Gift card fraud included in organized retail theft.

The bill was updated from its introduction to its first engrossment, reflecting a one-year delay in the effective date from August 2025 to August 2026. The definition of 'retail merchandise' was expanded to explicitly include gift cards, broadening the scope of items covered under the legislation. Additionally, the prohibited acts section was modified to include tampering with stolen merchandise packaging, ensuring that attempts to extract value from the packaging are also criminalized.