0:SessionYear>
			<ns0:SessionNum>0</ns0:SessionNum>
			<ns0:MeasureType>SB</ns0:MeasureType>
			<ns0:MeasureNum>442</ns0:MeasureNum>
			<ns0:MeasureState>AMD</ns0:MeasureState>
		</ns0:LegislativeInfo>
		<ns0:AuthorText authorType="LEAD_AUTHOR">Introduced by Senator Smallwood-Cuevas</ns0:AuthorText>
		<ns0:AuthorText authorType="PRINCIPAL_COAUTHOR_OPPOSITE">(Principal coauthor: Assembly Member Lowenthal)</ns0:AuthorText>
		<ns0:AuthorText authorType="COAUTHOR_ORIGINATING">(Coauthors: Senators Cortese and Durazo)</ns0:AuthorText>
		<ns0:AuthorText authorType="COAUTHOR_OPPOSITE">(Coauthors: Assembly Members Kalra, McKinnor, and Ortega)</ns0:AuthorText>
		<ns0:Authors>
			<ns0:Legislator>
				<ns0:Contribution>LEAD_AUTHOR</ns0:Contribution>
				<ns0:House>SENATE</ns0:House>
				<ns0:Name>Smallwood-Cuevas</ns0:Name>
			</ns0:Legislator>
			<ns0:Legislator>
				<ns0:Contribution>PRINCIPAL_COAUTHOR</ns0:Contribution>
				<ns0:House>ASSEMBLY</ns0:House>
				<ns0:Name>Lowenthal</ns0:Name>
			</ns0:Legislator>
			<ns0:Legislator>
				<ns0:Contribution>COAUTHOR</ns0:Contribution>
				<ns0:House>SENATE</ns0:House>
				<ns0:Name>Cortese</ns0:Name>
			</ns0:Legislator>
			<ns0:Legislator>
				<ns0:Contribution>COAUTHOR</ns0:Contribution>
				<ns0:House>SENATE</ns0:House>
				<ns0:Name>Durazo</ns0:Name>
			</ns0:Legislator>
			<ns0:Legislator>
				<ns0:Contribution>COAUTHOR</ns0:Contribution>
				<ns0:House>ASSEMBLY</ns0:House>
				<ns0:Name>Kalra</ns0:Name>
			</ns0:Legislator>
			<ns0:Legislator>
				<ns0:Contribution>COAUTHOR</ns0:Contribution>
				<ns0:House>ASSEMBLY</ns0:House>
				<ns0:Name>McKinnor</ns0:Name>
			</ns0:Legislator>
			<ns0:Legislator>
				<ns0:Contribution>COAUTHOR</ns0:Contribution>
				<ns0:House>ASSEMBLY</ns0:House>
				<ns0:Name>Ortega</ns0:Name>
			</ns0:Legislator>
		</ns0:Authors>
		<ns0:Title>An act to add Part 9.6 (commencing with Section 2530) to Division 2 of the Labor Code, relating to employment. </ns0:Title>
		<ns0:RelatingClause>employment</ns0:RelatingClause>
		<ns0:GeneralSubject>
			<ns0:Subject>Grocery retail store and retail drug establishment employees: self-service checkout. </ns0:Subject>
		</ns0:GeneralSubject>
		<ns0:DigestText>
			<html:p>Existing law imposes certain requirements on grocery employers, as defined, upon the purchase or change in control of a grocery establishment, including requiring a successor grocery employer to retain eligible grocery workers for a specified period after transfer of the grocery establishment.</html:p>
			<html:p>This bill would prohibit a grocery retail store or a retail drug establishment, as those terms are defined, from providing a self-service checkout option for customers unless specified conditions are satisfied, including having at least one manual checkout station staffed by an employee who is available to any given customer at the time that a self-service checkout option is made available to that customer.</html:p>
			<html:p>This bill would require a grocery retail store or retail drug
		establishment that offers self-service checkout to include self-service checkout in the employer’s illness and prevention program, as required by regulations of the Division of Occupational Safety and Health. The bill also would require a grocery retail store or retail drug establishment that intends to implement self-checkout to notify workers and their collective bargaining representatives at least 60 days in advance of the implementation, as specified. The bill would not preempt any city, county, or city and county
		ordinance that provides equal or greater protection to workers.</html:p>
			<html:p>This bill would make an employer who violates the bill’s provisions subject to a civil penalty of
		$1,000 per violation per day, not to exceed an aggregate penalty of $200,000.</html:p>
		</ns0:DigestText>
		<ns0:DigestKey>
			<ns0:VoteRequired>MAJORITY</ns0:VoteRequired>
			<ns0:Appropriation>NO</ns0:Appropriation>
			<ns0:FiscalCommittee>YES</ns0:FiscalCommittee>
			<ns0:LocalProgram>NO</ns0:LocalProgram>
		</ns0:DigestKey>
		<ns0:MeasureIndicators>
			<ns0:ImmediateEffect>NO</ns0:ImmediateEffect>
			<ns0:ImmediateEffectFlags>
				<ns0:Urgency>NO</ns0:Urgency>
				<ns0:TaxLevy>NO</ns0:TaxLevy>
				<ns0:Election>NO</ns0:Election>
				<ns0:UsualCurrentExpenses>NO</ns0:UsualCurrentExpenses>
