california legislature—2023–24 regular session
ASSEMBLY BILL No. 1802
Introduced by Assembly Member Jones-Sawyer
January 8, 2024
An act to amend Sections 490.4 and 13899.1 of the Penal Code, relating to crimes.
legislative counsel’s digest
AB 1802, as introduced, Jones-Sawyer. Crimes: organized theft.
Existing law, until January 1, 2026, makes a person guilty of organized retail theft, punishable as a misdemeanor or a felon y, as specified, if the person acts in concert with one or more persons to steal merchandise from one or more merchant’s premises or online marketplaces with the intent to sell or return the merchandise for v alue, acts in concert with 2 or more persons to receive, purchase, or possess merchandise knowing or believing it to have been stolen, acts as an agent of another to steal merchandise from one or more merchant’ s premises or online marketplaces as part of an organized plan to commit theft, or recruits, coordinates, organizes, supervises, directs, manages, or finances another to undertake acts of theft.
This bill would extend the operation of the crime of organized retail theft until January 1, 2031. By e xtending the operation of an e xisting crime, this bill would create a state-mandated local program.
Existing law, until January 1, 2026, requires the Department of the California Highway Patrol to coordinate with the Department of Justice to convene a regional property crimes task force to identify geographic areas experiencing increased levels of property crimes and assist local law enforcement with resources, such as personnel and equipment.
99 The bill would extend the operation of the regional property crimes task force until January 1, 2031.
The California Constitution requires the state to reimb urse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state.
Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.
This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: yes.
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
line 1 SECTION 1. Section 490.4 of the Penal Code is amended to line 2 read:
line 3 490.4. (a) A person who commits any of the following acts is line 4 guilty of organized retail theft, and shall be punished pursuant to line 5 subdivision (b):
line 6 (1) Acts in concert with one or more persons to steal line 7 merchandise from one or more merchant’ s premises or online line 8 marketplace with the intent to sell, e xchange, or return the line 9 merchandise for value.
line 10 (2) Acts in concert with tw o or more persons to recei ve, line 11 purchase, or possess merchandise described in paragraph (1), line 12 knowing or believing it to have been stolen.
line 13 (3) Acts as an agent of another individual or group of individuals line 14 to steal merchandise from one or more merchant’ s premises or line 15 online marketplaces as part of an organized plan to commit theft. line 16 (4) Recruits, coordinates, or ganizes, supervises, directs, line 17 manages, or finances another to undertake any of the acts described line 18 in paragraph (1) or (2) or an y other statute defining theft of line 19 merchandise.
line 20 (b) Organized retail theft is punishable as follows:
line 21 (1) If violations of paragraph (1), (2), or (3) of subdi vision (a) line 22 are committed on tw o or more separate occasions within a line 23 12-month period, and if the aggregated value of the merchandise line 24 stolen, received, purchased, or possessed within that 12-month line 25 period exceeds nine hundred fifty dollars ($950), the of fense is line 26 punishable by imprisonment in a county jail not e xceeding one line 27 year or pursuant to subdivision (h) of Section 1170. 99 — 2 — AB 1802
line 1 (2) Any other violation of paragraph (1), (2), or (3) of line 2 subdivision (a) that is not described in paragraph (1) of this line 3 subdivision is punishable by imprisonment in a county jail not line 4 exceeding one year.
line 5 (3) A violation of paragraph (4) of subdivision (a) is punishable line 6 by imprisonment in a county jail not e xceeding one year or line 7 pursuant to subdivision (h) of Section 1170.
line 8 (c) For the purpose of determining whether the defendant acted line 9 in concert with another person or persons in an y proceeding, the line 10 trier of fact may consider any competent evidence, including, but line 11 not limited to, all of the following:
line 12 (1) The defendant has previously acted in concert with another line 13 person or persons in committing acts constituting theft, or an y line 14 related offense, including an y conduct that occurred in counties line 15 other than the county of the current of fense, if rele vant to line 16 demonstrate a fact other than the defendant’s disposition to commit line 17 the act.
line 18 (2) That the defendant used or possessed an artifice, instrument, line 19 container, device, or other article capable of facilitating the removal line 20 of merchandise from a retail establishment without paying the line 21 purchase price and use of the artifice, instrument, container , or line 22 device or other article is part of an organized plan to commit theft. line 23 (3) The property involved in the offense is of a type or quantity line 24 that w ould not normally be purchased for personal use or line 25 consumption and the property is intended for resale. line 26 (d) In a prosecution under this section, the prosecutor shall not line 27 be required to charge any other coparticipant of the organized retail line 28 theft.
line 29 (e) Upon conviction of an offense under this section, the court line 30 shall consider ordering, as a condition of probation, that the line 31 defendant stay away from retail establishments with a reasonable line 32 nexus to the crime committed.
line 33 (f) This section shall remain in effect only until January 1, 2026, line 34 2031, and as of that date is repealed.
line 35 SEC. 2. Section 13899.1 of the Penal Code is amended to read:
line 36 13899.1. This chapter shall remain in effect only until January line 37 1, 2026, 2031, and as of that date is repealed. line 38 SEC. 3. No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to line 39 Section 6 of Article XIIIB of the California Constitution because line 40 the only costs that may be incurred by a local agenc y or school 99 AB 1802 — 3 —
line 1 district will be incurred because this act creates a ne w crime or line 2 infraction, eliminates a crime or infraction, or changes the penalty line 3 for a crime or infraction, within the meaning of Section 17556 of line 4 the Government Code, or changes the definition of a crime within line 5 the meaning of Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California line 6 Constitution.
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99 — 4 — AB 1802