Abandoned shopping carts (and what to do about them) “are the domain of the Tennessee General Assembly.”
That’s the opinion of state Sen. Ed Jackson (R-Jackson), chairman of the legislature’s powerful Government Operations Committee. That’s also the engine driving his bill that would stop local governments from making any rules about them.
Tennessee Republicans do not want Tennessee cities to impose any fines (or anything else) on any business if its grocery carts are stolen and left on the streets.
For the bill’s House sponsor, Rep. Jake McCalmon (R-Franklin), stolen carts are “not the retailer’s fault that the cart was, indeed, taken off their property” and, thus, he does not want locals taking “punitive action against them.” That’s how he described the bill before a House committee, which moved the bill forward amid constant laughter.
No Tennessee municipality has any law like this on the books. Republicans, it seems, just want to squash any notion they may have if they are even thinking about it.
City leaders in Hendersonville (near Nashville) discussed the notion last year. That discussion was aimed at discouraging activities of homeless people. But the idea was ultimately tabled more than a year ago.
However, cities across the country are starting to impose fines on businesses for their errant carts. Hawaii lawmakers are trying to establish a state law on the issue. Republican legislators in Arizona are fighting a similar measure.
Here’s how Jackson defended his bill before a Senate committee:
“Shopping carts are a convenience that grocery stores and other retailers provide customers.
“The carts are the property of the retailer. Members of the public sometimes appropriate shopping carts — private property owned by retailers — for their own purposes, taking them off the store property, sometimes abandoning them away from the store.
“Some municipalities around the country have passed ordinances or adopted rules that fine retailers when their shopping carts are found abandoned on public property.
“Likewise, some municipalities around the country have adopted ordinances or rules placing restrictions on requirements on the use of shopping carts, requiring geo-fencing and wheel locks.
This bill strictly establishes regulation of shopping carts as the domain of the Tennessee General Assembly.
Sen. ed Jackson (R-Jackson)
“No Tennessee municipality so far has adopted such ordinance or rules, but several in neighboring states have. This bill strictly establishes regulation of shopping carts as the domain of the Tennessee General Assembly.
“In doing so, it prohibits local governments from adopting laws, ordinances, or rules that assess fines or fees on shopping carts found on public property or that impose regulations on the use of the shopping carts.”
Abandoned shopping carts have become an increasing problem for cities, enough so to merit a long USA Today feature about the issue in February. That story described hundreds of carts found in places such as parks, waterways, roads, and more.
Fort Worth, Texas, responded to the issue of abandoned shopping carts in 2023, well before the issue emerged nationally. The purpose, the city said then, was “to help create a clean, safe community and to support our businesses that provide shopping carts to their customers.” That rule allows businesses to retrieve their missing carts within 24 hours. Then, the city steps in to help them find the carts and retrieve them. If they don’t and the city rounds them up, businesses can get their carts back for $50 a pop.
Clovis, California, leaders established fines of $100 per cart for every 24 hours they were abandoned. A proposed law in Hawaii would fine $500 per cart.
In Phoenix, businesses have to register their carts and fit them with GPS and locking wheels. Republican lawmakers in Arizona are pushing legislation — just as in Tennessee — to override the local ordinance.
