August 8, 2008

In this Issue:
Legislation to Crack Down on E-Fencing
Organized Retail Crime Act of 2008
Balfour on Track to Lead Nation's State Legislators
Lieutenant Governor's Race Will Be One to Watch
Tobacco May Get FDA Oversight

Legislation to Crack Down on E-Fencing

On August 1, 2008 Representative Bobby Scott, a Democrat from Virginia, and Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Crime, introduced legislation in Congress intended to prevent electronic fencing of stolen merchandise through Internet auctions.

E-fencing is quickly becoming thieves’ preferred method for disposing of stolen retail merchandise. By hiding behind the anonymity of the Internet, they can make more money with less risk of getting caught than selling to a stranger on a street corner who might turn out to be a police officer. This bill would lift that cloak and help law enforcement put on-line criminals where they belong – behind bars.

H.R. 6713, the E-Fencing Enforcement Act of 2008, was introduced Thursday by Terrorism and Homeland Security subcommittee member Representative Artur Davis, D-Ala.who is the lead co-sponsor of the bill.

The bill would require on-line auction operators to retain information about high-volume sellers and provide that information to “a person with standing” once a valid police report is filed. The “person with standing” could be a retailer if they filed a signed police report or a law enforcement officer once police have received a valid report.

Criminals are able to receive as much as 70 percent of an item’s retail value when selling on-line, compared with about 30 percent when selling the same item on a street corner or at a pawn shop, and the anonymity of the Internet reduces the chances of apprehension.

Organized Retail Crime Act of 2008

We want to remind you of the Organized Retail Crime Act of 2008, H.R. 6491, which would define ORC and make it a federal crime for the first time. The measure was introduced July 15, 2008 by Representative Brad Ellsworth, a Democrat from Indiana, who was a former county sheriff who dealt with the issue during his career in law enforcement before being elected to Congress, along with Judiciary Committee member Jim Jordan, a Republican from Ohio. The bill would establish that operation of auction sites could be considered “facilitation” of organized retail crime unless the operator could show specific steps had been taken to ensure goods being sold were not obtained by theft or fraud. It would also require site operators to cooperate with retailers and police, and allow retailers to sue over the sale of stolen merchandise.

Retailers lose between $15 and $30 billion to organized retail crime each year, according to the FBI and retail loss prevention experts, and 85 percent of all retailers were victims of organized retail crime in the past year.

Balfour on Track to Lead Nation's State Legislators

State Senator Don Balfour, a Republican from Snellville, was named president-elect of the National Conference of State Legislators at the organization's recent annual meeting in New Orleans and will serve as president of the organization for 2009.

Balfour, who was chosen by more than 8,600 colleagues, has served in the Georgia Senate for nearly 20 years. According to the Georgia Senate press office, he is the first legislator from Georgia to be elected to an NCSL office since the organization was formed in 1975. He will become president at the NCSL's meeting next year in Philadelphia.
During this year's week-long conference, Balfour was chosen to preside over a panel discussion on America's toughest challenges, featuring former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, and Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell.

Balfour served on the NCSL Executive Committee as an at-large member. The last member of the Georgia General Assembly to serve on the NCSL Executive Committee was the late Senator Paul D. Coverdell, who served in the state Senate until 1992 when he was elected to the U.S. Senate, according to the Senate press office.

The National Conference of State Legislatures is a bipartisan organization that serves legislators and staff from the 50 states, the commonwealths and territories. NCSL provides research, technical assistance and opportunities for policy makers to exchange ideas on pressing state issues.

Senator Balfour was the Georgia Retail Association’s Senator for the Year in 2007.

Lieutenant Governor's Race Will Be One to Watch

If, as expected, Lieutenant Governor Casey Cagle, runs for governor a battle between President Pro Tem Eric Johnson of Savannah and Duluth’s David Shafer, may be looming ahead.
As we reported last week, Mitch Seabaugh and Chip Rogers have decided not to run. In fact, Chip Rogers sent out an email blast on August 5, announcing that he would not run for lieutenant, but would seek the post of Senate Majority Leader instead.

Johnson has led the fight for school vouchers, a key issue among many conservatives. He essentially kicked off his campaign for lieutenant governor last week with a speech outlining his hopes to make school choice universal in Georgia.

He’s a powerful fundraiser who has, by his count, given more than $1 million to Republicans during the transition to a majority.

Shafer, too, is a strong fundraiser, whose almost $500,000 Senate war chest matches Johnson's. He also has a strong political network. He has served as executive director of the Georgia Republican Party. He managed Guy Millner's first campaign for governor and later served as chairman of the Georgia Republican Foundation, the state party's major donor group.

He defeated the House GOP caucus chairman in a primary runoff in 1996 for his party’s nomination for Secretary of State, and got more than 900,000 votes in the general election but lost to Democrat Lewis Massey.

Tobacco May Get FDA Oversight

Tobacco products soon may be regulated by the federal Food and Drug Administration, which would bring sweeping change in industry advertising and a ban of flavored tobacco.
HR 1108, the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act was passed last week overwhelmingly by the House, 326-102, and would provide the first federal regulatory oversight of tobacco and pay for it through new fees levied on tobacco companies.

Among the bill’s provisions, the FDA would have the authority to study tobacco products and recipes, demand reductions in nicotine and other harmful substances in tobacco products on health grounds and crack down on tobacco marketing and sales to children.

Representative Nathan Deal, a Republican from Georgia, the ranking Republican on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, where the bill originated, opposed the bill, saying the FDA is already overworked and that the bill is inconsistent in the way it bans all flavored tobacco except for menthols.

“Menthols are a way to get young people getting into the habit, too, disguising the flavor of tobacco,” he said.

Georgia House members voting for the bill were Bishop, Johnson, Lewis, Linder, Marshall, Barrow and Scott. Georgia delegates voting against the bill were Kingston, Westmoreland, Price, Deal, Broun, and Gingrey.

An identical Senate bill, SB 625, has been introduced and garnered 56 co-sponsors, which does include Georgia senators Chambliss or Isakson.

President Bush has threatened to veto the legislation.


Thank you.
 
 
John C. Heavener, MSM, CAE
President
johnh@georgiaretail.org
Telephone – 770-484-3449, ext. 21
Fax – 770-484-5727
 
Georgia Retail Association
 
About GRA: The Georgia Retail Association, with membership that comprises all retail formats and channels of distribution including department, specialty, discount, catalog, Internet, independent stores, and grocery stores has been serving the state’s business community since 1961. The Georgia Retail Association represents an industry with more than 71,300 retail establishments, and more than 715,000 employees - about one in five of Georgia’s workers - and 2004 sales of $115.2 billion.

Printer Friendly CRR August 8, 2008