Intellectual Property
AB 147 (Saldaña) Hazardous waste: electronic waste. This bill would have required manufacturers and producers of electronic devices to submit information showing that the electronic device is not prohibited for sale should the Department of Toxic Substances Control, having reasonable cause to believe that the device is prohibited from sale, request the information. The bill would have required the Department to treat as confidential any information that is a trade secret, as defined, provided to it pursuant to the bill’s requirements, but also would have required the Department to make available, pursuant to the California Public Records Act, any information that is not a trade secret or identified as such. Status: Vetoed.
AB 1446 (Feuer) Trade secrets: disclosure by public agencies. This bill would have established a procedure to be applied when a person or entity submits any record or information to a state agency that the person or entity has designated as a trade secret. The bill would have required the person or entity to submit documentary support for that designation to the agency to which the record or information is submitted and, if the agency concurs in the designation, would have exempted the record or information from disclosure. Status: Dead, Asm. Jud.
AB 2594 (Jones) Works of authorship: residual benefits. This bill would have authorized a person who is entitled to residual benefits from the proceeds generated by an original work of authorship, who has suffered economic harm as a result of the unauthorized distribution of that original work of authorship by a user of a network controlled or operated by an Internet service provider (
Mortgage Lending and Foreclosure
AB 260 (Lieu, Bass, Nava) Lending. This bill enacts various restrictions with respect to higher-priced mortgage loans, as defined, that are originated on or after July 1, 2010. Specifically, this bill among other things: (1) provides that a licensed person shall not make any false, deceptive, or misleading statement or representation; (2) requires a mortgage broker to receive the same compensation for providing mortgage brokerage services whether paid by a lender, borrower, or a third party; and (3) prohibits a mortgage broker from steering a borrower to accept a loan at higher cost, as specified. Status: Chapter 629, 2009.
AB 331 (Hall) Hiring of real property. This bill would have required a landlord, before the execution of a rental agreement for a single-family or multifamily dwelling unit of four or less units, to disclose to a prospective tenant a number of specified circumstances including any outstanding notice of default, notice of trustee’s sale, pending suit to foreclose a mortgage, trust deed, or vendor’s lien under a contract of sale, and others. This bill would have allowed a tenant to recover twice the actual damages or twice the monthly rent, whichever is greater, and all pre-paid rent, if the tenancy was terminated as the result of a circumstance that the landlord failed, but was required to disclose. Status: Dead, Sen. Jud.
AB 603 (Price) Mortgages and deeds of trust: foreclosure: tenants in possession of property. This bill would have protected rent-paying tenants living in a foreclosed rental property from being evicted by the acquiring property owner without cause for at least 90 days, as specified, from the time ownership was acquired through the foreclosure sale. The 90 day period would have conformed California law with provisions contained in the federal Protecting Tenants at Foreclosure Act enacted in May 2009. Status: Dead, Asm. Inactive File.
AB 1160 (Fong) Contracts: translation. This bill requires certain residential property lenders, after having negotiated a mortgage loan transaction in Spanish, Chinese, Tagalog, Vietnamese, or Korean, to provide a translation to the contracting consumer at least three days after initial application for the loan. The bill applies primarily to banks, savings and loans, and credit unions, but federally chartered banks and credit unions are specifically exempted. This bill authorizes the appropriate licensing agency to levy specified administrative penalties against financial organizations that do not comply with the translation requirements. Status: Chapter 274, 2009.
AB 1639 (Nava, Bass, & Lieu) Facilitated Mortgage Workout Program. This bill would have established a facilitated Mortgage Workout Program for borrowers facing foreclosure whereby a borrower could request to participate in conciliation sessions with their lender to examine mortgage loan modification options or foreclosure alternatives. Status: Dead, Asm. Inactive file.
AB 1720 (Galgiani) Buyers Choice Act. This bill would have amended the Buyer's Choice Act to require the seller of foreclosed residential real property to provide the buyer with a standard form that conspicuously acknowledges the buyer's existing right to choose his or her own title insurer or escrow agent. Status: Dead, Sen. Jud.
