BILL NUMBER: AB 2599	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Bill Berryhill

                        FEBRUARY 24, 2012

   An act to amend Section 17204 of the Business and Professions
Code, relating to unfair competition.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 2599, as introduced, Bill Berryhill. Unfair competition:
private enforcement actions.
   Existing law defines unfair competition to include an unlawful,
unfair, or fraudulent business act or practice, unfair, deceptive,
untrue, or misleading advertising, and any false representations to
the public. Existing law, as amended by Proposition 64 at the
November 2, 2004, statewide general election, authorizes an action
for relief from this prohibited conduct to be brought by the Attorney
General, a district attorney, a county counsel, or a city attorney
or prosecutor, or by any person who suffered an injury in fact and
has lost money or property as a result of the unfair competition, and
provides various remedies, including injunctive relief, restitution,
and civil penalties.
   This bill would define the injury in fact required for a private
person to bring suit under these provisions as damages suffered by
each individual plaintiff or member of a class amounting to at least
$500, adjusted for inflation, as specified. The bill would also
provide that it shall become effective only when submitted to, and
approved by, the voters of California.
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  Section 17204 of the Business and Professions Code is
amended to read:
   17204.  Actions for Injunctions by Attorney General, District
Attorney, County Counsel,  and  City Attorneys 
, and Private Persons  . 
    Actions 
    (a)     Actions  for relief pursuant
to this chapter shall be prosecuted exclusively in a court of
competent jurisdiction by the Attorney General or a district attorney
or by a county counsel authorized by agreement with the district
attorney in actions involving violation of a county ordinance, or by
a city attorney of a city having a population in excess of 750,000,
or by a city attorney in a city and county or, with the consent of
the district attorney, by a city prosecutor in a city having a
full-time city prosecutor in the name of the people of the State of
California upon their own complaint or upon the complaint of a board,
officer, person, corporation, or association, or by a person who has
suffered injury in fact and has lost money or property as a result
of the unfair competition. 
   (b) For the purposes of this section, "injury in fact" means
damages suffered by each individual plaintiff or member of a class
amounting to at least five hundred dollars ($500), adjusted for
inflation pursuant to the California Consumer Price Index for All
Urban Consumers, as published by the Department of Industrial
Relations, Division of Labor Statistics and Research, or its
successor index. 
  SEC. 2.  Section 1 of this act shall not become operative until
approved by the voters. The Secretary of State is hereby directed to
place those provisions on the ballot of the next statewide election
for approval by the voters in accordance with applicable provisions
of law.