OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) An Oklahoma lawmaker is proposing a law that would make it a crime punishable by up to a year in jail for anyone caught “in possession of” a shopping cart taken from a store.

The bill’s author says the law is needed after business owners told him they’ve been losing thousands of dollars worth of shopping carts to theft each year.

Others say this is yet again another bill unnecessarily targeting the homeless population.

The Bill in Question is Oklahoma House Bill 1689 (HB 1689).

State Rep. Rande Worthen (R-Lawton) proposed adding a section to HB 1689, that would make it illegal in Oklahoma to “remove a shopping cart from the parking area” of a store, with the intent to “permanently or temporarily deprive” the cart’s owner from using it.

It also would make it illegal to merely be “in possession of” any cart that has been taken from a store.

Under Worthen’s proposal, anyone caught violating the law could be punished with a fine all the way up to one year in jail.  

Worthen says he has a good reason for proposing it.

“It came to my attention that a lot of the merchants were losing anywhere from 100 or more shopping carts every quarter here in Lawton,” Worthen told Nexstar’s News 4. “And the cost of $200 to $250 each, that adds up even for, you know, a larger company.”

He says retailers like Walmart told him they’re having to spend thousands of dollars a year replacing missing carts.

Missing carts, he says often end up in hazardous spots.

“They end up in the streets and causing a traffic hazard along oftentimes in creeks and waterways and alleyways and things like that,” he said. “People are pushing them, taking things and just leaving the shopping carts all over town.”

Worthen says his goal with the bill is to simply have a state statute in place to allow cities to add it to their local ordinances if they see fit.  

“That’s the purpose of the statute, is to allow municipalities to formulate city ordinances dealing with this so they could, um, you know, make it… okay, first time: warning… or, you know, you need to return the shopping cart and do what we used to call field interview,” Worthen said.

But if you ask pastor and former Oklahoma state senator George Young, he’s not so sure fining or locking up homeless people for having a shopping cart— accomplishes fixing the problem worthen wants to solve.

“Is that going to increase law enforcement’s ability to return those cards back to those folks? That’s the key, is how do we do that,” Young said. “I just don’t understand this idea and this content that really exists for the homeless to do creative deals like this, forget the impact of it. Forget what’s possibly it could do to improve. Why do you point that group out? Why aren’t we writing some bills to help eliminate the need of the homeless, to have to utilize property in that way?”

Nexstar’s News 4 reported about a different bill earlier this month, which would make it illegal for any city in Oklahoma—except Tulsa or Oklahoma City to run homeless shelters or provide any homeless services whatsoever.

That bill and its author received a huge public outcry in response.

Young says Worthen’s bill is no different in his eyes.

“They go together when it comes to uselessness,” Young said. “Once again, you have a piece of legislation that has no really firm use in our society right now. It is asinine. It is crazy. Let’s talk to the homeless alliance. Let’s talk to the people who are directly involved with these. Let’s talk to the folks who are working to try to help those folks live better. Let’s talk to them and see what they say.”

News 4 reached out to the Homeless Alliance.

Their CEO sent News 4 the following statement in response to HB 1689:

“It is abundantly clear to us that this bill specifically targets Oklahomans experiencing homelessness, as it points to commonly held beliefs and stigmas surrounding this issue. We are not advocating for people to be able to take things from businesses at will, but punitive measures like this bill address a symptom of the problem rather than getting at the root cause. Additionally, once a person has one or more arrests or misdemeanor citations on their record, it becomes exponentially difficult for them to pass housing background checks and secure permanent housing to end their homelessness. While the intended outcome of this bill is likely to deter the use of shopping carts beyond retail settings, it will almost certainly lead to additional barriers for people who are already struggling and without many resources.”

– Meghan Mueller, CEO, Homeless Alliance