Selling lots of stuff online? You could be required to share your personal info in California

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BILL TO TARGET HIGH-VOLUME FENCES GETS HEARING

High-volume sellers on third-party websites, such as CraigsList, Facebook Marketplace and NextDoor, soon could be required to provide information to those sites to verify their identity, including potentially sensitive information such as bank account details, Social Security numbers or driver’s licenses.

SB 1144, by Sen. Nancy Skinner, D-Berkeley, is part of a broader legislative effort to tackle retail theft in the state. Skinner’s bill specifically aims to crack down on organized retail theft operations, which use sites like Craigslist to peddle stolen merchandise.

The bill only applies to sellers who have more than 200 transactions on the site.

Skinner in 2022 successfully passed SB 301 to establish regulations for online marketplaces to verify the legality of sellers.

“However, we also have marketplaces where the actual money doesn’t change hands on the sites,” Skinner said as she presented her bill to the Assembly Judiciary Committee on Tuesday morning.

Skinner said her bill aims to get at the organized retail theft rings “which are the real source of the large volume of stolen goods.”

However, Jose Torres Casillas, of the tech industry lobbying organization TechNet, argued in opposition testimony that there is “significant ambiguity” about how to implement the bill that will impose hardship on both sites and sellers.

“It was a deliberate policy choice, not a loophole, to exclude off-platform sales,” he said, adding that with SB 1144, sites like NextDoor would have to consider all sellers to be high-volume sellers, because sites are not always aware of when sellers and buyers meet up or how much money changes hands.

Despite tech industry pushback, the bill was well-received by most of the committee members.

“If we are going to confront the retail theft challenge we have, we have to undercut their ability to make this so profitable,” Assemblyman Matt Haney, D-San Francisco, said.

Committee Chair Ash Kalra, D-San Jose, added that “At some point, the flow, especially online — which is the toughest area to regulate — needs to stop.”

The bill also was heard Tuesday morning by the Assembly Privacy and Consumer Protection Committee.

NINTH CIRCUIT UPHOLDS STATE GUN SHOW BAN

The federal Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday upheld SB 915, the 2022 bill by Sen. Dave Min, D-Irvine, that bans gun shows from being held at state-owned fairgrounds.

The court’s decision overturned a lower court ruling enjoining the ban, as well as a separate law banning shows specifically in Orange County, from going into effect.

In a statement Tuesday, Min called the decision “a win for Orange County and California families who are sick and tired of gun violence.”

“The restoration of my ban on gun shows on state properties — including most of the county fairgrounds sites that are owned by the state — will make us all safer,” Min said in a statement.

Min added that he was saddened by the fact that gun shows were allowed to continue taking place while the laws were enjoined, “meaning that many thousands more guns poured into our communities in laxly regulated circumstances.”

A spokesman for the California Rifle and Pistol Association could not immediately be reached for comment.

“I hope that in my lifetime, we will return to being a society where people’s lives are valued more than guns, and where gun violence incidents are rare and shocking rather than commonplace as they are today. Today’s ruling is a step in the right direction,” Min said.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“Workers in California will never, ever stop fighting wage theft, misclassification and overall disrespect from these massive corporations. Never.”

- California Labor Federation boss Lorena Gonzalez, responding to news that the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that rideshare and delivery drivers are employees, not independent contractors, via X.

Best of The Bee:

• California budget battle continues over increasing the number of subsidized child care slots, via Vik Jolly.

• California Democrats cry ‘hogwash’ on Republican criticism of retail theft bills, Prop. 47, via Lindsey Holden and Stephen Hobbs.

• Placer County school board member warns of ‘witchcraft,’ ‘child sacrifice’ in bizarre speech, via Jenavieve Hatch.