1.1                          A bill for an act 
  1.2             relating to consumer protection; regulating the 
  1.3             pricing of grocery items; providing remedies; amending 
  1.4             Minnesota Statutes 1996, section 325F.54; proposing 
  1.5             coding for new law in Minnesota Statutes, chapter 325F.
  1.6   BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA: 
  1.7      Section 1.  [325F.535] [EXCESS CHARGE FOR ITEM.] 
  1.8      Subdivision 1.  [VIOLATION.] A person shall not knowingly 
  1.9   charge or attempt to charge for an item a retail sale price 
  1.10  exceeding the price required to be indicated according to 
  1.11  section 325F.53.  It is not a violation of this section to 
  1.12  charge for a consumer item a total price less than the price 
  1.13  required to be indicated according to section 325F.535.  
  1.14     Subd. 2.  [EVIDENCE.] It shall be prima facie evidence of a 
  1.15  violation of this section if a price charged or attempted to be 
  1.16  charged as a result of electronic identification or calculation 
  1.17  by an automatic checkout system exceeds the price required to be 
  1.18  indicated according to section 325F.53. 
  1.19     Sec. 2.  Minnesota Statutes 1996, section 325F.54, is 
  1.20  amended to read: 
  1.21     325F.54 [PENALTIES.] 
  1.22     (a) Knowingly and willfully failing to have a clearly 
  1.23  readable price indicated on more than six individual items of 
  1.24  the same commodity shall constitute a petty misdemeanor and each 
  1.25  commodity not priced in compliance with sections 325F.53 to 
  2.1   325F.55 shall constitute a separate violation. Each day that a 
  2.2   violation continues shall also constitute a separate violation; 
  2.3      (b) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, any person 
  2.4   may bring an action to enjoin a violation of sections 325F.53 to 
  2.5   325F.55. 
  2.6      (c) Before bringing or joining in an action as provided in 
  2.7   paragraph (b), within 30 days after purchasing an item, a buyer 
  2.8   who suffers loss because the price charged for the item is more 
  2.9   than the price stamped on or affixed to the item shall notify 
  2.10  the seller in person or in writing that the price charged is 
  2.11  more than the price stamped or affixed.  The notice must include 
  2.12  evidence of the loss suffered by the buyer.  If, within two days 
  2.13  after the notification, the seller tenders to the buyer an 
  2.14  amount equal to the difference between the price stamped or 
  2.15  affixed and the price charged, plus an amount equal to ten times 
  2.16  that difference but which is not less than $1 or more than $5, 
  2.17  the buyer is barred from any further recovery for that loss.  If 
  2.18  the loss is suffered by one buyer within one transaction on two 
  2.19  or more identical items, the amount to be tendered by the seller 
  2.20  shall be the difference on each item, plus an amount equal to 
  2.21  ten times the difference on a single item but which is not less 
  2.22  than $1 and not more than $5.  If the seller does not tender 
  2.23  this amount, the buyer may bring or join in an action as 
  2.24  provided in section 325F.54.  
  2.25     Subd. 3.  [NONAPPLICATION.] This section does not apply to 
  2.26  a sale at retail in which the seller intentionally charges more 
  2.27  for an item than the price stamped on or affixed to the item.