CHECK-OUT CONUNDRUM: State Sen. Lola Smallwood-Cuevas has been one of the most vocal opponents of the retail theft bill package Democrats have championed this year. That’s because the Los Angeles Democrat has a different vision for dealing with this kind of crime, one that pushes stores to “have some skin in this game.” A bill from Smallwood-Cuevas focused on self-checkout stations is among the many measures whose fates will be decided tomorrow in the Assembly Appropriations Committee. It would call for retailers with such unmanned stations to have a 15-item limit, set minimum staffing levels, ban customers from ringing up some products and require notice when employers implement certain technologies in the workplace. “How do we share the load and the burden of retail theft, not just in communities of color and the carceral system, but also in the industry itself, in the sector where the most retail theft is happening?” Smallwood-Cuevas asked in an interview with Playbook. Self-checkout has become a major part of customers’ retail experience. The labor groups backing the senator’s bill say this has cost workers jobs, caused issues with theft and increased some employees’ job duties amid understaffing. Self-checkout is not tightly regulated in California beyond restricting the purchase of alcohol at stations. Ahead of Thursday’s suspense file hearing — when lawmakers will go over hundreds of bills in quick succession — the senator today announced a set of planned amendments during a Zoom press conference. One change would remove items locked up or secured with anti-theft devices from the prohibited self-checkout list. Other amendments would allow more flexibility for some employees working in self-checkout to perform other tasks and would dump a requirement that employers address the stations as a potential workplace hazard in violence prevention plans. The changes are meant to address complaints from opposition groups, according to Smallwood-Cuevas’ office. But they have done little to quell concerns from some of the fiercest critics in the retail industry, which insist the measure is not enforceable, would hurt customers’ shopping experience and would strip stores’ flexibility to run their self-checkout areas as they see fit. “This is another example of them having to perform emergency surgery in order to move this bill forward,” said Daniel Conway of the California Grocers Association. Conway pointed out that, since the bill was not part of the retail theft package, it did not go through the same legislative process, including Public Safety committee hearings. He’s dubious it would curb crime in the way Smallwood-Cuevas believes it would. “If having some poor person standing, hovering over their customers was going to actually reduce retail theft, people would already be doing that,” he said. The bill advanced off the Senate floor in May with 25 “aye” votes, just passing the threshold needed. If the measure makes it off the suspense file, its fate in the Assembly — which has a large pro-labor contingent but also a sizable number of business-friendly moderates — would be uncertain. Still, Smallwood-Cuevas argued it’s an important part of a less punitive public safety strategy. “If it was about police and incarceration, South Central would be the safest place in California,” she said. “When I look at my colleagues in Malibu, what makes them safe is wealth, is opportunity, is generational education, housing — all of the securities that a family needs.” IT’S WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON. This is California Playbook PM, a POLITICO newsletter that serves as an afternoon temperature check on California politics and a look at what our policy reporters are watching. Got tips or suggestions? Shoot an email to lholden@politico.com.
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