BILL ANALYSIS ------------------------------------------------------------ |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 1502| |Office of Senate Floor Analyses | | |1020 N Street, Suite 524 | | |(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | | |327-4478 | | ------------------------------------------------------------ THIRD READING Bill No: AB 1502 Author: Eng (D) Amended: 6/16/10 in Senate Vote: 21 SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE : 5-0, 6/10/10 AYES: Corbett, Harman, Hancock, Leno, Walters ASSEMBLY FLOOR : Not relevant SUBJECT : Nuisance abatement: civil action SOURCE : Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department DIGEST : This bill authorizes the county counsel to bring a civil action to abate a public nuisance, a controlled substances nuisance, or a gambling or prostitution nuisance, as specified. ANALYSIS : Existing law defines a nuisance as anything which is injurious to health, including the illegal sale of controlled substances, or is indecent or offensive to the senses, or an obstruction to the free use of property, so as to interfere with the comfortable enjoyment of life or property, or unlawfully obstruct the free passage or use, in the customary manner, of any navigable lake, or river, bay stream, canal, or basin of any public park, square, street, or highway. (Civil Code Section 3479.) Existing law additionally states that every building or CONTINUED AB 1502 Page 2 place used for the purpose of unlawfully selling, serving, storing, keeping manufacturing, or giving away any controlled substance, as specified, and every building or place where those acts take place, is a nuisance. (Health & Safety Code Section 11571.) Existing law further provides that every building or place used for the purpose of illegal gambling, lewdness, assignation, prostitution, or counterfeiting is a nuisance. (Penal Code Sections 11225-26; Business & Professions Code Section 17800.) Existing law generally authorizes a district attorney or city attorney to bring an action to abate the above nuisances within their respective jurisdictions. (Civil Code Section 731; Health & Safety Code Section 1157; Penal Code Section 11226.) This bill additionally authorizes the county counsel of the county where nuisance is located to bring an action for each of the above nuisances. This bill also makes conforming changes. Background Under existing law, a nuisance is defined to mean anything which is injurious to health or is indecent or offensive to the senses, or an obstruction to the free use of property, so as to interfere with the comfortable enjoyment of life or property. Current law also deems certain uses of buildings or places to be a nuisance and authorizes a district attorney, city attorney, or any citizen to bring an action to abate and prevent the nuisance. Such uses include, among other things, buildings or places used for the purposes of illegal gambling or prostitution, unlawfully selling, serving, storing, keeping, manufacturing, or giving away any controlled substance, unlawfully selling, serving, or giving away alcoholic liquor, and manufacturing or intentionally selling counterfeit goods. In response to concerns about the burden of the current nuisance abatement caseload on district attorneys and city attorneys, and the lack of a city attorney in unincorporated areas, this bill would additionally permit a AB 1502 Page 3 county counsel to bring nuisance abatement and prevention actions under specified circumstances. Prior Legislation AB 568 (Lieu), Chapter 453, Statutes of 2009, provides that every nonresidential building or place used for the purpose of willfully manufacturing, intentionally selling, or knowingly possessing for sale any counterfeit goods is a nuisance which damages may be recovered. FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: No Local: No SUPPORT : (Verified 6/16/10) Los Angeles County Sheriffs' Department (source) ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : According to the author's office, currently when law enforcement takes action for nuisance abatement, the District Attorney or City Attorney handles the adjudication of these cases. The District Attorney handles only criminal cases, while the City Attorney can handle both criminal and civil cases. Many times, the nuisance cases end up being civil cases where a civil injunction is brought against the offending person. There are a large number of these civil nuisance cases. This represents a problem in unincorporated areas where there is no City Attorney and the District Attorney may not have the expertise or staff to assign the cases to. The Los Angeles County Sheriffs' Department, the sponsor states that enabling the county counsel to bring these cases "will help to more efficiently and effectively adjudicate the large number of nuisance abatement cases [thus] making life better for everyone in the county." RJG:do 6/16/10 Senate Floor Analyses SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE **** END **** AB 1502 Page 4