AB 2347 (Feuer) Mortgage defaults: secondary public financing. This bill permits a public entity to postpone a foreclosure by up to 60 days if the property at issue contains five or more multifamily units and the public entity is a party to a regulatory agreement or a recorded deed restriction for the property, as specified. Status: Chapter 597, 2010.
SB 94 (Calderon) Mortgage loans. This bill prohibits persons from charging advance fees to borrowers in connection with a loan modification, and requires those who wish to charge a fee for loan modification services to provide a notice to borrowers regarding other options available to the borrower. Status: Chapter 630, 2009.
SB 483 (Corbett) Mortgage foreclosure: tenant notice. As heard by this committee, this bill would have updated state statutes to reflect recent changes in federal law which in some circumstances may permit tenants in foreclosed residential properties to receive 90 days written notice of eviction, rather than the 60-days under California law. This bill would similarly have revised the content of the notice required to be posted on the foreclosed residential properties. The bill was later amended in the Assembly to address an unrelated issue. Status: Dead, Asm. Rev & Tax.
SB 931 (Ducheny) Mortgages: deficiency judgments. This bill requires the holder of a first mortgage or deed of trust that is secured by residential real property to accept, as full payment, the proceeds of a short sale to which it agrees in writing, and obligates that note holder to fully discharge the remaining amount of the borrower's indebtedness on the deed of trust or mortgage following the sale. Status: Chapter 701, 2010.
SB 1149 (Corbett) Residential tenancies: foreclosure. This bill prohibits the release of court records in a foreclosure-related eviction unless the plaintiff landlord prevails, as specified, and requires that a prescribed cover sheet, notifying a tenant of his or her rights and responsibilities, be attached to any eviction notice that is served within one year after a foreclosure. Status: Chapter 641, 2010.
SB 1221 (Calderon) Mortgages: notice of sale. This bill permits a trustee to notice the sale of a property in a non-judicial foreclosure approximately five days earlier by allowing a Notice of Sale to be given 85 days, instead of three months, after the filing of a Notice of Default. Status: Chapter 180, 2010.
SB 1223 (Calderon) Escrow agents: auctions: foreclosures. This bill, with regard to an auction sale of real property that has been the subject of a foreclosure sale, would have required an escrow agent to give back all deposits and fees to a bidder once the escrow agent receives escrow instructions from the auctioneer or auction company directing the return of such funds. This bill also would have required the surety or sureties of a bond established by an escrow agent to give notice to the Insurance Commissioner and to Fidelity Corporation of any release, substitution, cancellation, withdrawal, or nonrenewal of a bond. Status: Vetoed.
SB 1275 (Leno and Steinberg) Mortgages: foreclosures. This bill would have created a series of declarations and compliance systems required of mortgage loan servicers for particular loans before initiation of the foreclosure process. Among other things, this bill would have required a servicer to provide a notice to delinquent borrowers informing them of their rights under the foreclosure process, and would have required, in some cases, a servicer to gather all of the borrower's documents and determine if the borrower qualifies for a loan modification prior to the initiation of the foreclosure process. Status: Dead, Asm. Floor.
SB 1427 (Price) Foreclosures: property maintenance. This bill provides that, prior to imposing a fine or penalty for failure to maintain a vacant foreclosed property, a governmental entity shall provide the owner of that property with a notice of violation and an opportunity to correct the violation. This bill also provides that any assessment or lien to recover the costs of such nuisance abatement measures shall not exceed the actual and reasonable costs of nuisance abatement. Status: Chapter 527, 2010.
Personal Property
AB 655 (Emmerson) Self-service storage facilities. This bill makes various changes to the remedies and procedures of the California self-Service Storage Facility Act (Act) for self-storage facility owners when occupants are delinquent in paying rent or other charges. Status: Chapter 439, 2010.
