There is good news for California and New York florists -- those states are one step closer to banning deceptive listings.

California
Yesterday, A.B. 1282, a bill that bans floral or ornamental products or service companies from misrepresenting their geographic location, passed the California Senate Judiciary Committee. The bill will now move to the Appropriations Committee.

The effort to get this legislation passed began in December 2006, when Richard Matteis, government relations director of the California State Floral Association (CSFA), approached state assembly member Mary Salas about authoring the bill. In February 2007, she introduced the legislation.

CSFA already had sponsored two deceptive listing bills -- in 1999, and again in 2001 -- which ultimately did not pass.

"The problem in the past was that the bill got through both houses [of the legislature] but it didn't get signed by the governor," says Ann Quinn, executive vice president of CFSA about the 2001 bill. "We have a new governor now ... We are very diligent in coming back ... You just know how important it is to your members. "

New York
After being introduced in February, S. 2891, legislation that establishes that a business that arranges or sells flowers shall not misrepresent its geographic location, was passed by the New York Senate, and then the State Assembly on June 4. It is expected to go to the governor with a number of other bills.

Carmen Cosentino, AAF, PFCI of Cosentino's Florist in Auburn, N.Y., spearheaded the effort about a year and a half ago by approaching several state senators and legislators. After the bill was introduced he started "calling, writing and leaving messages," but he says "nobody paid attention until one of my letters hit a nerve. I wrote about the amount of revenue the state was losing [to deceptive florists]. Then legislators started paying attention."

Read about Kentucky's fight against deceptive listings. SAF can help its members lobby state lawmakers for change. Visit the Web site for more information.

Involved in fighting deceptive listings in your state? E-Brief editors want to hear about it! E-mail vmachir@safnow.org and tell us what you are doing.

--Vanessa Machir
vmachir@safnow.org

 

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