Legislation moves forward

by Fiona Ma

I am pleased to report on the success of a number of pieces of legislation that will have a positive impact on the quality of life of those in the 12th Assembly District.

While establishing my legislative package this year, I paid close attention to the issues impacting our neighborhoods. Graffiti, curbside recycling theft and the presence of unlicensed businesses that are operating in the underground economy and harming law abiding business owners are issues of concern that I heard about at neighborhood meetings and community events.

Last month, Assembly Bill 1767 was passed by the legislature and is currently awaiting action by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. This bill is an anti-graffiti measure that will finally stop San Francisco graffiti offenders from bypassing community service when they engage in a civil compromise.

Currently, many taggers are settling cases outside of court by agreeing to pay the property owner the costs for removing the graffiti. A civil compromise allows a tagger to escape a misdemeanor vandalism charge and prevents the offender from appearing before a judge and performing community service.

The city of San Francisco spends more than $20 million annually to clean-up graffiti and it is simply not fair that offenders are not being forced to do their part to clean up graffiti. During legislative committee hearings, San Francisco Graffiti Advisory Board member Shirley Wang and SF Police Department Officer Chris Putz both offered compelling testimony on the extent of the civil compromise problem in the City and on the importance of AB 1767 for San Francisco.

After working with Public Defender Jeff Adachi, the final version of the bill will allow San Francisco to require that all graffiti offenders who engage in a civil compromise to complete a minimum of 24 hours of community service.

Another bill that is successfully moving through the legislature is Assembly Bill 1778, which will crack down on curbside recycling and newspaper rack theft. After passing the Assembly in June, the bill received bi-partisan support in two Senate committees and is set for a hearing in the Appropriations Committee.

Since the price for recycled materials has been increasingly on the rise, curbside recycling scavenging has evolved into a lucrative business in communities across the state, where highly organized crews with large trucks roam the streets late at night, disturbing residents and leaving behind a mess on the sidewalk. San Francisco residents are all too familiar with this problem.

While it is already a crime punishable by a $500 fine to steal from curbside bins, police resources are too thin to allow law enforcement to respond immediately to these thefts. AB 1778 will offer the police better enforcement tools and also deter poachers from committing future offenses. The legislation will require individuals turning in large amounts of CRV containers or newspapers to show identification and would require the recycler to pay CRV redeemers in the form of a check and retain a copy of the ID and a record of the transaction. This will create a very important paper trail for law enforcement when the police investigate these poaching rings.

Finally, I am pleased to report that Assembly Bill 2592 is also moving through the Senate and is currently in the Appropriations Committee. Last year, an investigative report conducted by KGO Channel 7 showed that of the 2,300 San Francisco locksmiths listed on yellowpages.com - only 7 percent actually were licensed. This was very disturbing to me considering that these unlicensed locksmiths are often replacing the locks in our homes and overcharging customers by thousands of dollars.

AB 2592 will raise the current fine for practicing without a license from $1,000 to $10,000 and will restrict the ability of underground locksmiths from issuing phony advertisements. With the additional fine, there will be a greater disincentive to perform jobs without a license and provide an incentive for district attorneys to go after those who are overcharging consumers and not paying any taxes.

Assemblywoman Fiona Ma is the majority whip at the California Assembly.