BILL ANALYSIS AB 1502 Page 1 CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS AB 1502 (Eng) As Amended June 16, 2010 Majority vote ----------------------------------------------------------------- |ASSEMBLY: | |(January 27, |SENATE: |34-0 |(July 1, 2010) | | | |2010) | | | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- (vote not relevant) Original Committee Reference: TRANS. SUMMARY : 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. The Senate amendments delete the Assembly version of this bill, and instead: 1)Authorize the county counsel of the county where a nuisance is located to bring an action for specified nuisances. 2)Make conforming changes. EXISTING LAW : 1)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. 2)Additionally states that every building or 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. 3)Further provides that every building or place used for the purpose of illegal gambling, lewdness, assignation, prostitution, or counterfeiting is a nuisance. AB 1502 Page 2 4)Generally authorizes a district attorney or city attorney to bring an action to abate the above nuisances within their respective jurisdictions. AS PASSED BY THE ASSEMBLY , this bill dealt with drivers' licenses. FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Senate Appropriations Committee, pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8, negligible state costs. COMMENTS : 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 simply additionally add a county counsel to the list of persons who can bring nuisance abatement and prevention actions under specified circumstances. Analysis Prepared by : Thomas Clark / JUD. / (916) 319-2334 FN: 0005132