SAF Wednesday E-Brief - 12/13/2006  (Plain Text Version)

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In this issue:
•  Pennsylvania Governor Signs 'Phony Florist' Bill
•  Congress Approves Andean Trade Act
•  Wanted: Your New Year's Resolutions
•  AFE Launches New Web Site
•  Students Craft Business Plans for W.J. Cowee
•  IRS Increases Number of Small-Business Audits
•  Home Depot CEO Denies Buy-out Rumor
•  For Branding Tips, Look to Santa
•  Chaplains Join Corporate Workforce
•  Florist Dave Ferrari Leaves Star-Studded Legacy
•  California Florist Adelaide's Raises Funds While Celebrating 70 Years
•  SAF Responds to Real Simple Magazine
•  Member Uses SAF Research to Promote, Enlighten
•  San Diego Readies for Poinsettia Bowl
•  Oops.... we made a mistake.
•  Product Spotlight: Retail Pricing Worksheet
•  Talk on The Forums
•  Where to Find Holiday Help
•  Who's Selling Painted Poinsettias?

Pennsylvania Governor Signs 'Phony Florist' Bill

Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell signed hard-won legislation Nov. 29 that makes it tougher for

Governor Ed Rendell

order-gatherers to masquerade as local florists. The Pennsylvania Senate passed a bill last year, and the House followed after some members were convinced that the law would not restrict competition.

"It's pretty exciting -- it's taken us eight years," says Chris Drummond, AAF, owner of Plaza Flowers in Norristown, Pa., who was president of the Pennsylvania Floral Industry Association (PFIA) when the push began to pass legislation.

The new law establishes "a private cause of legal action" against out-of-state businesses that pretend to be local florists, PFIA noted in a press release. Drummond says it's possible that florists in the state may now band together to pursue a class-action lawsuit against a New Jersey company that frequently passes itself off as a local florist.

According to a news release from the governor's office, the law, Act 164, prohibits a supplier from misrepresenting its geographic location by listing a fictitious or assumed business name in a local telephone directory that: 

• fails to list or identify the locality and state of the supplier's business; and

• forwards or transfers calls to a business location outside the calling area covered by the local telephone directory; or where

• the supplier's business location is located in a county which is not contiguous to a county covered by the local telephone directory.

The law "grants an aggrieved person the right to petition a court to stop the practices listed above, and the court may impose a civil fine of up to $500 a day until the supplier complies with the order."

The law applies to telephone listings in a local telephone directory published or updated for the calling area at least 90 days after the effective date of the act. "Florists are not against competition, however people should be able to choose between a local or out-of-state business," says PFIA lobbyist Vince Phillips. "The problem occurs when consumers do not know the real identity and location of the business."

The law will "provide more checks and balances for the consumer," says Bethany Davis, PFIA communications spokeswoman. It "will require that [order gatherers] have an address associated with their phone number. We'll see how well it works."

--Mary Ann Barton
mbarton@safnow.org