Unfair Practices Act.

The Unfair Practices Act makes various practices unlawful and provides that any person who engages, has engaged, or proposes to engage in unfair competition is liable for a civil penalty. That act specifies who is authorized to bring an action to enforce it, including a city attorney of any city having a population in excess of 750,000. That act requires 12 of the penalty collected to be paid to the treasurer of the city in which the judgment was entered and the other 12 to the treasurer of the county in which the judgment was entered if the action was brought by a city attorney or city prosecutor. This bill would instead require the penalty collected to be paid to the treasurer of the city whose attorney brought the action if the action is brought by a city attorney of a city having a population in excess of 750,000, unless a county agency participated in the prelitigation investigation of the action, in which case the bill would require 12 of the penalty collected to be paid to the treasurer of the city in which the judgment was entered, and 12 to the treasurer of the county in which the judgment was entered. The bill would provide that those provisions do not apply to a penalty collected by the Los Angeles City Attorney's office on or before January 1, 2021, and would further require that on or before January 1, 2021, 12 of a penalty collected by the Los Angeles City Attorney's office be paid to the treasurer of the County of Los Angeles. This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for the County of Los Angeles.