				<ns0:BudgetBill>NO</ns0:BudgetBill>
				<ns0:Prop25TrailerBill>NO</ns0:Prop25TrailerBill>
			</ns0:ImmediateEffectFlags>
		</ns0:MeasureIndicators>
	</ns0:Description>
	<ns0:Bill id="bill">
		<ns0:Preamble>The people of the State of California do enact as follows:</ns0:Preamble>
		<ns0:BillSection id="id_42BD356C-759D-44A6-B6D2-BDFA4C7FF80A">
			<ns0:Num>SECTION 1.</ns0:Num>
			<ns0:Content>
				<html:p>The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:</html:p>
				<html:p>
					(a)
					<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
					In 2011, California passed into law Assembly Bill 183 (Ch. 726, Stats. 2011) which banned the sale of alcohol via self-checkout machines. This was in response to “evidence of inadequate staffing, inconsistent monitoring, and technological failures” at self-checkout that increased illegal purchases of alcohol and harmed public health, as cited in the bill’s April 13, 2011, committee analysis.
				</html:p>
				<html:p>
					(b)
					<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
					Since then, self-checkout has rapidly spread in retail grocery and drug stores, with some stores that do not sell alcohol having eliminated human workers from checkout entirely.
				</html:p>
				<html:p>
					(c)
					<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
					Retailers have increasingly implemented automated checkout to drastically cut staffing and reduce labor costs.
				</html:p>
				<html:p>
					(d)
					<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
					Self-checkout and the reduction in frontline grocery workers have created a range of problems for retailers, workers, and the public.
				</html:p>
				<html:p>
					(e)
					<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
					For example, while companies proclaim there has been an increase in retail theft, much of the losses they allege can actually be traced to self-checkout and the reduction in their workforce.
				</html:p>
				<html:p>
					(f)
					<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
					Data shows that self-checkout machines cause 16 times more shrink than checkout via a cashier. In 2022, self-checkout accounted for under 30 percent of total transactions, yet self-checkout machines have cost food retailers more than $10 billion in lost profits annually.
				</html:p>
				<html:p>
					(g)
					<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
					Nearly 7 percent of self-checkout transactions had at least some partial shrink compared to 0.32 percent with cashiers. On a revenue basis, this suggests a shrink rate of 3.5 percent for self-checkout machines versus only 0.21 percent for full-service cashier stations staffed by an employee.
				</html:p>
				<html:p>
					(h)
					<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
					The elimination of workers’ jobs due to self-checkout is especially harmful. The reduction in frontline checkers has caused a crisis with chronic understaffing and an overworked workforce. Self-checkout machines are notoriously glitchy, which creates more work for the reduced workforce and workers are expected to monitor anywhere from 4 to 10 machines on their own.
				</html:p>
				<html:p>
					(i)
					<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
					Regulation of self-checkout is needed because many Californians live in areas where, as a practical matter, they can only shop for food at one grocery store. As
		  large, publicly traded grocery chains have merged and closed stores as a result, Californians currently have less choice about where to buy food than at any time in the state’s history. Moreover, given transportation and childcare costs, working people and economically disadvantaged families are especially unable to travel long distances after work to shop at a store further away than whatever store happens to be closest to where they live.
				</html:p>
				<html:p>
					(j)
					<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
					For these reasons, legislation is required to ensure that deployment and use of self-checkout in grocery stores does not increase crime, increase cost that is passed onto consumers in higher food prices, and increase unemployment or underemployment.
