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5 questions: Hector De La Torre, author of bill AB 1060
The California assemblyman speaks about his controversial legislation, which would ban the sale of alcohol at self-checkout.
October 26, 2009
In February, Democratic California Assemblyman Hector De La Torre introduced AB 1060 to the California Senate. If passed, the legislation would ban the sale of alcoholic beverages at self-checkout terminals throughout the state. It has garnered support from organizations such as the Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy and Mothers Against Drunk Driving.Last month, the Assemblyman's office announced he would delay further action on AB 1060 in the Senate, where it had been approved by two committees, effectively turning it into a two-year bill. According to De La Torre, the delay will allow his office more time to lobby for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's support before the bill is reintroduced in January 2010. De La Torre says AB 1060 will pick up where it left off in January 2010, needing just one more Senate committee approval and a concurrence vote from the Assembly before it lands on the governor's desk.
KioskMarketplace.com spoke with Assemblyman De La Torre regarding his decision to pull AB 1060 and what will happen to the bill now.
What is the status of AB 1060?
HDL: The bill is sitting on the Senate floor. No action can be taken until January.
The reason I didn't move it off the floor is that I was in discussions with the governor's office, and there was some real interest in the legislation. They asked for some information for their own internal decision-making, and I couldn't provide them that information in the short timeframe we had before the end of session. So I just decided to leave the bill on the Senate floor to have more time to put the information for them together, and that way they can make a better decision come January.
Why does the bill specifically focus on self-checkout?
HDL: All we're proposing here is that the alcohol will remain in the store, and you can still purchase it, you just have to go through a regular checkout line where there's a human being to confirm whether you're of age and that you're not inebriated. No machine can do that. So it's not an affront to the machine, it's not a slap at the machine. It's just an added layer of protection for a product that is volatile.
Much has been made of how the legislation would affect Tesco's Fresh & Easy chain, which has an all-assisted checkout model. What are your thoughts on that?
HDL: The state of California has been in business a lot longer than any company that is selling groceries. And the state of California has a responsibility to the public, and any company that wants to do business in the United States or in California needs to abide by our set of rules. There is no constitutional right to sell alcohol. It is a right that is granted by the states, and it is a right that is granted under certain conditions. If those conditions change, every retailer is going to abide by them.
Everybody keeps bringing this up about Fresh & Easy, and it's not about them. It's about the people of California and how alcohol is going to be sold in the state of California, period. And if they want to sell alcohol, then they're going to have to abide by those rules.
Some in the self-service industry believe a lack of employee or retailer oversight is what facilitates illegal alcohol sales — not technological problems. What do you say to them?
HDL: Frankly, I think the industry is overreacting. It's not like we're attacking the machines; we're not at all. We're just saying that, for alcohol, you just need to have a human being. It has nothing to do with the machine. So I really feel like the folks who manufacture these machines are overreacting to it.
In terms of the industry and whatever, they can all argue among themselves or complain or whatever. But, again, it's the people of California who decide how things are going to be done within the state.
Some believe AB 1060 is a labor bill disguised as an alcohol bill and is really about protecting jobs. What would you say them?
HDL: That's a whole (different) battle that someone else is fighting. My bill, AB 1060, is about alcohol purchases. That's what it's about. It is not too much to ask people to walk five, ten feet over to a regular checkout line to purchase alcohol. And if a company wants to sell alcohol, that's the rule that they're going to have to abide by under my legislation. The rest of it is all … just drama.
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