Assemblywoman Fiona Ma: Unscrupulous locksmiths

Many of you, I am sure, have had to go through the awful experience of getting locked out of your house or car and left only with the option of calling a locksmith to get back in.

As if the headache was not enough - imagine if you were charged more than double the going rate by the locksmith service you received.

Shockingly, this is an all too common occurrence for many California residents. Earlier last year, during a meeting with San Francisco small business owners, it was brought to my attention the extent of unlicensed locksmith activity in the City. Granted, locksmith service is not always the first thing to come to mind when you think of a consumer rip off.

However, after watching numerous reports in the media and meeting with district business owners and the California Locksmith Association, I have decided to tackle this issue head on by introducing a very important piece of consumer protection legislation.

Last year, KGO television's "Seven on Your Side" uncovered that of the 2,300 locksmiths listed in the San Francisco yellow pages only about 7 percent actually had a license to practice the trade.

"Seven on Your Side" also submitted a public records request to the State Board of Equalization, the state agency in charge of collecting sales taxes, and discovered that anywhere from 75 to 93 percent of the San Francisco locksmiths listed on yellowpages.com don't even have permits to collect taxes. This means that consumers are not only being overcharged for services that are incomplete or insufficient, but the state is also losing money because these unlicensed businesses are collecting taxes from customers and pocketing the money for themselves.

What makes this worse is the fact that these fictitious businesses list a fake address or none at all.

This month, I will be introducing legislation that will revamp the entire law on locksmiths, including strengthening enforcement provisions and increasing fines for unlicensed activity. One of the major problems with the current law is that the fine for unlicensed activity is only $1,000. This fine is merely a slap on the wrist for someone who can make much more than that in one service call where a consumer is overcharged by outrageous amounts.

The legislation I will be introducing increases the fine to $10,000, which will not only prove to be a deterrent for unlicensed activity, but also provide district attorneys' with an incentive to investigate and prosecute a crime with a greater fine.

My bill will also make numerous other updates to California's locksmith law, including a requirement that all locksmith's display their license on their service vehicles and that owner's name and license number are displayed on all advertising material.

My hope is that once this legislation passes through the legislature and is signed by the governor, unlicensed locksmiths will be a problem of the past in San Francisco. In the meantime, be sure to request to see a license when the locksmith arrives.

To find out whether or not the locksmith you intend to use is licensed, you can go to the Better Business Bureau's Web site and search the business by name: http://search.bbb.org.

Assemblywoman Fiona Ma is the majority whip at the California Assembly.