Municipal golf courses: reservations., the official text

An act to add Chapter 45 (commencing with Section 22949.93) to Division 8 of the Business and Professions Code, relating to business.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST

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, selling, or transferring 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 exempt from this prohibition the sale or transfer of a reservation, for no more than the amount paid, by an individual who purchased the reservation, if the golf course operator does not clearly post their cancellation policy on the internet website where the reservation is secured. 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.

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.
The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
(a) The State of California is home to many golf courses that attract tourists from around the world. They also provide recreational, social, health, and charitable benefits to the residents of the communities in which they are located.
(b) There are over 200 courses in California that are municipally owned by a mix of state, city, county, city and county, and charter cities. Because these public courses are parts of publicly owned park systems, they operate per-pricing structures that make them maximally available to local residents, seniors, juniors, schools, school athletic teams, and local clubs and civic organizations. This pricing creates a demand for tee times that, in California’s urban areas, are among the highest if not the highest in the nation.
(c) Tee time brokers have become a significant issue throughout the state. By booking tee times en masse and selling, reselling, and brokering them at inflated prices on a secondary market, they substantially reduce the already strained supply of recreational opportunities available to California residents and harm the ability of the state’s municipal golf course owners to operate them per a maximally affordable business model providing maximal equitable public access.
(d) The Legislature finds and declares that Section 2 of this act adding Chapter 45 (commencing with Section 22949.93) to Division 8 of the Business and Professions Code addresses a matter of statewide concern rather than a municipal affair as that term is used in Section 5 of Article XI of the California Constitution. Therefore, Section 2 of this act applies to all cities, including charter cities.

SEC. 2.
Chapter 45 (commencing with Section 22949.93) is added to Division 8 of the Business and Professions Code, to read:
45.
Protecting Access to Reservations Act22949.93.
This chapter shall be known, and may be cited, as the Protecting Access to Reservations Act.

22949.93.1.
For purposes of this chapter, the following definitions apply:
(a) “Affiliate” means any entity that, directly or indirectly, through one or more intermediaries, controls, is controlled by, or is under common control with, another entity.
(b) “Golf course” means a golf course and its accessory facilities and services that are owned by a local agency. “Golf course” includes clubhouses, driving ranges, golf cart storage, locker and shower facilities, and sales facilities.
(c) “Golf course operator” means either of the following:
(1) A local agency operating a golf course.
(2) An entity operating a golf course through a contractual relationship with the local agency, including a license, lease, or management agreement.
(d) “Local agency” means a county, city and county, city, or charter city. “Local agency” includes a special district and joint powers authority.
(e) “Third-party golf reservation service platform” means a website, mobile application, or other internet platform that is owned or operated by an entity other than a golf course operator and that offers or arranges reservations for on-premises service for a customer at a golf course.

22949.93.2.
(a) (1) Except as provided in paragraph (2), a person or operator of a third-party golf reservation service platform shall not list, advertise, promote, sell, or transfer reservations for a golf course on a third-party reservation service platform without a written agreement with the golf course operator.
(2) If a golf course operator does not clearly post their cancellation policy on the internet website where the reservation is secured, an individual who paid for a golf course reservation may sell or transfer the golf course reservation for no more than the total amount that the individual paid to acquire the reservation.
(b) The authority provided in a written agreement described in subdivision (a) does not extend to an affiliate website or other internet platform unless the written agreement explicitly provides that authority to that affiliate website or internet platform.

22949.93.3.
Any violation of this chapter constitutes an unlawful business act or practice within the meaning of Chapter 5 (commencing with Section 17200) of Part 2 of Division 7.