AB 918 (Adams) Salvageable personal property: collection boxes. This bill requires an organization that owns an unattended collection box, used for soliciting or collecting donations of personal property, to conspicuously display specified information about itself on the exterior of all such collection boxes. This bill also authorizes local jurisdictions to prohibit the organization from employing any collection box if it does not adhere to these disclosure requirements. Status: Chapter 75, 2010.
AB 1245 (Monning) Recovery of public records. This bill establishes a process by which the Secretary of State or a local agency may seek the return of public records belonging to the state or a local agency from a person, organization, or institution not authorized by law to possess those records, or require that person to respond in writing and declare why the records do not belong to the state or local agency. Status: Chapter 519, 2009.
AB 1291 (Niello) Unclaimed property. This bill makes various changes to the Unclaimed Property Law (UPL) intended to improve notification of property owners when their property is about to escheat to the state, alleviate some concerns of property holders that have transferred escheated property to the State Controller, and penalize holders that do not comply with the notification and reporting requirements of the UPL. Among other things, this bill: (1) requires holders to provide a notice when an account or safe deposit box is opened that warns the owner that their property could escheat due to inactivity; (2) precludes the escheatment of the contents of a safe deposit box when an owner has other accounts or activity with the holder, as specified; and (3) requires the Controller to hold safe deposit box contents with no commercial value for seven years rather than the 18-month requirement under existing law. Status: Chapter 522, 2009.
AB 1685 (Jeffries) Controller: duties: unclaimed funds. This bill would have required the State Controller to remit the unclaimed funds belonging to a county political party or a state or local governmental agency that are held by the Controller to the party or governmental agency without first being contacted. Status: Dead, Asm. Jud.
AB 2117 (Niello) Unclaimed property. This bill would have: (1) eliminated the regular transfer of approximately $270 million in unclaimed property funds from the Abandoned Property Fund to the General Fund; (2) required the Controller to add an interest payment to any claim for unclaimed property that the Controller pays to its owner; (3) extended the escheat period for most types of unclaimed property from three years to five years without any provision improving notice requirements for holders of unclaimed property. Status: Failed, Asm. Jud.
SB 459 (Wolk) Tidelands and submerged lands: removal of vessels. This bill would have enhanced the authority of the State Lands Commission (Commission) to remove and dispose of abandoned boats and vessels by allowing it to take immediate action, without notice, to remove a vessel that poses a significant threat to the environment, public health, safety, or welfare, or that constitutes a public nuisance. This bill would have authorized the Commission, after using reasonable means to identify and locate the owner and any lienholder, to direct disposition of the property at a properly noticed Commission meeting if the owner cannot be located, fails to respond, or fails to remove the property. Status: Vetoed.
Real Property
AB 329 (Feuer) Reverse mortgages. This bill amends California reverse mortgage law to strengthen existing counseling and cross-selling provisions, and requires lenders to provide the borrower with a checklist prior to counseling that highlights the risks and alternatives to reverse mortgages. Among other things, this bill prohibits any person who participates in the origination of a reverse mortgage from (1) requiring an applicant for that mortgage to purchase an annuity as a condition of obtaining the reverse mortgage loan, and (2) employing, referring the borrower to, or being associated with anyone offering for purchase an annuity or other financial product prior to closing the reverse mortgage, as provided. Status: Chapter 236, 2009.
AB 568 (Lieu) Counterfeit goods: abatement. This bill provides that every nonresidential building or place used for the purpose of willfully manufacturing, intentionally selling, or knowingly possessing for sale nay counterfeit goods is a nuisance which shall be enjoined, abated, and prevented, and for which damages may be recovered. This bill, which sunsets on January 1, 2015, also permits a district attorney, city attorney, or any citizen or resident to bring an action to abate and prevent the nuisance and perpetually enjoin the person conducting or maintaining the nuisance. Status: Chapter 453, 2009.
