Pennsylvania Floral Industry Association
in Legislative Hearing with House Consumer Affairs Committee
HARRISBURG - The Pennsylvania Floral
Industry Association (PFIA) recently participated in
a legislative hearing with the House Consumer Affairs
Committee at Pennsylvania 's capitol building to testify
in favor of Senate Bill (SB) 198. This bill prohibits
the use of deceptive advertising while still promoting
a competitive floral industry.
PFIA, representing retail florists,
flower growers and related businesses in Pennsylvania
, has long sought a restriction on out-of-state florists
that disguise their origin when advertising in local
telephone directories. SB
198 protects Pennsylvania consumers from deceptive business
practices within the floral industry that misleads or deceives
them into believing that they were purchasing flowers directly
from local florists. According to the Association, current
law enables a non-PA business to place a listing in the
telephone book using a local exchange and a fictitious
name meant to sound like a local florist. This practice
results in higher floral prices for the consumers, less
business for local florists, and loss of sales tax revenue
for the Commonwealth.
Members of the association, Katy Miller
of Dillon Floral Corporation; Charles Kremp of Kremp
Florist; Greg Royer of Royer's Flowers and Gifts; Paul
Zieger of Zieger and Sons, Inc. and Rick Davis of Teleflora,
Inc., along with PFIA Executive Director, Denise Calabrese,
and Executive Assistant to Senator Stewart Greenleaf,
Eric Pauley, testified in front of Consumer Affairs Chairman,
Representative Robert Flick (R-Chester), and the House
Consumer Affairs Committee.
During his testimony, Royer pointed
out, "When a consumer
makes the decision to call a local florist, with a local
name and local telephone number it is because they believe
they will get better service and a better product, and
that the money they spend will stay within their community
to support the local floral business. Deceptive advertising
with listings in the telephone book in either the White
or Yellow pages only serves to circumvent ones desire to
purchase locally."
Miller, PFIA member, explained why
the act of deceptive advertising is so harmful to the
floral industry. "Ours
is an industry filled with emotion.it is not about buying
a standard stock number product at a manufacturer's suggested
retail price. It is about a skilled professional turning
our sentiments into a beautifully arranged design of fresh
flowers."
Senate Bill 198 was introduced by Senator
Stewart Greenleaf (R-Montgomery) and passed through the
Senate unanimously. Pauley, Greenleaf's Executive Assistant,
explained that the passing of SB 198 would make it an unlawful
and deceptive business practice for a floral vendor to
misrepresent its geographic location by listing a fictitious
or assumed name in a local telephone directory.
