BILL ANALYSIS Ó AB 1599 Page 1 Date of Hearing: May 16, 2012 ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS Felipe Fuentes, Chair AB 1599 (Feuer) - As Amended: April 30, 2012 Policy Committee: JudiciaryVote:9-1 Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: No Reimbursable: SUMMARY This bill requires that documents related to the non-judicial home foreclosure process be made available in specific languages other than English. Specifically, this bill: 1)Provides that a mortgagee, trustee, beneficiary, or authorized agent shall provide to the mortgagor or trustor a standard summary of the notice of default, attached to a copy of the recorded notice of default, and a standard summary of the notice of sale, attached to the copy of the recorded notice of sale, in English and in Spanish, Chinese, Tagalog, Vietnamese, and Korean in order to be properly recorded and effective. 2)Provides that the Department of Real Estate (DRE) shall make available a standard summary translation of a notice of default and a notice of sale in Spanish, Chinese, Tagalog, Vietnamese, and Korean, and shall make those documents available without charge on its website if sufficient private funds are provided to the DRE for this purpose. FISCAL EFFECT Minor costs (less than $10,000), fully offset by private donations, for the DRE to provide translations of the summary documents in the five languages and post on its website. COMMENTS Purpose . The author observes that virtually all home foreclosures in California occur without court supervision. The mortgage lender or servicer simply issues a notice of alleged default to the homeowner to begin the process, followed by a AB 1599 Page 2 notice of sale when the property is about to be taken away. These notices contain key information about the foreclosure process and the homeowner's rights. Unlike many other similar legal notices, however, these foreclosure documents are issued only in English under existing law. Supporters of AB 1599 argue that all homeowners should have equal access to the basic information they need to make an informed decision when they are hit with foreclosure. Analysis Prepared by : Chuck Nicol / APPR. / (916) 319-2081