AB 957 (Galgiani) Residential real estate transfers: title insurance. This bill prohibits a seller of residential real property from requiring a buyer to purchase title insurance or escrow services, in connection with the sale of a property, from a company chosen by the seller, as specified. This bill limits its provisions to properties improved by four or fewer dwelling units purchased at a foreclosure sale, and will sunset on January 1, 2015. Status: Chapter 264, 2009.
AB 985 (De La Torre) Real property: discriminatory restrictions. This bill would have required a county recorder, title insurance company, or other entity transferring a deed or other written instrument relating to title in real property to provide the recipient with a document that will allow the recipient to remove an unlawful restrictive covenant and to create a public record which does not contain the restrictive covenant. Status: Vetoed.
AB 1046 (Anderson) Enforcement of judgments: exemptions: homesteads. This bill increases homestead exemptions by specified amounts to reflect inflation. The exemption amounts represent the specified portion of equity in a homestead, defined as the principal dwelling in which a judgment debtor resides, that is exempt from execution to satisfy a judgment debt. This bill also requires the Judicial Council to determine, at three-year intervals, the amount by which the exemption should be increased and to report that amount to the Legislature, who must approve the proposed increases before they may take effect. Status: Chapter 499, 2009.
AB 1246 (Jones) Workforce housing cooperative trust. This bill provides for a new type of limited-equity housing cooperative known as a “workforce housing cooperative trust” by defining this term and including this form of housing within the exemption to the Subdivided Lands Law. With respect to both limited-equity cooperatives and workforce housing cooperatives, this bill also establishes new procedures and standards for dissolution and allows a court to award attorney’s fees and, under specified circumstances, punitive damages to the prevailing party in a lawsuit alleging non-compliance with this bill. Status: Chapter 520, 2009.
AB 1502 (Eng) Nuisance abatement. This bill authorizes a county counsel to bring civil action to abate a public nuisance, a controlled substances nuisance, or a gambling or prostitution nuisance. The bill thereby extends to county counsel an authority already conferred upon district attorneys and city prosecutors. This bill also requires the county counsel to submit a report to the Senate and Assembly Judiciary Committees on the use of abatement actions by October 1, 2013. Status: Chapter 570, 2010.
AB 1684 (Jeffries) Civil actions: adverse possession of real property. This bill requires the timely payment of specified taxes relative to an action for adverse possession of real property and provides that payment shall be established by certified records of the county tax collector. Status: Chapter 55, 2010.
AB 1927 (Knight) Real property: common interest developments. This bill would have provided that any provision that is added to or included in a governing document initially recorded on or after January 1, 2011, that prohibits the rental or lease of a separate interest is void, unless the provision imposing the prohibition is approved by the owners of separate interests, as specified. This bill would also have required the owner of a separate interest, when a governing document prohibits the rental or leasing of all or any of the separate interests, to provide a statement describing the prohibition. Status: Vetoed.
AB 2016 (Torres) Common interest developments: requests for notices of default. This bill allows a homeowners association in a common interest development to record a single request for a copy of a trustee's deed upon sale of a separate interest within the homeowners association. Status: Chapter 133, 2010.
AB 2502 (Brownley) Community interest developments: order of payment. This bill would have provided that the provisions of existing law that prescribe the order in which a homeowner's payments to the homeowners association are to be allocated (first to assessments and only then to late fees and costs relating to collection) shall also apply to any agent of the association or other third party that is contracted to collect the debt. Status: Dead, Asm. Jud.
AB 2664 (Chesbro) Public lands: State Lands Commission: violations. This bill would have prohibited certain activities on state lands under the jurisdiction of the State Lands Commission without an applicable easement, lease, or permit. This bill also would have provided for civil penalties for violations and authorizes the Commission to pursue an administrative action to obtain legal remedies. Status: Vetoed.
