Supporters see the measure as another way to rein in theft, but opponents balk at giving retailers’ lawyers a role in enforcement.
A bill aimed at cracking down on retail theft by allowing courts to issue restraining orders against theft offenders passed the California Legislature Aug. 12 and was sent to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s desk for a signature.
AB 3209 would authorize a court to issue a criminal restraining order prohibiting a person sentenced for a retail theft offense from entering that same retail establishment, its parking lots, or any potential franchise or chain locations.
According to the legislation, any violation of such a restraining order would be punishable as a misdemeanor.
In California, the bill is the first legislation to propose the use of protective orders to crack down on retail theft.
“Yes, this is the first legislation proposing orders for retail theft offenses, but the court can generally issue a stay-away order after a conviction for any crime that’s reasonably related to the crime committed,” Assemblyman Marc Berman told The Epoch Times in an email statement.
Berman, a Bay Area Democrat, authored the bill with Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas, a fellow Democrat.
He said the bill was a “commonsense solution that will provide an additional enforcement tool to combat retail crime and theft.”
AB 3209 was introduced as part of a package of bipartisan Assembly and Senate bills this spring aimed at holding thieves accountable amid rising crime in California cities.
“We are saying enough is enough on organized retail theft,” said Rivas in May.
According to the America First Policy Institute, retail theft
rose 81 percent in 2023 in Los Angeles alone, with nearly 12,000 reported incidents of shoplifting.
According to the Public Policy Institute of California, shoplifting has risen in San Mateo and San Francisco counties by
53 and 24 percent, respectively, from 2019 to 2022. Commercial burglary has also increased in 25 of California’s 58 counties since 2021, per their data.
The legislation was opposed by
Vera California, a national advocacy group working to reform American legal and immigration systems. “AB 3209 would create a harmful new process whereby attorneys representing retailers—not district attorneys nor individual victims—could seek a two-year ‘retail theft restraining order’ for petty theft or vandalism,” the group stated, according to an August Assembly
analysis.
The bill passed unanimously in the Senate on Aug. 8, and it passed an Assembly vote on Aug. 12 in a vote of 69–5.
“By enabling retailers to obtain civil restraining orders against habitual offenders, this legislation empowers businesses to protect themselves and deter potential thieves from engaging in criminal activities,” the organization said, according to the
analysis.
Berman and Rivas did not respond to a request for comment.
