BILL NUMBER: AB 1046	CHAPTERED
	BILL TEXT

	CHAPTER  499
	FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE  OCTOBER 11, 2009
	APPROVED BY GOVERNOR  OCTOBER 11, 2009
	PASSED THE SENATE  JULY 16, 2009
	PASSED THE ASSEMBLY  AUGUST 17, 2009
	AMENDED IN SENATE  JULY 1, 2009

INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Members Anderson, Gilmore, and Lieu

                        FEBRUARY 27, 2009

   An act to amend Sections 703.150 and 704.730 of the Code of Civil
Procedure, relating to enforcement of judgments.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 1046, Anderson. Enforcement of judgments: exemptions:
homesteads.
   Existing law provides that a specified portion of equity in a
homestead, as defined, is exempt from execution to satisfy a judgment
debt. Existing law provides a base exemption of $50,000, an
exemption of $75,000 if the judgment debtor or his or her spouse who
resides in the homestead is, at the time of the sale, a member of a
family unit, and one member of the family unit is without an
interest, or with only a limited interest, as specified, in the
homestead, and an exemption of $150,000 if the judgment debtor or the
spouse of the judgment debtor who resides in the homestead is, at
the time of the sale, 65 years of age or older, disabled, or 55 years
of age or older with a limited income, as specified.
   Existing law requires the Judicial Council to adjust specified
exemptions from execution at 3-year intervals based on the change in
the annual California Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers,
and to publish a list of the current dollar amounts of those
exemptions, as specified.
   This bill would increase the homestead exemptions described above
to $75,000, $100,000, and $175,000, respectively. The bill would
require the Judicial Council to determine, on or before April 1,
2010, and at each 3-year interval ending on April 1 thereafter, to
submit to the Legislature the amount by which the dollar amounts of
the exemptions applicable to that exempt property may be increased
based on the change in the annual California Consumer Price Index for
All Urban Consumers. The bill would provide that those increases
shall not take effect unless they are approved by the Legislature.
The bill would require the Judicial Council to publish a list of the
current dollar amounts of those exemptions.


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

  SECTION 1.  Section 703.150 of the Code of Civil Procedure is
amended to read:
   703.150.  (a) On April 1, 2004, and at each three-year interval
ending on April 1 thereafter, the dollar amounts of exemptions
provided in subdivision (b) of Section 703.140 in effect immediately
before that date shall be adjusted as provided in subdivision (d).
   (b) On April 1, 2007, and at each three-year interval ending on
April 1 thereafter, the dollar amounts of exemptions provided in
Article 3 (commencing with Section 704.010) in effect immediately
before that date shall be adjusted as provided in subdivision (d).
   (c) On April 1, 2010, and at each three-year interval ending on
April 1 thereafter, the Judicial Council shall submit to the
Legislature the amount by which the dollar amounts of exemptions
provided in subdivision (a) of Section 704.730 in effect immediately
before that date may be increased as provided in subdivision (d).
Those increases shall not take effect unless they are approved by the
Legislature.
   (d) The Judicial Council shall determine the amount of the
adjustment based on the change in the annual California Consumer
Price Index for All Urban Consumers, published by the Department of
Industrial Relations, Division of Labor Statistics, for the most
recent three-year period ending on December 31 preceding the
adjustment, with each adjusted amount rounded to the nearest
twenty-five dollars ($25).
   (e) Beginning April 1, 2004, the Judicial Council shall publish a
list of the current dollar amounts of exemptions provided in
subdivision (b) of Section 703.140 and in Article 3 (commencing with
Section 704.010), together with the date of the next scheduled
adjustment. In any year that the Legislature votes to increase the
exemptions provided in subdivision (a) of Section 704.730, the
Judicial Council shall publish a list of current dollar amounts of
exemptions.
   (f) Adjustments made under subdivision (a) do not apply with
respect to cases commenced before the date of the adjustment, subject
to any contrary rule applicable under the federal Bankruptcy Code.
The applicability of adjustments made under subdivisions (b) and (c)
is governed by Section 703.050.
  SEC. 2.  Section 704.730 of the Code of Civil Procedure is amended
to read:
   704.730.  (a) The amount of the homestead exemption is one of the
following:
   (1) Seventy-five thousand dollars ($75,000) unless the judgment
debtor or spouse of the judgment debtor who resides in the homestead
is a person described in paragraph (2) or (3).
   (2) One hundred thousand dollars ($100,000) if the judgment debtor
or spouse of the judgment debtor who resides in the homestead is at
the time of the attempted sale of the homestead a member of a family
unit, and there is at least one member of the family unit who owns no
interest in the homestead or whose only interest in the homestead is
a community property interest with the judgment debtor.
   (3) One hundred seventy-five thousand dollars ($175,000) if the
judgment debtor or spouse of the judgment debtor who resides in the
homestead is at the time of the attempted sale of the homestead any
one of the following:
   (A) A person 65 years of age or older.
   (B) A person physically or mentally disabled who as a result of
that disability is unable to engage in substantial gainful
employment. There is a rebuttable presumption affecting the burden of
proof that a person receiving disability insurance benefit payments
under Title II or supplemental security income payments under Title
XVI of the federal Social Security Act satisfies the requirements of
this paragraph as to his or her inability to engage in substantial
gainful employment.
   (C) A person 55 years of age or older with a gross annual income
of not more than fifteen thousand dollars ($15,000) or, if the
judgment debtor is married, a gross annual income, including the
gross annual income of the judgment debtor's spouse, of not more than
twenty thousand dollars ($20,000) and the sale is an involuntary
sale.
   (b) Notwithstanding any other provision of this section, the
combined homestead exemptions of spouses on the same judgment shall
not exceed the amount specified in paragraph (2) or (3), whichever is
applicable, of subdivision (a), regardless of whether the spouses
are jointly obligated on the judgment and regardless of whether the
homestead consists of community or separate property or both.
Notwithstanding any other provision of this article, if both spouses
are entitled to a homestead exemption, the exemption of proceeds of
the homestead shall be apportioned between the spouses on the basis
of their proportionate interests in the homestead.