SB 109 (Calderon) Auctioneers: real estate. This bill would have revised the definition of "auction" to include sales of real estate, effectively bringing auctions of real estate within current rules governing the conduct of auctioneers. As a result, this bill would have required: (1) notification to an audience of all fees that will be levied as a condition of bidding on an auction of real estate; (2) an explanation of certain terms relating to the auction; and (3) the return of deposits and fees in a specified time if the high bidder’s offer is rejected or if the seller does not respond to the offer. Status: Vetoed.
SB 183 (Lowenthal) Residential building safety. This bill requires a carbon monoxide device that has been approved by the State Fire Marshall (SFM) to be installed in every existing dwelling intended for human occupancy that has a fossil fuel burning heater or appliance, fireplace, or an attached garage by specified deadlines. This bill, among other things, requires the SFM to develop a certification and decertification process to approve and list carbon monoxide devices that must include consideration of their effectiveness and reliability, including their propensity to record false alarms. Status: Chapter 19, 2010.
SB 306 (Calderon) Real property transactions. This bill modifies or clarifies a number of existing provisions relating to real property transactions. First, this bill creates a so-called "short pay demand statement" to facilitate the disbursement of escrow funds under specified circumstances. This bill also clarifies that fidelity coverage required of licensed escrow agents does not extend to deposits made by an "exchange facilitator," since these deposits are personal property with separate coverage. Additionally, this bill makes a number of "clean up" changes to SB 1137 (2008), relating to the timing requirements for filing, publishing, and recording certain foreclosure-related notices, including requiring that the notice of sale of real property must be posted 20 days prior to the date of the foreclosure sale. Status: Chapter 43, 2009.
SB 407 (Padilla) Property transfers: plumbing fixtures replacement. This bill requires the replacement of all non-water conserving plumbing fixtures, as defined, with water-conserving fixtures in commercial and residential properties built prior to 1994. Replacement compliance is required by 2017 for single-family residential properties or by 2019 for multi-family residential or commercial properties, with certain exceptions. Under this bill, the responsibility for replacement falls upon either the property owner or a building permit applicant as a condition for issuance of a certificate of occupancy or building permit. This bill also requires the seller or transferor of property to disclose in writing to the prospective purchaser or transferee whether the property includes any noncompliant plumbing fixtures and the deadline for achieving compliance. Status: Chapter 587, 2009.
SB 555 (Kehoe) Eminent domain law: conservation easements. This bill would have required a person seeking to acquire, by eminent domain, a property subject to a conservation easement to give the holder of the conservation easement a notice containing specified information and an opportunity to comment on the acquisition. In addition, this bill would have required the holder of the conservation easement or any public entity that provided funds for the purchase of the easement, or both, to provide the person seeking to acquire the property with written comments on the proposed acquisition, including identifying any potential conflict between the proposed public use and the terms of the conservation easement. Status: Vetoed.
SB 660 (Wolk) Reverse mortgages. This bill would have imposed a duty of honesty, good faith, and fair dealing on any lender, broker, person, or entity who recommends the purchase of a reverse mortgage to a borrower in anticipation of financial gain. This bill additionally would have required the lender to provide a specified checklist to a mortgage loan applicant prior to their mandatory counseling session, with the checklist to be signed by both the counselor and prospective borrower and returned to the lender prior to any approval of a loan application. Status: Dead, Asm. Banking & Finance.
SB 1035 (Hancock) Municipal utility district: utility charges: delinquencies. This bill authorizes a municipal utility district to collect delinquent fees incurred by a commercial or residential lessee, tenant, or subtenant by charging the delinquent fees to the property owner's tax roll, as specified. This bill also deletes a provision of existing law which exempts water and sewer service to residential property from the lien remedy for collection of delinquent fees. Status: Chapter 485, 2010.
SB 1178 (Corbett) Real property: deficiency judgments. This bill would have provided that longstanding deficiency judgment protections for a loan used to pay all or part of the purchase price of real property or an estate for years includes subsequent loans, mortgages, or deeds of trust that refinance or modify the original loan, but only to the extent that the subsequent loan was used to pay debt incurred to purchase the real property. Status: Vetoed.