				</html:p>
			</ns0:Content>
		</ns0:BillSection>
		<ns0:BillSection id="id_5B4CD822-39A7-4D7D-97F0-A26A4872952C">
			<ns0:Num>SEC. 2.</ns0:Num>
			<ns0:ActionLine action="IS_ADDED" ns3:href="urn:caml:codes:LAB:caml#xpointer(%2Fcaml%3ALawDoc%2Fcaml%3ACode%2Fcaml%3ALawHeading%5B%40type%3D'DIVISION'%20and%20caml%3ANum%3D'2.'%5D%2Fcaml%3ALawHeading%5B%40type%3D'PART'%20and%20caml%3ANum%3D'9.6.'%5D)" ns3:label="fractionType: LAW_SPREAD||commencingWith: 2530" ns3:type="locator">
				Part 9.6 (commencing with Section 2530) is added to Division 2 of the 
				<ns0:DocName>Labor Code</ns0:DocName>
				, to read:
			</ns0:ActionLine>
			<ns0:Fragment>
				<ns0:LawHeading id="id_90C514D7-6E5A-44AC-BE11-3739C323B0F7" type="PART">
					<ns0:Num>9.6.</ns0:Num>
					<ns0:LawHeadingVersion id="id_B75A8B69-BB97-44F3-969F-4A1EB8756563">
						<ns0:LawHeadingText>Grocery Retail Stores and Retail Drug Establishments</ns0:LawHeadingText>
					</ns0:LawHeadingVersion>
					<ns0:LawSection id="id_42862587-656B-4D46-B272-1406A89A5120">
						<ns0:Num>2530.</ns0:Num>
						<ns0:LawSectionVersion id="id_8E99F8E3-DFCE-4859-9DFD-35138C853EF5">
							<ns0:Content>
								<html:p>For purposes of this part, the following definitions apply:</html:p>
								<html:p>
									(a)
									<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
									“Grocery retail store” includes both of the following:
								</html:p>
								<html:p>
									(1)
									<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
									“Grocery establishment” means a retail store in this state that is over 15,000 square feet in size and that sells primarily household foodstuffs for offsite consumption, including, but not limited to, fresh produce, meats, poultry, fish, deli products, dairy products, canned foods, dry foods, beverages, baked foods, or prepared foods, with the sale of household supplies or other products being secondary to the primary purpose of food sales.
								</html:p>
								<html:p>
									(2)
									<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
									“Superstore” means a store in this state that is over 75,000 square feet in
					 size, that generates sales or use tax pursuant to the Bradley-Burns Uniform Local Sales and Use Tax Law (Part 1.5 (commencing with Section 7200) of Division 2 of the Revenue and Taxation Code), and that devotes more than 10 percent of sales floor area to the sale of nontaxable merchandise.
								</html:p>
								<html:p>
									(b)
									<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
									“Manual checkout station” means a station that is not a self-service checkout station and at which an employee provides human assistance to a customer scanning, bagging, or accepting payment for the customer’s purchases.
								</html:p>
								<html:p>
									(c)
									<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
									“Retail drug establishment” means a person, including an individual, a corporation, a partnership, a limited partnership, a limited liability partnership, a limited liability company, a business trust, an estate, a trust, an association, a joint venture, a proprietorship, a joint venture, an agency, an instrumentality, a corporate officer, an executive, or any other
					 legal or commercial entity, whether domestic or foreign, that has 75 or more businesses or establishments located within the state and is identified as a retail business or establishment in the North American Industry Classification System within the retail trade category 45611.
								</html:p>
								<html:p>
									(d)
									<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
									“Self-service checkout” means an automated process that enables customers to scan, bag, and pay for their purchases without human assistance.
								</html:p>
								<html:p>
									(e)
									<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
									“Self-service checkout station” means a station at a fixed location within the grocery retail store or retail drug establishment at which a customer can engage in a self-service checkout for the customer’s purchases.
								</html:p>
							</ns0:Content>
						</ns0:LawSectionVersion>
					</ns0:LawSection>
					<ns0:LawSection id="id_4BB51B57-128D-4CBF-AD54-13B219F48CE0">
						<ns0:Num>2531.</ns0:Num>
						<ns0:LawSectionVersion id="id_F92ACDEC-0A87-4D01-9B12-80AAAD971F53">
							<ns0:Content>
								<html:p>
									(a)
									<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
									A grocery retail store or retail drug establishment shall not provide a self-service checkout option for customers unless all of the following conditions are satisfied:
								</html:p>
								<html:p>
									(1)
									<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
									At least one manual checkout station is staffed by an employee of the establishment who is available to any given customer at the time that a self-service checkout option is made available to that customer.
