Stockon’s Legislative Committee is looking into enforcement of for-profit donation bins and recommending expanding card tables.
The recommendation to regulate for-profit donation bins comes from the 2014 – 2015 San Joaquin County Civil Grand Jury Report, which investigated the increasing number of unattended for-profit donation bins in the county. San Joaquin County and its cities had not established an ordinance designed explicitly for unattended charitable drop-offs when the report was published.
For-profit donation bins are operated by private companies that take donations from members of the public to use for their own purposes. Donations made to these bins are not tax deductible.
The grand jury report criticized the increasing number of for-profit donation bins, noting that it negatively impacts local nonprofit organizations while making a profit off of the goodwill of SJC residents.
Notable companies that operate donation bins in the county include USAgain and Discover Books, which exported donated goods to national and international markets in 2015. As of time of reporting, Discover Books is no longer in business and USAgain operates two donation bins in the county, according to their website.
The Stockton Legislative staff are urging the city to take a balanced approach when crafting the ordinance, especially since it has been over nine years since the initial recommendations were made. According to the report, it is unclear if Stockton took any action to address the matter in 2015 despite issuing a response to the Grand Jury Report.
The changes the grand jury report recommended 2015 sought to establish a clear line of responsibility for managing unattended donation bins, sanctions for violating the ordinance and establishing a permit fee to recuperate money in bin enforcement.
According to the Stockton legislative staff, only half of the grand jury recommendations meet current case law precedents, noting that donation bins are considered free speech, complicating their ability to regulate them completely.
The staff recommends the legislative committee to develop an ordinance that has a clear intent of purpose while developing a system of permits for donation bins that are regulated with reasonable enforcement before being recommended to the city council.
The Oakland is highlighted by the staff as having an excellent example of a donation bin ordinance, as the ordinance survived litigation in 2016 in Recycle for Change v. City of Oakland.
Also being recommended to the Stockton City Council is an amended ordinance that would nearly double the number of gambling tables over the course of several years if approved. The amendment will allow gambling rooms to have up to 21 card tables in a single room as opposed to 11, which is the current limit.
The amendment is intended to mirror that of California State Law which increased the number of gambling tables in a single room which took effect at the start of this year. According to the legislation text, the amendment has support from the Stockton Police Department, Community Development and the Administrative Services Department.
Lastly the legislative committee staff is presenting their research findings into creating a possible Ethics Commission and political consultant reporting to increase election transparency. There are five political consultants actively working in Stockton elections consulting eight different campaigns as of time of reporting.
The legislative staff examined six different ethics commissions in providing a breakdown of their oversight duties, staffing, cost and meeting frequency. According to the summary San Francisco is the only Californian city to require political consultant reporting.
After the presentation the staff will be asking members of the legislation committee for directions as to how to proceed forward with their findings.