BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SB 279
Page 1
Date of Hearing: June 14, 2011
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON JUDICIARY
Mike Feuer, Chair
SB 279 (Emmerson) - As Introduced: February 14, 2011
SENATE VOTE : 34-0
SUBJECT : BUSINESS: SELF-SERVICE STORAGE FACILITIES
KEY ISSUE : should the publication requirement for lien sales of
PROPERTY IN self-storage spaceS be changed to require
advertisement in the local judicial district and not county?
FISCAL EFFECT : As currently in print this bill is keyed
non-fiscal.
SYNOPSIS
This technical, largely non-controversial, clean-up bill seeks
to correct an error made in earlier legislation by the author
and properly restores the law in this area to its prior form.
The bill does this by amending the publication requirements for
impending lien sales of property left in self-storage units.
The present requirement was implemented in 2010 when AB 655
(Emmerson, 2010) was passed to update the California
Self-Storage Facility Act. While amending AB 655 on the Senate
Floor, "county" was erroneously used in place of "judicial
district," changing the long-standing notice requirement to
mandate publication of notice in a newspaper of general
circulation within the county. This bill simply corrects this
error by replacing "county" with "judicial district" and
returning the publication requirement to its pre-AB 655 form.
Supporters claim this bill ensures that those citizens with the
greatest interest in a lien sale, those most local to a
self-storage facility, are most directly informed about these
sales. However, storage facility groups argue the bill is
targeted at protecting the advertising revenue of local
newspapers. This bill is sponsored by the California Newspaper
Publishers Association and is opposed by the California Self
Storage Association.
SUMMARY : Corrects a drafting error in earlier legislation by
replacing references to "county" with "judicial districts" thus
requiring all advertising of lien sales by self-storage
facilities to be advertised in newspapers of general circulation
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in the judicial district of a sale and not the county. This
corrects an error in AB 655 of 2010 which switched "judicial
districts" with "county" during the floor amendment process.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Specifies remedies and procedures for self-service storage
facility owners when occupants are delinquent in paying rent
or other charges. (Bus. & Prof. Code Sec. 21700 et seq.)
2)Provides that if an owner sends an occupant a preliminary lien
notice, the owner may, upon the effective date of the lien,
deny the occupant access to the space, enter the space, and
remove property for safe keeping. (Bus. & Prof. Code Sec.
21705.)
3)Requires owners to send occupants a notice of lien sale that
states the property will be sold to satisfy the lien after a
specified date that is not less than 14 days from the date of
mailing unless: (1) the amount of the lien is paid; or (2) the
occupant returns a declaration in opposition to lien sale.
(Bus. & Prof. Code Sec. 21705(c).)
4)Requires a lien sale to be advertised in a newspaper of
general circulation in the county in which the sale is to be
held, or, if there is no newspaper of general circulation in
the county, posted in not less than six conspicuous places in
the neighborhood of the proposed sale. (Bus. & Prof. Code
Sec. 21707.)
COMMENTS : This technical clean-up bill seeks to replace two
references to "county" in the California Self-Service Storage
Facility Act with "judicial districts" according to the author:
The California Self-Service Storage Facility Act has been
the self-storage industry's primary remedy for dealing with
occupants who are delinquent in paying their rent. Under
current law, if an owner of a public storage facility
enforces a lien on the occupant's property, the owner is
required to provide public notice to the community of an
upcoming lien sale. Existing law requires the owner to
advertise for two weeks in any newspaper of general
circulation that is published in the county where the sale
is to be held.
SB 279 is a clean-up measure to AB 655 (Emmerson, Chapter
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439) that would correct this provision and require that a
lien sale be advertised in a newspaper of general
circulation in the judicial district where the sale is
held. When the Legislature consolidated the courts in the
early 1990s, it kept judicial districts in place for the
sole purpose of maintaining the system of providing public
notice in a local newspaper of general circulation. As
part of the consolidation package, Government Code Section
71042.5 was amended to specify that judicial districts
would still apply to public notice requirements.