Rental Property
AB 530 (Krekorian) Unlawful detainer: controlled substances and firearms. This bill reauthorizes two pilot programs allowing city attorneys and prosecutors in participating cities to bring eviction proceedings in the name of the people against a tenant for unlawful activities regarding firearms, ammunition, and controlled substances. This bill also exempts the City of Los Angeles from the sunset date of the controlled substances program, thereby extending the program indefinitely for that city. Finally, the bill includes changes to the notice and reporting requirements of both pilot programs, as specified, in order to facilitate better evaluation of the merits of the pilot program by the California Research Bureau in 2014. Status: Chapter 244, 2009.
AB 1263 (Strickland) Unlawful detainer: service of notice. This bill would have revised the provision governing the methods of serving notice of unlawful detainer upon a tenant by deleting the requirement that service be made at the tenant’s place of residence or usual place of business. Instead, this bill would have required that service be made either by: (1) delivering a copy of the notice to the tenant personally; (2) leaving a copy of the notice at the property with a person of suitable age and discretion and mailing a copy of the notice to the tenant at the address of the property; or (3) affixing a copy of the notice in a conspicuous place on the property and mailing a copy of the notice to the tenant at the address of the property. This bill would have defined the term “property,” for purposes of these provisions, to refer to the property that is the subject of the lease. Status: Dead, Asm. Jud.
AB 1803 (Nava) Mobilehome tenancy. This bill would have enacted the Mobile Home Dispute Resolution Act and established a Mobilehome Residency Law Dispute Resolution Fund in order to facilitate dispute resolution between mobile home owners and mobile home park management. The bill would have required the Attorney General to administer the dispute resolution program, as specified. Status: Dead, Asm. Housing & Comm. Development.
AB 1838 (Bill Berryhill) Unlawful detainer: controlled substances and firearms. This bill would have, until January 1, 2012, permitted San Joaquin County to participate in an existing pilot project that allows local authorities to file actions for unlawful detainer in order to abate unlawful conduct relating to controlled substances or illegal weapons or ammunition possession. Status: Vetoed.
AB 2743 (Nava) Real property: rentals: animals. This bill would have prohibited landlords from imposing conditions on occupancy of real property that might cause an animal that is allowed on the premises to be surgically devocalized or declawed. Specifically, this would have included requiring devocalization or declawing of an animal as a condition of occupancy, as well as advertising the availability of property in a manner designed to discourage application for occupancy because an applicant's animal has not been devocalized or declawed. Status: Vetoed.
SB 120 (Lowenthal) Residential tenancies: utility service. This bill revises existing public utility termination notice provisions, which currently apply only to the multi-unit residential tenancies, to any residential structure, including a single-family dwelling. Specifically, this bill permits a tenant of any residential dwelling to assume responsibility for payment for utility services and to deduct utility charges from any periodic rent owed, if the rent amount includes charges for utility services. This bill also requires utility providers, when a utility account in the name of the apartment owner or manager is in arrears, to make a good faith effort to inform the actual occupants of the residence by means of a specified written notice that service will be terminated at least 10 days prior to the termination, except as specified. Status: Chapter 560, 2009.
SB 290 (Leno) Tenancy: notices. This bill repeals the sunset date for the existing law requiring the owner of a residential rental property to give at least 60-day notice prior to terminating the periodic tenancy of a tenant who has lived in the unit for one year or more, thereby extending the law indefinitely. Status: Chapter 347, 2009.
SB 782 (Yee) Residential tenancies: domestic violence. This bill prohibits a landlord from terminating a tenancy based upon an act or acts of domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking against the tenant or tenant's household member, if the act or acts can be appropriately documented and the perpetrator is not a tenant of the same dwelling unit as the tenant. This bill also permits a tenant to change locks of the dwelling unit, or request the landlord to do so, as specified, if the tenant has a restraining order against another person based on that other person's acts of domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking against the tenant. Status: Chapter 626, 2010.