BILL NUMBER: AB 2454	CHAPTERED  09/25/08

	CHAPTER  279
	FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE  SEPTEMBER 25, 2008
	APPROVED BY GOVERNOR  SEPTEMBER 25, 2008
	PASSED THE SENATE  AUGUST 18, 2008
	PASSED THE ASSEMBLY  MAY 27, 2008

INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Emmerson

                        FEBRUARY 21, 2008

   An act to amend Section 10474 of the Business and Professions
Code, relating to real estate.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 2454, Emmerson. Real estate: Recovery Account.
    Existing law, the Real Estate Law, provides for the licensure and
regulation of real estate brokers and real estate salespersons by
the Department of Real Estate. Existing law provides for creation of
the Recovery Account in the Real Estate Fund, which is funded by fees
imposed on licensees. Existing law provides that when an aggrieved
person obtains a final judgment, as specified, against a defendant
based upon the defendant's fraud, misrepresentation, or deceit, made
with intent to defraud, or the defendant's conversion of trust funds,
arising directly out of any transaction in which the defendant,
while a real estate licensee, performed acts for which his or her
license was required, the aggrieved person may file an application
with the department for payment from the Recovery Account of the
amount unpaid in the judgment that represents an actual and direct
loss to the claimant in the transaction. Existing law prohibits the
liability of the Recovery Account from exceeding $20,000 for any one
transaction and $100,000 for any one licensee.
   This bill would limit the liability of the Recovery Account for
applications for payment filed on or after January 1, 2009, to
$50,000 for any one transaction and $250,000 for any one licensee.
The bill would also delete certain obsolete language from that
provision.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  Section 10474 of the Business and Professions Code is
amended to read:
   10474.  Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter and
regardless of the number of persons aggrieved or parcels of real
estate involved in a transaction or the number of judgments against a
licensee, the liability of the Recovery Account shall not exceed the
following amounts:
   (a) Except as provided in subdivision (b), causes of action which
occurred on or after January 1, 1980, twenty thousand dollars
($20,000) for any one transaction and one hundred thousand dollars
($100,000) for any one licensee.
   (b) For applications for payment from the Recovery Account filed
on or after January 1, 2009, fifty thousand dollars ($50,000) for any
one transaction and two hundred fifty thousand dollars ($250,000)
for any one licensee.
   (c) When multiple licensed real estate personnel are involved in a
transaction and the individual conduct of two or more of the
licensees results in a judgment meeting the requirements of
subdivision (a) of Section 10471, the claimant may seek recovery from
the Recovery Account based on the judgment against any of the
licensed real estate personnel, subject to the limitations of this
section and subparagraph (E) of paragraph (7) of subdivision (c) of
Section 10471.