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| SPONSOR: | Altamirano | DATE TYPED: | 02/08/99 | HB | |||
| SHORT TITLE: | Unused Merchandise Act | SB | 104 | ||||
| ANALYST: | O'Connell | ||||||
| Recurring
or Non-Rec |
Fund
Affected | ||||
| FY99 | FY2000 | FY99 | FY2000 | ||
| NFI | NFI | ||||
(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)
Duplicates/Conflicts with/Companion to/Relates to
SOURCES OF INFORMATION
Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC) analysis
Corrections Department analysis
SUMMARY
Synopsis of Bill
Senate Bill 104 prohibits the sale of certain unused merchandise under specific conditions and requires certain sellers to keep records of unused merchandise. Selling unused merchandise such as baby food, infant formula, cosmetics, drugs or medical devices in open markets (swap meets or flea markets) will be a violation of the Unused Merchandise Ownership Protection Act if valid written authorization from the manufacturer is not displayed.
Significant Issues
A vendor of unused merchandise shall maintain receipts for the vendor's purchase of any unused merchandise sold or offered for sale at an open market. Receipts shall be kept for two years after the sale of the merchandise.
Vendors who operate under the following would be exempt from the provisions of Senate Bill 104: religious, charitable or educational non-profit events, or industry/association trade shows. Also exempt are vendors of new items sold by authorized representatives, distributors and manufacturers, catalog or future delivery sales, firewood, building supplies, gravel, sand, live animals, vehicles subject to registration, food for human consumption at the open market or immediately after, antiques or historical items, food that was grown and harvested by the vendor, and art or crafts.
Senate Bill 104 makes the first violation of the Unused Merchandise Ownership Act a misdemeanor, Second offenses will be fourth degree felonies, and third or subsequent offenses will be a third degree penalty.
BOC/njw