Besides safety, security, and peace-of-mind for your business, there is now one more reason to shred your documents...
It's the LAW!

Assembly Bill 2246, authored by Assemblyman Howard Wayne (D-San Diego), protects consumers from identity theft by requiring that business owners dispose of customer or tenant records to make them unreadable or indecipherable. According to experts, victims of identity theft spend an average 175 hours and $808 (not including attorney fees) to fix their problems, and one way criminals gain access to personal information is through corporate "dumpster diving."

2000 California Assembly Bill 2246
Status: Enacted September 30, 2000
Scope: Relates to the destruction of records by businesses
Summary:

1798.81: A business shall take all reasonable steps to destroy, or arrange for the destruction of a customer's records within its custody or control containing personal information which is no longer to be retained by the business by (1) shredding, (2) erasing, or (3) otherwise modifying the personal information in those records to make it unreadable or undecipherable through any means.
1798.82: (a) Any customer injured by a violation of this title may institute a civil action to recover damages. (b) Any business that violates, proposes to violate, or has violated this title may be enjoined. (c) The rights and remedies available under this section are cumulative to each other and to any other rights and remedies available under law.