Bills in California and Texas target spray paint.

Bills targeting spray paint sales have cropped up in California and Texas, the United States' two most populated states.

A bill, S.B. 138, has been introduced in California that will increase an already existing authorization to tax sales of spray paint. Currently, the amount of the authorization is $.10 per unit. S.B. 138 increases this amount to $.50 per unit--a significant increase.

This "authorization to tax sales of spray paint" has been in existence since the early 1990s. At that time in California, there were several legislative battles dealing with lock-up and the authority of cities and municipalities to tax spray paint. According to the National Council to Prevent Delinquency's (NCPD) Bob Hills, the authorization to the cities and counties was left in the bill in exchange for taking out something more damaging and burdensome.

Currently, no jurisdiction has instituted a tax on spray paint. NPCA/FSCT believes that this is because it is necessary for each jurisdiction to obtain a two-thirds majority vote of the electorate in order to implement the tax, and this is a very difficult task. Also, NPCA/FSCT believes that the amount of the tax, $.10, does not make the pay-off attractive enough. According to a legislative staffer, two jurisdictions in California have attempted to institute this tax but were unable to get the required two-thirds vote.

In this economic climate, cities and counties are looking for alternate sources of revenue. According to the legislative staffer, the city of Los Angeles has "rediscovered" this authorized tax and wants to implement it.

Given California's immediate fiscal crisis and the fact that the authorization to tax already exists, it is unlikely that NPCA/FSCT and its California Paint Council can make the bill disappear; however, both are working with NPCD to mitigate the impact as much as possible by trying to negotiate the amount of the increase down--hopefully to a point that it will remain an unattractive path for most cities and counties. At the moment, it appears that the city of Los Angeles and perhaps Los Angeles County will move forward and attempt to get the two-thirds vote necessary to implement this tax.

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In Texas, the bill includes a tax on spray paint and a requirement for customer registration. This bill, H.B. 218, has been amended by the sponsor to make it a crime for a customer who has purchased spray paint to fail to secure the paint from theft, if a minor uses that paint for graffiti vandalism. Acceptable prudent measures include "placing the paint in a locked container."

In its current form, this bill will do significant damage to the spray paint market. Here are the specifics:

* Customer Registration would clog checkout lines, require cumber some record keeping, expose retailers to additional possible code violations, create delays for customers, and raise privacy concerns, in some instances sufficient to kill the sale. This is an obvious business killer with no anti-graffiti benefit;

* A $1 per can tax would seriously inflate the price of the product, reduce paint and related sales, and represent an unfair targeting of paint makers and retailers to pay for graffiti crime- Statewide, local jurisdictions could suck up to $29 million from Texas consumers; and

* Purchaser penalties are nothing more than a customer intimidation tool, which, in the minds of the drafters, creates criminal exposure for leaving a spray paint can unattended in your home or garage.

NPCA/FSCT, its Texas Paint Council, and NCPD are fervently opposing the bill and coordinating to provide the bill's sponsor, Rep. Jose Menendez, an alternative anti-graffiti package that includes legislation, professional services, and goods for the city of San Antonio--Meneendez's district.

Customer registration was adopted in the city of Portland, OR, under unusual political circumstances. Rep. Menendez likely has the political clout to push his measure successfully. Portland is a city of 0.6 million; Texas has a populace of some 24 million.

In San Antonio, aerosol paints must already also be stored or displayed out of customer reach.