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Senate Bill 376 (Migden - 2007)

Chapter 17, Statutes of 2007

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Revises the statute authorizing the city and county of San Francisco to bring unfair competition actions, and to allow recovery of a civil penalty regardless of the size of its population.

According to the author, the consolidated City and County of San Francisco has a population that hovers around 750,000. As a result, it continually has to prove standing whenever it seeks to bring an unfair competition action. This bill would appear to avoid this potential confusion by reconfirming standing to the City and County of San Francisco regardless of minor fluctuations in its population.

It should be noted that there is already a precedent for such exceptions. In 1988, the Legislature authorized the City Attorney of the City of San Jose to prosecute UCL actions even though the San Jose's population was close to, but still below, 750,000. The authorization was set to expire when San Jose's population exceeded 750,000, at which time San Jose's standing would be based on the population provisions of Business and Professions Code Section 17204.5. The Legislature found that because the city's population was close to 750,000, and the City Attorney's Office of San Jose had already "demonstrated it competence, the enforcement of the laws relation to unfair competition would be enhanced by this act." The Assembly Judiciary Committee believes that the same logic can and should be applied to the City and County of San Francisco.