Furthermore, publishing a notice of lien sale in newspapers
distributed in judicial districts has proven to be an
effective method of ensuring that the community is informed
of this important public event - an event that severs an
individual's legal right to his or her personal property.
Under current law, a public storage facility could
circumvent this responsibility to advertise in a "community
of interest." For example, in Los Angeles County, a
storage facility in Santa Monica could advertise in
Claremont or a facility in Santa Clarita could advertise in
Long Beach. SB 279 will ensure that the local community
where the lien sale is to be held is notified of this
public event.
SB 279 would make the law consistent with the prior
legislative intent to preserve historical judicial
districts for the purpose of public notices.
Clean-up Floor Amendment Errors in AB 655 (Emmerson) : When AB
655 was initially introduced it sought to substitute the
requirement to publish notice of lien sales (by self-service
storage facilities) with an obligation to advertise the sale in
a commercially reasonable manner. The California Newspaper
Publishers Association (CNPA) opposed the change, claiming
newspaper advertisements were the best means of informing the
entire community of an impending lien sale. The bill was
amended on the Senate Floor to reinsert the newspaper
publication requirement. That amendment erroneously changed the
then existing standard, publish notice within the judicial
district of the sale, to require notice be published in the
county of the sale.
The CNPA is now sponsoring this bill to return the geographic
requirements for publishing notices of lien sales to the
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historic judicial district standard. The CNPA notes, "notices
are only effective if they reach the intended audience, which in
this case are the people who live in the community where the
sale is to take place and where the personal property is
located. To be effective, public notices publicizing an event
must be published in newspapers that are adjudicated and
circulated in communities that are affected by the event.
Allowing advertisers to publish notices in any newspaper in the
county would produce absurd results." By returning the
publication standard to its historic judicial district
requirement the published notice can best reach the local
community members with an interest in the sale.
Fixing the Statutory Language is Consistent With the Prior
Legislation Preserving Judicial Districts for Publication
Purposes: When the Legislature opted to consolidate
California's court system they opted to maintain the judicial
district boundaries. The CNPA notes this decision was for "the
sole purpose of maintaining the system of providing public
notice in a local newspaper of general circulation." The
districts were maintained for publication purposes to ensure
that public notices would target the smaller, presumably more
interested, communities that make up judicial districts and that
the message would not be lost by targeting an entire county.
The CNPA also claims that by leaving "county" in the notice
requirement the potential for malfeasance can occur. For
example the CNPA notes, "a storage facility in Chino could
advertise lien sales in Barstow, a storage facility in the city
of San Bernardino, in Needles. In Los Angeles County, a storage
facility in Santa Monica could notice lien sales in a newspaper
in Claremont; a facility in Santa Clarita could advertise in
Long Beach." This would prevent the information of the sale
from ever reaching the target local audience the law intended
and thus undercut the public notice requirement. By reverting
back to the "judicial district" boundary for notice, the code
language will once again be consistent with its historic intent
of providing notice to the local communities with the greatest
interest in the pending sale.
ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION : In opposition to this bill the
California Self Storage Association (CSSA) states that this is
more than a fix of an erroneously changed word. The CSSA states
this bill serves to shrink the area in which a self-storage
facility can advertise, limits the number of venues for that
advertisement and increases costs. They contend that since the
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erroneously amended provision of AB 655 became law, self-storage
facilities have saved money. Additionally, the CSSA also
suggests there is a need to look beyond newspapers as a means of
advertising upcoming lien sales. In response the author points
to the long-standing tradition of successful notification of
lien sales through newspapers widely circulated in a specific
judicial district.
Prior/ Pending Legislation : AB 655 (Emmerson-2010) amended the
California Self-Storage Facility Act. During the floor
amendment process the notification requirement was changed from
mandating notification of the "judicial district" in which the
sale was to take place to the "county." This bill (SB 279)
seeks to change the notification requirement back to the
judicial district.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
California Newspaper Publishers Association (sponsor)
Opposition
California Self-Storage Association
Analysis Prepared by : Drew Liebert & Nicholas Liedtke / JUD. /
(916) 319-2334