AB 1954: Municipal golf courses: reservations.

Existing law authorizes a city to purchase, lease, receive, hold, and enjoy real and personal property, and control and dispose of that property for the common benefit. Existing law authorizes the legislative body of a city to acquire property needed for specified purposes, including golf courses.

Existing law, the Unfair Competition Law (UCL), defines unfair competition to mean and include an unlawful, unfair, or fraudulent business act or practice, unfair, deceptive, untrue, or misleading advertising, and any false representations to the public. Existing law makes a person who engages in unfair competition liable for a civil penalty not to exceed $2,500 for each violation, and requires that this penalty be assessed and recovered in a civil action brought by specified persons and entities, including cities.

This bill would prohibit an operator of a third-party golf reservation service platform from listing, advertising, promoting, or selling reservations for a golf course owned by a local public agency without a written authorization from the golf course operator, as specified. The bill would provide that a violation of these provisions constitutes an unlawful business act or practice under the UCL.

The bill would include findings that changes proposed by this bill address a matter of statewide concern rather than a municipal affair and, therefore, apply to all cities, including charter cities.