Council approves stronger shopping-cart rules, launches city pilot retrieval program; state bill on cart recovery advances

The San Jose City Council voted unanimously May 6 to tighten local requirements for retail shopping-cart loss prevention and to fund a short pilot program for city-contracted cart retrieval in two targeted areas.

Peter Hamilton, assistant to the city manager, presented the ordinance amendment and a parallel outreach-and-pilot plan. Hamilton said staff’s proposal narrows the options retailers with 76 or more carts must choose from in their mandatory annual cart-management plans: operators must now select at least one of three specified strategies — theft-prevention devices (electronic wheel locks), a security-deposit system (coin‑or‑token return), or a cart-retrieval contract meeting city standards (weekly proactive retrieval plus 24‑hour response to city‑identified carts). Retailers with 26–75 carts remain subject to the existing, more-flexible plan requirement; retailers with 75 or fewer carts would be exempt from the enhanced mandates in the staff proposal.

Hamilton said some retailers told staff wheel-lock systems can be defeated and are sometimes costly to install; others had little U.S. experience with security-deposit models. Many retailers already use cart‑retrieval contractors, and the ordinance requires submission of any retrieval contract as part of the plan so the city can verify service standards. Staff said the city also will not pursue a new criminal offense; the city attorney’s office concluded existing code already permits citation and fines for cart theft under current authority.

Hamilton described a state legislative proposal, filed by Senator Dave Cortese as SB 573, that would allow local jurisdictions to return abandoned carts directly to retailers and recover city costs without operating an impound lot and would lift the long-standing $50 statutory fine cap so local governments could set fines locally. Staff said the bill was scheduled for the Senate Local Government Committee the following day and that city staff planned to testify in support.

City staff also recommended a targeted pilot for the city to contract for cart retrieval in two areas where the problem is concentrated (a corridor south of the airport to Tully Road, and the Blossom Hill/Almaden/Blossom Hill/Almaden Expressway retail cluster). Under the pilot, a contractor would perform proactive weekly retrievals and respond to city-identified carts within 24 hours; crews would avoid hazardous retrievals that present employee-safety risks. Staff proposed running the pilot for about three months and returning in September with results and recommendations about 311 integration and a possible voluntary cost-recovery program for retailers.

Retail trade groups and local business representatives spoke at the public hearing, supporting a balanced approach but urging that the city avoid mandatory city retrieval that would compete with private retrieval contracts. Community speakers urged compassion for people who use carts and cautioned against criminalizing homelessness. The council emphasized the policy aim of reducing the number of carts the city must retrieve while testing a limited city-run retrieval capability. Councilmembers praised the staff outreach and directed city staff to return with pilot findings and any recommended ongoing program design.

The council voted to adopt the ordinance amendment and to authorize the pilot; staff said the pilot contractor is expected to begin service within the month and the city would report back in September.