Drafter
Clerk 05/06/2025
Title
AN ORDINANCE relating to grocery businesses; establishing requirements for grocery businesses operating in the unincorporated area of King County and utilizing self-service checkout stations; adding a new chapter to K.C.C. Title 12.
Body
BE IT ORDAINED BY THE COUNCIL OF KING COUNTY:
SECTION 1. Findings:
A. King County strives to be an equitable and inclusive place and strives to empower all residents to participate in the economic life of the county. A key aspect of participation in economic life is the ability to purchase food and consumer goods.
B. In recent years, grocery businesses have moved toward self-service checkout stations.
C. However, studies published by the journal Universal Access in the Information Society in August 2023 and the University of Waterloo in May 2024, individuals with disabilities face challenges utilizing self-service checkout stations without assistance.
D. Furthermore, in August 2024, researchers from the Malcolm Wiener Center for Social Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School released a report, "Please Wait, Help is on the Way: Self-Checkout, Understaffing, and Customer Incivility in the Service Sector", which found that workers were more likely to report understaffing in stores deploying self-service checkout stations and workers in understaffed settings experienced more bullying than those in better-staffed settings.
E. On January 30, 2025, the Washington state Legislature initiated the first reading of House Bill 1739, regulating the use of self-service checkout stations by requiring grocery establishments that utilize self-service checkout stations to provide employee oversight, setting limitations on the number of products that can be purchased, per transaction, and amending RCW 49.85.015, 49.85.045, and 49.85.050.
F. On February 12, 2025, the Washington state Legislature held a public hearing on House Bill 1739 in the House Committee on Labor & Workplace Standards.
G. Unle...
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