BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 337|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: SB 337
Author: Kehoe (D)
Amended: 4/12/11
Vote: 21
SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE : 3-2, 4/5/11
AYES: Evans, Corbett, Leno
NOES: Harman, Blakeslee
SUBJECT : Tenancy: noncommercial signs
SOURCE : American Civil Liberties Union
DIGEST : This bill provides that a landlord shall not
prohibit a tenant from posting or displaying noncommercial
signs, posters, flags, or banners on or within any portion
of the tenant's dwelling unit, unless specified laws,
covenants or other restrictions would be violated.
ANALYSIS : Existing law regulates the terms and
conditions of residential tenancies. Existing law
prohibits the governing documents of a common interest
development from prohibiting the posting or displaying of
noncommercial signs, posters, flags, or banners on or in an
owner's separate interest, except as specified.
This bill provides that a landlord shall not prohibit a
tenant from posting or displaying noncommercial signs,
posters, flags, or banners on or within any portion of the
tenant's dwelling unit, unless any of the following apply:
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The posting or display would violate a local, state, or
federal law.
The posting or display would violate a provision in the
governing document of a common interest development that
satisfies the requirements in Section 1353.6 of the Civil
Code.
The posting or display would violate a provision in the
covenants, conditions, and restrictions recorded against
the property.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: No
Local: No
SUPPORT : (Verified 4/14/11)
American Civil Liberties Union (source)
TenantsTogether.org
OPPOSITION : (Verified 4/14/11)
Apartment Association, California Southern Cities
Apartment Association of Greater Los Angeles
Apartment Association of Orange County
California Apartment Association
California Association of Realtors
San Diego County Apartment Association
San Francisco Association of Realtors
Santa Barbara Rental Property Association
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : According to the author:
"The ability to freely express one-self ? is denied to
nearly 40% of all Californians. Tenants have no
guaranteed right to expression on the very property they
call home, simply because they are not the legal owner of
where they live.
"While tenants have many rights provided to them under
the law, several forms of expression are not protected.
These forms include flying a flag or banner, posting
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non-commercial signs or even displaying signs that are
political in nature.
"Should people lose their right to freedom of expression
simply because they rent their property? The answer is
no. Any discrimination that prevents freedom of
expression, based on whether or not you own property is a
denial of rights that belong to all people ? SB 337
grants tenants the right to post and display signs, flags
or other noncommercial signs as a form of expression that
may be displayed where they live."
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the bill's
sponsor, states that they have "successfully argued in
court that current California law as expressed in Civil
Code Section 1942.5(c) renders unlawful lease restrictions
that bar tenants from posting political signs on their
leased premises. The legislative history of Section
1945.5(c), made it clear that the Legislature intended that
displaying political signs in windows was covered by the
statutory protection of a tenant's exercise of 'any right
under the law'. SB 337 would provide the specific
statutory protection to post these signs."
ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION : The California Apartment
Association argues that the bill "proposes a significant
and unconstitutional interference with property owners'
rights to set standards at their property . . . and would
deny property owners the ability to impose rules necessary
to prevent visual blight and to prevent the posting of
signs and banners that are offensive to other residents and
the surrounding community."
The California Association of Realtors, Apartment
Association of Greater Los Angeles, San Diego County
Apartment Association, and the Santa Barbara Rental
Property Association oppose the bill on the basis that
"rental property owners and managers must have the
unfettered flexibility to judge what may or may not be
suitable conduct by one resident if it has the prospect of
affecting the quiet enjoyment of other residents in rental
housing." Those organizations further contend that (1) the
bill leaves an apartment owner virtually powerless to
preserve the quiet enjoyment of all residents in apartment
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units; (2) the bill threatens to remove an apartment
owner's legitimate right to control the appearance of
property; (3) that virtually any sign or banner can be hung
or displayed anywhere; and (4) the bill creates new
problems to solve a non-existent one.
The Apartment Association, California Southern Cities, San
Francisco Association of Realtors, and the Apartment
Association of Orange County, in opposition, state similar
concerns and contend, among other things, that the "primary
beneficiary of SB 337 will be the tenants who will taunt
others when they display objectionable signs, banners or
posters," and that "Ýw]hen an alleged violation of law is
at issue concerning the legality of a sign, government will
be the only entity that can determine violation of laws."
RJG:mw 4/12/11 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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