SENATE BILL No. 928
Introduced by Senator Niello
January 12, 2024
An act to amend Section 490.4 of the Penal Code, relating to crimes. legislative counsel’s digest
SB 928, as introduced, Niello. 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 indefinitely. By extending the operation of an existing crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program.
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.
99 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. line 28 (2) Any other violation of paragraph (1), (2), or (3) of line 29 subdivision (a) that is not described in paragraph (1) of this line 30 subdivision is punishable by imprisonment in a county jail not line 31 exceeding one year.
line 32 (3) A violation of paragraph (4) of subdivision (a) is punishable line 33 by imprisonment in a county jail not e xceeding one year or line 34 pursuant to subdivision (h) of Section 1170.
line 35 (c) For the purpose of determining whether the defendant acted line 36 in concert with another person or persons in an y proceeding, the line 37 trier of fact may consider any competent evidence, including, but line 38 not limited to, all of the following:
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line 1 (1) The defendant has previously acted in concert with another line 2 person or persons in committing acts constituting theft, or an y line 3 related offense, including an y conduct that occurred in counties line 4 other than the county of the current of fense, if rele vant to line 5 demonstrate a fact other than the defendant’s disposition to commit line 6 the act.
line 7 (2) That the defendant used or possessed an artifice, instrument, line 8 container, device, or other article capable of facilitating the removal line 9 of merchandise from a retail establishment without paying the line 10 purchase price and use of the artifice, instrument, container , or line 11 device or other article is part of an organized plan to commit theft. line 12 (3) The property involved in the offense is of a type or quantity line 13 that w ould not normally be purchased for personal use or line 14 consumption and the property is intended for resale. line 15 (d) In a prosecution under this section, the prosecutor shall not line 16 be required to charge any other coparticipant of the organized retail line 17 theft.
line 18 (e) Upon conviction of an offense under this section, the court line 19 shall consider ordering, as a condition of probation, that the line 20 defendant stay away from retail establishments with a reasonable line 21 nexus to the crime committed.
line 22 (f) This section shall remain in effect only until January 1, 2026, line 23 and as of that date is repealed.
line 24 SEC. 2. No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to line 25 Section 6 of Article XIIIB of the California Constitution because line 26 the only costs that may be incurred by a local agenc y or school line 27 district will be incurred because this act creates a ne w crime or line 28 infraction, eliminates a crime or infraction, or changes the penalty line 29 for a crime or infraction, within the meaning of Section 17556 of line 30 the Government Code, or changes the definition of a crime within line 31 the meaning of Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California line 32 Constitution.
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