A bill at North restaurant includes a “3% Employee Benefits Surcharge” in Los Gatos, Calif., on Sept. 4, 2019.
“With the signing of SB 478,” Bonta continued, “California now has the most effective piece of legislation in the nation to tackle this problem.”, a Napa Democrat and co-author of SB 478, agreed, saying, “With the governor’s signing of this historic bill, we can finally take aim at dishonest junk fees that are tacked onto seemingly everything — from online concert tickets to hotel reservations.”
Dodd quickly grabbed SB 1524, which was parked in the Assembly, stripped out its language and inserted new verbiage allowing restaurants to exclude fees from their menu prices if their menus include “clear and conspicuous” notices that such fees exist. Restaurant industry lobbyists and union officials contend that SB 478 would, in effect, eliminate negotiated service fees and therefore deprive employees of income. It is, however, a specious argument. There’s nothing in the new law to prohibit restaurants from folding fees into their quoted prices and using the income for whatever purpose it is being used now.