Congress mulls bills to require franchisers to dish out more info.Federal legislation wending its way through Congress could have a profound effect on how franchising is done in California California (kăl'ĭfôr`nyə), most populous state in the United States, located in the Far West; bordered by Oregon (N), Nevada and, across the Colorado River, Arizona (E), Mexico (S), and the Pacific Ocean (W). . HR 1315, HR 1316 and HR 1317 were all introduced in March by Rep (programming) REP - A directive used in IBM object code card decks (and later PTF Tapes) to REPlace fragments of already assembled or compiled object code prior to link edit. . John La Falce, D-N.Y., who is chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Small Business. If signed into law, these bills would become the first federal regulations regarding franchising, said David Gurnick, a franchise attorney with the downtown Los Angeles-based law firm Kindel & Anderson. Currently 15 states have laws governing gov·ern v. gov·erned, gov·ern·ing, gov·erns v.tr. 1. To make and administer the public policy and affairs of; exercise sovereign authority in. 2. franchising but there is nothing federal on the books, he said. HR 1315, dubbed dub 1 tr.v. dubbed, dub·bing, dubs 1. To tap lightly on the shoulder by way of conferring knighthood. 2. To honor with a new title or description. 3. the Federal Franchise Disclosure & Consumer Protection Act, deals with what information franchisers must disclose to prospective franchisees. California already has regulations governing such disclosure, but HR 1315 requires some disclosure not currently required in this state, said Susan Kezios, president of Chicago-based American Franchisee Association. For example, under HR 1315, franchisers would have to provide a statement in the disclosure specifying a "level, average, or range of sales, earnings, profits or losses" of current franchisees. Such a statement is not currently required under California law California Law consists of 29 codes, covering various subject areas, the State Constitution and Statutes. See also
Such a law "is long overdue OVERDUE. A bill, note, bond or other contract, for the payment of money at a particular day, when not paid upon the day, is overdue. 2. The indorsement of a note or bill overdue, is equivalent to drawing a new bill payable at sight. 2 Conn. 419; 18 Pick. ," said Morris Levine, a franchisee of Carlsbad-based Mailbox A simulated mailbox in the computer that holds e-mail messages. Mailboxes are stored on disk as a file of messages, a database of messages or as an individual file for each message. The standard mailboxes are usually In, Out, Trash and Junk (Spam). Etc. Franchisers always tell prospective franchisees about the 10 percent or 15 percent of its successful franchisees and forget to mention the 60 percent that are really struggling, Levine said. Being made aware of true financial figures "will get the stars out of some of these (prospective franchisees) eyes," he added. One franchiser said he was all for the added disclosure requirements. To leave out possible profits "is ludicrous," said Keith Granirer, chief financial officer of Great Expectations, an Encino-based video dating franchise. Prospective franchisees often ask current franchisees about their sales and earnings. But this information might not be accurate, Granirer said. For one, this information is usually given orally and is not substantiated. Secondly, the selected franchisees might not represent the actual range of sales and profits made by franchisees as a whole, he said. But Kezios warned franchisers will say they are all for HR 1315 because they believe there will be little enforcement of this law. Another aspect of HR 1315 mandates that franchisers disclose the name, address and phone number of any franchisee who has left the system within the last five years, as well as phone numbers of all previous franchisees who owned the outlet the prospective franchisee is considering buying. There are pluses and minuses to disclosure of this information, said Rick Young, a Mailboxes Etc. franchisee in Canoga Park. The information could help prospective franchisees who want to know why another franchisee left the system, Young said. But many might not give the true reason they went out of business. They may blame the failure on the franchiser when it really lies with themselves, he noted. HR 1316, called the Federal Fair Franchise Practices Act, aims to establish minimum standards of fair conduct in relationships between franchisers and franchisees, Kezios said. One provision in the bill not already built into California law states franchisees are not required to buy their products and services from their franchiser. Under current law in California, franchisers can require franchisees to buy products and services only from them. "In certain circumstances CIRCUMSTANCES, evidence. The particulars which accompany a fact. 2. The facts proved are either possible or impossible, ordinary and probable, or extraordinary and improbable, recent or ancient; they may have happened near us, or afar off; they are public or , it (this provision) would seriously impact the purpose of a franchise," said Don Drysdale HR 1317, named the Federal Franchise Date & Public Information Act, would "revise current federal law to provide consumers with accurate and comprehensive statistics about franchising," Kezios said. It would mandate a filing of all franchise disclosure documents with the U.S. Department of Commerce and direct the Bureau of the Census Noun 1. Bureau of the Census - the bureau of the Commerce Department responsible for taking the census; provides demographic information and analyses about the population of the United States Census Bureau to track information regarding franchises. La Falce is currently trying to get sponsors for the bills. HR 1315 and HR 1317 will eventually probably go before the House Energy & Commerce Committee, while HR 1316 will probably go before the Judiciary Committee Judiciary Committee may refer to:
Meanwhile, a bill to modify California law is sitting in the state Legislature A state legislature may refer to a legislative branch or body of a political subdivision in a federal system. The following legislatures exist in the following political subdivisions: "I think California franchises are amply protected by existing statutes," Drysdale said. "Unless there is an established need, why have more laws?" |
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