A bill that is close to passing the California Legislature is seeking to implement new regulations for stores with self-checkout machines, including staffing requirements and item bans.

Senate Bill 442, which is waiting for a hearing in the Assembly Committee on Appropriations, is among the bills that state lawmakers could review as the Legislature reconvenes on Aug. 18.

SB 442 seeks to require stores with self-checkout to display a sign noting that customers should limit their number of items to 15 or fewer when using the self-checkout stations. In addition, any employee in charge of assisting customers at a self-checkout station must not be assigned any other duties while monitoring the self-checkout area.

The store must also provide at least one traditional checkout station operated by an employee.

Businesses not in compliance would face a $1,000 fine per violation per day, not exceeding “an aggregate penalty of $200,000.”

SB 442 is authored by state Sen. Lola Smallwood-Cuevas, who last year introduced a similar bill that failed to pass the Legislature.

“Too often these kiosks are used to replace customer-facing staff, leaving employees to manage customers, manage and monitor theft, and respond to disruptions all at the same time,” Smallwood-Cuevas said during a hearing in the Assembly Labor and Employment Committee on June 25.

She said SB 442 aims to address the rise in retail theft, as well as automation contributing to staffing shortages in stores.

According to a bill analysis following the committee hearing, “self-checkout accounted for under 30 percent of total transactions” in 2022. Meanwhile, the machines have cost food retailers more than $10 billion in annual losses, likely partly because of theft.

Smallwood-Cuevas said she and other lawmakers have tried looking for ways to address the financial impact on stores as a result of the increased theft throughout the state, while avoiding “building pathways and pipelines into prisons.”

“We particularly focus on areas where we see the most significant amount of retail theft, which happens to be at our self-checkout stations,” she said.

With dedicated employees overseeing the self-checkout, those staff members can focus on helping customers in that area and prevent theft, according to Smallwood-Cuevas.

Supporters of SB 442 said it would protect retail workers and ensure their jobs are not replaced by machines.

“The elimination of worker jobs due to self-checkout has been particularly harmful to workers,” bill sponsor United Food and Commercial Workers Western States Council stated in the bill analysis. “Understaffed stores create the opportunity for theft, assault, and violent incidents. Lone frontline clerks must serve customers while at the same time watching for shoplifters.”

However, opponents of the bill said that some of its provisions are arbitrary and that requiring a specific number of staff at the checkout stations would increase the cost of doing business.

“The sponsors have acknowledged that technology is often used to reduce costs of labor,” said Daniel Conway, representing the California Grocers Association. “So by increasing labor costs, you’re going to increase grocery costs.”

Conway also said the current version of the bill is unclear in its purpose, asking: “Is this legislating customer service? ... Or is this legislating profitability, if we’re concerned about too much theft at the front of the store?”

In addition to staffing and signage, SB 442 also seeks to expand the types of items prohibited from being sold in the self-checkout area.

All items that require an ID for age verification would be banned from self-checkout. These include such items as alcohol and tobacco products, which are already not allowed in self-checkout. In addition, items with security features such as tags that must be removed by an employee would have to go through the traditional checkout lane.

California first banned the sale of alcohol at grocery store self-checkout stations in 2011 with the passage of Assembly Bill 183. The state is the first and only state to ban alcohol sales at self-checkouts.

SB 442 does not yet have a scheduled hearing date in the Assembly Committee on Appropriations.