California Assembly Bill AB2313 Introduced / Bill

 BILL NUMBER: AB 2313INTRODUCED BILL TEXT INTRODUCED BY Assembly Members Nestande and Olsen (Coauthor: Assembly Member Gray) FEBRUARY 21, 2014 An act to amend Section 17500 of the Business and Professions Code, relating to business. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST AB 2313, as introduced, Nestande. False advertising. Existing law makes it a crime for a person, corporation or association, or any employee of a corporation or association, to engage in advertising practices conducted by specified means of dissemination or publication, where a statement is made or disseminated that is untrue or misleading, and which by the exercise of reasonable care should be known to be untrue or misleading. This bill would make technical, nonsubstantive changes to these provisions. Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no. State-mandated local program: no. THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS: SECTION 1. Section 17500 of the Business and Professions Code is amended to read: 17500. It is unlawful for  any   a  person, firm, corporation or association, or  any   an  employee thereof with intent directly or indirectly to dispose of real or personal property or to perform services, professional or otherwise, or anything of any nature whatsoever or to induce the public to enter into  any   an  obligation relating thereto, to make or disseminate or cause to be made or disseminated before the public in this state, or to make or disseminate or cause to be made or disseminated from this state before the public in any state, in  any   a  newspaper or other publication, or  any   an  advertising device, or by public outcry or proclamation, or in any other manner or means  whatever  , including over the Internet,  any   a  statement, concerning that real or personal property or those services, professional or otherwise, or concerning any circumstance or matter of fact connected with the proposed performance or disposition thereof,  which   tha   t  is untrue or misleading, and  which   that  is known, or  which by the exercise of reasonable care  should be known,  by the exercise of reasonable care,  to be untrue or misleading, or for any person, firm, or corporation to so make or disseminate or cause to be so made or disseminated any such statement as part of a plan or scheme with the intent not to sell that personal property or those services, professional or otherwise, so advertised at the price stated therein, or as so advertised. Any violation of the provisions of this section is a misdemeanor punishable by imprisonment in the county jail not exceeding six months, or by a fine not exceeding two thousand five hundred dollars ($2,500), or by both that imprisonment and fine.