Sacramento Report
by Francisco Silva
The members and staff of the California Apartment Association (CAA) have been actively working to stop legislation that would negatively impact the rental-property industry and its customers. To date, CAA has been successful, as evidenced by our legislative efforts so far this year.
Senator Tom Torlakson (D-Antioch) authored Senate Bill 735 and recently gutted it, removing CAA-opposed provisions that would have required extensive disclosures by rental-property buyers and sellers. The original bill would have added penalties to existing law by providing for actual damages, punitive damages and attorney's fees if a property owner prevented a person invited by a resident from entering real property as allowed under current law. SB 735 also would have created unworkable and burdensome notification requirements when a property is transferred and when a new agent is hired to manage the property. As now amended, the bill simply clarifies existing law with respect to the existing trespass law.
After considering CAA's concerns, Senator Christine Kehoe (D-San Diego) decided to not yet move forward her Senate Bill 540, which she said was intended to allow residents to post political window signs at their rental property. In actuality, SB 540 would have done much more, such as permitting residents to post noncommercial signs or banners on any area of their rental property, including common areas shared by the entire residential rental community. In effect, the bill would have denied owners the ability to impose rules necessary for safety, to address liability issues or to prevent damage to the premises and visual blight.
Following strong opposition from CAA and other business coalition members, Assemblymember Marc Leno (D-San Francisco) decided not to push Assembly Bill 781, which had sought significant amendments to the Ellis Act. Current law states that local governments cannot force a residential rental-property owner to continue leasing property if she/he wants out of the business. AB 781 would have denied Ellis Act protections to property owners in non-rent-controlled jurisdictions and forced owners in rent-controlled jurisdictions with disabled or senior tenants to stay in business for five years.
Authored by Assemblymember Dave Jones (D-Sacramento), Assembly Bill 1574 failed to pass out of the Senate Judiciary Committee. CAA staff testified in opposition to the bill, explaining its possible consequences should it become law. AB 1574 would have allowed both the county and city of Sacramento to draft, enact and enforce their own laws regarding discrimination in housing, and to compete with the state for federal funds. CAA supports existing state and federal laws prohibiting housing discrimination but opposed the bill in part because it would have set a precedent for the creation of different, potentially inconsistent, local housing-discrimination laws and enforcement mechanisms throughout California. Through its Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH), the state has been granted the authority to enforce both state and federal laws in order to avoid duplication of legal actions against housing providers. The DFEH oversees discrimination issues on a statewide basis and has implemented and interpreted statewide standards and enforcement tools that owners understand. As a result, housing providers can look to consistent and uniform state and federal fair-housing laws and determine how to operate their businesses in an ethical, professional and legal manner. AB 1574 would have changed the rules for owners in Sacramento city and county, and other local governments would surely have requested the same consideration.
After extensive negotiations with CAA staff, Assembly Bill 399 author, Assemblymember Cindy Montanez (D-San Fernando), agreed to remove provisions that would have required rental-property owners to negotiate directly with haulers for recycling service at their properties. The bill as a whole seeks to encourage recycling in multifamily dwellings by imposing various requirements on local governments, the haulers of solid waste and owners of multifamily dwellings. The deleted provisions would have required owners of newly constructed, multifamily housing to provide on-site recycling services. CAA argued that without city or countywide participation in recycling programs, property owners could not expect to gain efficient and cost-effective service from recycling haulers.
Assemblymember Rick Keene (R-Chico) introduced Assembly Bill 1078 and ever since has worked diligently with CAA to address issues that affect residential rental properties. AB 1078 creates statewide assessment and clean-up standards and procedures that will help provide owners a fair and expeditious means of cleaning a property contaminated by a methamphetamine lab. The bill also ensures that a property is not permanently marked as contaminated if the owner cleans it as specified. At the same time, the bill includes safeguards that inform and protect prospective purchasers and tenants from properties that have not been fully cleaned.
With Assembly Bill 528, Assemblymember Dario Frommer (D-Los Angeles) proposed to give private individuals broad new powers to bring lawsuits to enforce health and environmental laws. It allowed “any person with a beneficial interest” to bring a lawsuit to enforce a long list of code sections, including regulations, permits and orders. The bill would have created bounty-hunter litigation by allowing any person to sue and seek civil penalties and restitution—and win attorney's fees—under existing code provisions.
Seen as an end-run around Proposition 64, Frommer's bill, known as the "Stop Shakedown Lawsuits" initiative, failed passage on the Assembly floor. The work of CAA and coalition partners helped to secure opposition to the measure. The Civil Justice Association of California, of which CAA is a member, augmented the lobbying effort with a paid media campaign in the Sacramento region. Two full-page ads in the Sacramento Bee and radio spots opposing the measure ran during the final week. Frommer opted not to push for a vote on the floor. A copy of the ad is available at www.cjac.org.
With your help, CAA was able to achieve these victories and many others during this legislative session. Your discussions with legislators as well as your letters, telephone calls, e-mails and faxes to them truly made a difference. CAA's e-mailed Legislative Briefings and Alerts will keep you informed about the latest legislative issues and provide you with information about how you can help. If you are not receiving it, please call our member-services department at (800) 967-4222 to update your e-mail address.
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the viewpoint of SFAA or the San Francisco Apartment Magazine. Francisco Silva is the vice president and counsel of legislative affairs for CAA. Copyright © 2005 by the San Francisco Apartment Magazine. All rights reserved.