								</html:p>
								<html:p>
									(2)
									<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
									(A)
									<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
									The employer has established a workplace policy that limits self-service checkouts to purchases of no more than 15 items.
								</html:p>
								<html:p>
									(B)
									<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
									(i)
									<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
									The establishment shall include signage within the
					 self-service checkout area indicating the number of items that are permitted through the self-service checkout station.
								</html:p>
								<html:p>
									(ii)
									<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
									For purposes of this section, an employer is not considered in violation of subclause (i) or subject to a penalty under this part if a customer purchases more than 15 items at a self-service checkout station, so long as the employer otherwise complies with the workplace policy and signage requirements set forth in this subdivision.
								</html:p>
								<html:p>
									(3)
									<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
									The employer has established a workforce policy that prohibits customers from using self-service checkout to purchase either of the following:
								</html:p>
								<html:p>
									(A)
									<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
									Items that require customers to provide a form of identification, including, but not limited to, alcohol and
					 tobacco products.
								</html:p>
								<html:p>
									(B)
									<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
									Items subject to special theft-deterrent measures that are affixed to the item, including, but not limited to, electronic article surveillance, ink, or other tags, that require the intervention of an employee of the establishment
					 to remove before purchase.
								</html:p>
								<html:p>
									(4)
									<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
									An employee shall not be assigned any other duties, including, but not limited to, operating a manual checkout station when monitoring or assisting customers at a self-service checkout
					 station.
								</html:p>
								<html:p>
									(b)
									<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
									A grocery retail store or retail drug establishment that offers self-service checkout shall include self-service checkout in their analysis of potential work hazards for purposes of their injury and illness prevention programs required by Section 3203 of Title 8 of the California Code of Regulations.
								</html:p>
							</ns0:Content>
						</ns0:LawSectionVersion>
					</ns0:LawSection>
					<ns0:LawSection id="id_6178D338-1192-41EF-B755-7B5E14BBB3AA">
						<ns0:Num>2532.</ns0:Num>
						<ns0:LawSectionVersion id="id_2C9A6789-3D1D-4001-AF1D-B94C4D333C7C">
							<ns0:Content>
								<html:p>If a grocery retail store or a retail drug establishment intends to implement self-checkout, the grocery retail store or retail drug establishment shall, in writing, notify workers and their collective bargaining representatives at least 60 days in advance of the implementation of self-checkout. The notification shall be communicated to workers through the grocery retail store or retail drug establishment’s normal channels of communication.</html:p>
							</ns0:Content>
						</ns0:LawSectionVersion>
					</ns0:LawSection>
					<ns0:LawSection id="id_59A7CE8D-541B-460D-AC6A-471043491E96">
						<ns0:Num>2533.</ns0:Num>
						<ns0:LawSectionVersion id="id_C686E37F-6ABB-4ADD-9CA8-248E861930B2">
							<ns0:Content>
								<html:p>An employer who violates this part shall be subject to a civil penalty to be assessed by the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement of one thousand dollars
					 ($1,000) per violation per day, not to exceed an aggregate penalty of two hundred thousand dollars ($200,000). Any worker eligible to receive notice pursuant to this section or representative of a collective bargaining unit may file a complaint with the division seeking enforcement of this section.</html:p>
							</ns0:Content>
						</ns0:LawSectionVersion>
					</ns0:LawSection>
					<ns0:LawSection id="id_817997FA-FF3F-4789-BE5B-BA380E3D73B1">
						<ns0:Num>2534.</ns0:Num>
						<ns0:LawSectionVersion id="id_F1B202A4-E12E-49C3-B5D9-75AA38D46C15">
							<ns0:Content>
								<html:p>This part does not preempt any city, county, or city and county ordinance that provides equal or greater protection to workers who are covered by this part.</html:p>
							</ns0:Content>
						</ns0:LawSectionVersion>
					</ns0:LawSection>
				</ns0:LawHeading>
			</ns0:Fragment>
		</ns0:BillSection>
		<ns0:Correction>
	 REVISIONS:</ns0:Correction>
		<ns0:Correction>
	 Heading–Line 4.</ns0:Correction>
	</ns0:Bill>
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