Three states recently won major victories in their campaigns against deceptive listings. Here is a summary of where those states now stand:
New York
Legislation (S. 2891) establishing that a business that arranges or sells flowers "shall not misrepresent its geographic location" was signed into law July 3.
Carmen Cosentino, AAF, PFCI, of Cosentino's Florist in Auburn, N.Y., started the effort to get a deceptive listings bill passed in New York about a year and a half ago by approaching several state senators and legislators. (The legislation was introduced in February 2007).
Cosentino says he's happy with the results, but he admits the fight is far from finished.
"It's not over" says Cosentino, who plans to begin lobbying lawmakers again in January. "The bill needs more teeth."
North Carolina
The Deceptive Advertising of Business bill (S. 514), has been sent to the Senate for a vote. The Northern Piedmont Florists Association's board of directors and its president, Jon Miller, spearheaded this effort.
"We figured that this is an issue that is important to us, as florists, and we should do something about it," says Miller.
The effort began when the Northern Piedmont Floristsl Association hosted a panel discussion at its November meeting on the issue, moderated by Billy Hardin Jr., AAF, of Hardin's Wholesale Florist Supply in Liberty, N.C.
In March, three bills addressing the issue of deceptive listings were introduced. Two of the bills were soon withdrawn, leaving S. 514.
"We realized quickly it would be better to have one bill that covered the whole" issue, says Miller. "It was the one of the three that was the most comprehensive."
Miller thinks it is 'likely' the bill will go to the governor for signing. Because of "the way it has been constructed, it has little or no opposition," he says, "legislators seem to be very positive" about acting on deceptive listings.
California
A bill (A.B. 1282) that bans floral or ornamental products or service companies from misrepresenting their geographic location, was sent to the Senate July 5 and could be voted on in the next few days.
The California State Floral Association started efforts to get the legislation passed in December 2006. CSFA already has sponsored two deceptive listing bills -- in 1999 and again in 2001 -- that ultimately did not pass.
To date, 22 states have enacted legislation against deceptive listings -- get more information.
Read more about New York and California's battles against deceptive listings in the June 20 issue of E-Brief.
--Vanessa Machir
vmachir@safnow.org
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