Senator Dave Cortese’s Bill to Reduce Abandoned Shopping Cart Litter Passes Senate Local Government Committee

SACRAMENTO – In a move to eliminate shopping cart blight, State Senator Dave Cortese’s (D-Silicon Valley) SB 753, allowing retailers and local governments to work together to get carts back where they belong, today was passed on a bipartisan vote by the Senate Local Government Committee. The bill now goes to Senate Appropriations.

This bill will allow local governments to pick up abandoned shopping carts immediately, return them back to retailers without delay, and recover the actual costs of managing the program.

“Abandoned shopping carts are more than just an eyesore, they create safety hazards, block sidewalks, pollute our creeks, and cost cities time and taxpayer money to clean up,” said Senator Dave Cortese. “SB 753 will modernize outdated state law to give local governments the tools they need to address this issue more efficiently. Instead of waiting days to impound an abandoned cart, cities will be able to return carts directly back to retailers in order to support business owners and keep our communities clean and safe.”

SB 753 is sponsored by the City of San Jose and San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan, with broad support from local governments statewide.

“I am sick and tired of seeing shopping carts litter our streets and waterways, and I know I’m not alone,” said San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan. “I appreciate Senator Cortese’s shared urgency — letting cities return stolen carts immediately and creating avenues to recover costs keeps them where they belong — in stores, not on our streets.”

• Under this bill, cities would now be able to return abandoned carts directly to retailers instead of impounding them.
• They would also be able to recover costs by billing retailers for retrieval services, not to exceed actual cost recovery.
• The three-day waiting period is eliminated, allowing cities to pick up and return carts immediately.
• Cities are no longer required to impound carts as their only option; instead, they may now return carts directly to retailers, while still retaining the authority to impound abandoned carts after three days as permitted under current law.

Current state law has proven ineffective at preventing shopping cart abandonment and incentivizing proper recovery. Existing law requires cities to store carts in an impound lot and wait for retailers to pick them up, which is inefficient and very costly for large cities.

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