BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 683
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Date of Hearing: April 3, 2013
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON LOCAL GOVERNMENT
K.H. "Katcho" Achadjian, Chair
AB 683 (Mullin) - As Introduced: February 21, 2013
SUBJECT : Local government: fines and penalties: assessments.
SUMMARY : Authorizes, until January 1, 2020, a city or county,
after notice and public hearing, to impose a special assessment
and to record a lien against real property that has incurred
fines or penalties for violating public health and safety
ordinances. Specifically, this bill :
1)Authorizes a city, county, or city and county, after notice
and public hearing, to order unpaid fines or penalties to be
specially assessed against a parcel if the fines or penalties
are related to ordinance violations on the real property that
constitute a threat to public health and safety.
2)Requires the city, county, or city and county to mail or
deliver notice of the hearing at least 15 days beforehand to
the parcel owner. Ownership of the parcel shall be determined
by the latest assessment roll, the records of the county
assessor, or the records of the tax collector, whichever is
most recent.
3)Allows the assessment to be collected at the same time and in
the same manner as ordinary county taxes and subjects the
assessment to the same penalties, procedure and sale in case
of delinquency as are provided for ordinary county taxes.
4)Declares that all laws applicable to the levy, collection, and
enforcement of county taxes apply to the special assessment,
except that the special assessment is not subject to the
priority for special assessment liens pursuant to current law.
5)Provides that the assessment does not constitute a lien on the
real property until a notice of lien is recorded pursuant to
this bill's provisions.
6)Provides that, if a city, county, or city and county specially
assesses the cost of the administrative fines or penalties
against the parcel, the city, county, or city and county may
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record a notice of lien to perfect the lien. The notice must
identify the assessor's parcel number and record owner, set
forth the last known address of the record owner, set forth
the date upon which assessment was ordered by the city,
county, or city and county, and identify the amount of the
lien.
7)Declares that recordation of a notice of lien has the same
effect as recordation of an abstract of a money judgment. The
lien against the parcel has the same force, effect, and
priority as a judgment lien on real property. The city,
county, or city and county, or any authorized officer may
release or subordinate the lien in the same manner as
releasing or subordinating a judgment lien on real property.
8)Authorizes a city, county, or city and county, by ordinance,
to combine the administrative procedures that govern the
imposition, enforcement, collection, and administrative review
of administrative fines and penalties with existing nuisance
abatement procedures authorized in statute for cities and
counties.
9)Provides that the administrative procedures adopted by
ordinance governing the imposition, enforcement, collection,
and administrative review of administrative fines and
penalties may authorize the appointment of hearing officers to
hear and decide these issues.
10)Declares that the powers given to the legislative body of a
city, county, or city and county pursuant to this bill and
existing law governing the imposition, enforcement,
collection, and administrative review of administrative fines
and penalties is in addition to any other powers of a city,
county, or city and county under its charter or any other
legal authority.
11)Sunsets the bill's provisions on January 1, 2020.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Allows the legislative body of a city, county, school
district, municipal corporation, district, political
subdivision, or any board, commission, or agency thereof, or
other local public agency to make any violation of any
ordinance enacted by the legislative body subject to an
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administrative fine or penalty.
2)Allows cities and counties to establish by ordinance a
procedure to collect nuisance abatement costs and related
administrative costs by a nuisance abatement lien or a special
assessment.
3)Allows a county board of supervisors to delegate its powers
and duties to establish a nuisance abatement procedure to a
hearing officer pursuant to statutory provisions governing
hearing officers.
FISCAL EFFECT : None
COMMENTS :
1)This bill authorizes a city or county, after notice and public
hearing, to specially assess and record a notice of lien for
fines or penalties related to ordinance violations that
constitute a threat to public health and safety on the real
property for which the fines or penalties are being assessed
or recorded, if the owner of the real property fails to pay
those fines or penalties after demand by the city or county.
According to the author, "AB 683 closes the loop on an anomaly
where cities and counties can recover their costs for code
enforcement by way of lien or tax assessment - but are not
able to similarly enforce fines. AB 683 allows local
governments to enforce local law against those that are in
violation of local health and safety ordinances."
2)Current law allows cities and counties to establish, by
ordinance, procedures to recover their costs for abating
nuisance conditions on private property. They can do this via
a special assessment or a nuisance abatement lien, and must
follow specified notice and (for counties) public hearing
requirements beforehand. Assessments can be collected on the
property tax bill, subject to the same penalties, procedures
and sale in case of delinquency as for ordinary county or
municipal taxes. All laws regarding the levy, collection and
enforcement of county or city taxes apply to the special
assessment. Nuisance abatement liens, once recorded, have the
same effect as a judgment lien.
3)Cities and counties may also impose administrative fines or
penalties for violations of their ordinances if they adopt an
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ordinance that specifies the administrative procedures that
govern the imposition, enforcement, collection and
administrative review of these fines and penalties. If a fine
or penalty remains unpaid, local agencies must go to court to
collect. Supporters note that the court process is lengthy
and costly for local jurisdictions to pursue. This bill
provides mechanisms that local jurisdictions may use to
collect fines and penalties that mirror the procedures that
current law allows for nuisance abatement cost recovery.
4)The Legislature has approved the provisions of this bill
twice: AB 129 (Beall) of 2011 was identical to this bill, and
AB 2613 (Beall) of 2010 contained nearly identical provisions.
Both bills were vetoed. The veto message for AB 129 stated:
"At a time when property owners are struggling to pay their
mortgages, this bill would weaken the due process requirements
for local building departments to obtain property liens.
Local governments already have a fair process in place, and I
see no reason to change it."
The Committee may wish to ask the author and sponsor how they
plan to address concerns raised in the previous veto messages.
5)Support arguments : Supporters argue that allowing local
agencies to collect unpaid administrative fines/penalties
through the property tax collection system and to combine
their administrative fine/penalty and nuisance abatement
processes provides cities and counties with a more efficient
collection mechanism than civil litigation.
Opposition arguments : Opposition could argue that liens are a
powerful tool that should only be used in the most limited
circumstances. Expanding the liabilities for which a lien may
be imposed to include fines could offer incentives for local
governments to increase fines and set a precedent for further
expansion of special assessments and liens.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
California Association of County Treasurers and Tax Collectors
[SPONSOR]
American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees,
AB 683
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AFL-CIO
California State Association of Counties
Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors
Opposition
None on file
Analysis Prepared by : Angela Mapp / L. GOV. / (916) 319-3958