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Council proposes mandatory shopping cart containment systems for large retail businesses

Official:Amending Title 9 of The Philadelphia Code, entitled “Regulation of Businesses, Trades and Professions,” to require certain businesses to implement and enforce shopping cart containment systems, under certain terms and conditions.

Sponsor: Councilmember Phillips

Introduced: September 14, 2023

: Committee on Licenses and Inspections

business parking zoning

No one voted on this bill

This bill was introduced in the 2020–2023 Council term and when that term ran out. The public record shows no committee vote and no floor vote at any stage, so no member of Council ever went on record for or against it.

That is not unusual here. Of the 8,465 bills introduced between 2000 and 2025, 1,624 lapsed without a single recorded vote. Ninety percent of bills that became law carry a roll call. Three percent of lapsed bills do. How this works.

Plain-Language Summary

This bill requires certain businesses with 10 or more shopping carts to implement a system that prevents customers from taking carts out of their parking areas.

What This Bill Does

AI-written. Every figure is checked against the bill text.

Businesses with 10 or more shopping carts must implement a shopping cart containment system to prevent customers from taking carts out of their parking areas.
The system must include a wheel locking mechanism on all carts and an electronic barrier along the perimeter of the retail establishment or its parking area.
The definition of a "retail establishment" is expanded to include any place of business where goods are exposed or offered for sale to members of the public.
Businesses subject to this requirement must enforce the shopping cart containment system, and failure to do so may be subject to unspecified penalties or enforcement actions.