Bonta gets Rent-A-Center settlement, faces Republican attacks + Flavored tobacco on the ballot
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BONTA GETS $15.5 MILLION RENTAL FURNITURE SETTLEMENT, FENDS OFF REPUBLICANS
California Attorney General Rob Bonta on Tuesday announced a $15.5 million settlement against furniture and electronics retailer Rent-A-Center, for alleged unlawful leasing practices and deceptive marketing.
Bonta claims Rent-A-Center, which sells items using a rent-to-own business model, ran kiosks inside traditional retail stores that sold products at a “cash price” that was 15% over retail, according to a statement from Bonta’s office.
The settlement — which doesn’t require Rent-A-Center to admit any “liability, fault, or wrongdoing” — will force the retailer to pay $13.5 million in restitution to California customers and $2 million in civil penalties.
It must also change its retail practices, including ending its markup on rent-to-own items and allowing customers to return items without limitation. Rent-A-Center also must “clearly and conspicuously” disclose its rent-to-own programs to consumers.
The Sacramento Bee has reached out to Rent-A-Center for comment on the settlement.
“Rent-A-Center repeatedly relied on deceptive and unlawful tactics to pad its bottom line,” Bonta said in the statement. “Furnishing a home is expensive, and consumers often hope rent-to-own agreements will lessen the cost, not realizing the total price they pay will end up being much higher.”
Bonta is running for his first full term as attorney general against Republican Nathan Hochman. He announced the settlement as the GOP continues to attack him over a concealed carry permit application leak that released personal information of 240,000 Californians.
Sen. Melissa Melendez, R-Lake Elsinore, on Tuesday tweeted a copy of a letter she received about the leak from Bonta’s office.
“Basically it will likely be months before we find out what happened,” Melendez said. “If we find out at all.”
The California Republican Party also sent out an email pointing out that the state Department of Justice’s annual crime report has not yet been released and that DOJ’s crime data portal has been down for more than a month, calling them “Bonta’s blunders.”
Sacramento Bee reporter Phillip Reese tweeted about the crime data portal and said Bonta’s office told him it’s “working to bring the site back online as soon as possible.”
LAWMAKERS IRKED AT FLAVORED TOBACCO BAN REDUX
Via Owen Tucker-Smith...
Unsurprisingly, the California Legislature is not thrilled that a bill they passed nearly unanimously two years ago is on the November ballot.
Sen. Connie Leyva, D-Chino, is especially unhappy. Leyva voiced anger Tuesday afternoon at a joint session of the Assembly and Senate Health Committees, which hosted a public informational hearing on Proposition 31. It is a referendum on SB 793, which banned flavored tobacco products. While the bill passed the Legislature easily in 2020 with only one “no” vote, the tobacco industry quickly poured tens of millions of dollars into an effort to repeal it.
Now, Leyva and other lawmakers are frustrated.
“I’m disappointed sometimes by the proposition process here in the state of California,” Leyva said. “This bill was vetted many times. We voted on it, the governor signed it. It should not be going to the ballot.”
Jerry Hill, a former state senator who authored the bill, emerged from legislative retirement on Tuesday to say that when SB 793 passed in 2020, it was evidence that “big tobacco doesn’t stand a chance against all the people of California.”
Hill expressed frustration that the industry continued fighting the legislation after it received the governor’s signature.
“California won, fair and square,” Hill said. “We passed a transformative law and tobacco companies immediately spent $20 million to reverse it, completely disregarding the legislative process.”
A line of members of the public attended Tuesday’s hearing, ready to testify. Two panels – one in opposition to the bill and one in support – also were present. After Joe Lang, who testified on behalf of the group Californians Against Prohibition, made the case for repealing the bill, Leyva arrived and delivered an apology to Hill.
“I could not be sorrier that this is on the ballot as a proposition,” Leyva told Hill. “You did this… I remember twice that you tried this bill… you put so much heart and soul and effort into it. There were never really from the opposition any good, cogent arguments on why we should have flavored tobacco, especially flavored vaping.”
Those supporting the bill’s repeal have stressed that it would suck funds from California businesses, and say that banning menthol would criminalize it, thereby hurting the Black community. Those advocating in favor of the bill point to the tobacco industry’s practice of marketing to young people, especially young Black people, as evidence that a ban is needed.
If Prop 31 receives a majority of “yes” votes in November, SB 793 will become law, and flavored tobacco products will be banned. If “no” votes win, the bill will be repealed.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“I almost picture this corridor of solidarity that’s going to run through the Central Valley this month,”
- Elizabeth Strater, United Farm Workers director of strategic campaigns, on the union’s 335-mile march that starts Wednesday, via The Sacramento Bee.
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