BILL ANALYSIS Ó AB 1513 Page 1 ASSEMBLY THIRD READING AB 1513 (Fox) As Amended May 6, 2014 Majority vote JUDICIARY 9-1 APPROPRIATIONS 16-0 ----------------------------------------------------------------- |Ayes:|Wieckowski, Wagner, |Ayes:|Gatto, Bigelow, | | |Alejo, Chau, Dickinson, | |Bocanegra, Bradford, Ian | | |Garcia, Gorell, | |Calderon, Campos, Eggman, | | |Maienschein, Muratsuchi | |Gomez, Holden, Jones, | | | | |Linder, Pan, Quirk, | | | | |Ridley-Thomas, Wagner, | | | | |Weber | |-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------| |Nays:|Stone | | | | | | | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- SUMMARY : Establishes, until 2018, a pilot program to facilitate enforcement of criminal trespassing laws against persons occupying residential property that, pursuant to the program, has been registered with and verified by local law enforcement to be vacant. Specifically, this bill : 1)Authorizes the owner of vacant real property, or his agent, to register vacant property with the local police agency using a specified form, signed under penalty of perjury, and attesting that the property is vacant and is not authorized to be occupied by any person. 2)Requires the registration to be accompanied by a statement providing the name, address and telephone number at which the owner can be contacted within a 24-hour period, and a statement that either the police agency or a licensed private security services company has been retained to comply with specified inspection and reporting provisions, together with a copy of any agreement or contract to perform such services. 3)Requires the owner or the owner's agent to register the vacant property no later than three days after learning that the property is vacant. 4)Authorizes the owner or his agent to execute a "Declaration of AB 1513 Page 2 Ownership," worded as specified or in substantially similar language, and file it with the district attorney of the jurisdiction in which the property is located. Further requires the owner to post the declaration on the unoccupied residential property listed in the declaration if he also files it with the district attorney. 5)Requires the owner or owner's agent, immediately after authorizing a person to occupy the vacant property, to issue a written authorization to the person authorized to occupy the property and notify the police agency where the property is registered and terminate the registration. 6)Requires a licensed private security services company or police agency retained by the owner or owner's agent pursuant to the pilot program to inspect the vacant property not less than once every three days, and immediately notify the police agency where the property is registered if any unauthorized person is found on the property. 7)Requires the police agency where the property is registered to respond to the property as soon as practicable after being notified by the licensed security business that an unauthorized person is found on the property. Further requires the responding officer to do all of the following: a) Verify that the property was inspected at least three days prior and found to be vacant by the licensed security business or police agency. b) Ascertain the identity of any persons found on the property. c) Require the production of written authorization to be on the property. d) Advise any person who does not produce written authorization that the person has 48 hours to obtain written authorization from the owner of the property, or the owner's agent, to be on the property, and that the person will be subject to arrest for trespass if the person is subsequently found on the property without such authorization. AB 1513 Page 3 e) Verify with the owner or the owner's agent that the property is vacant. 8)Provides that any person found on vacant property not less than 48 hours after receiving the above warning notification is guilty of trespass and, upon conviction, is subject to imprisonment in a county jail not exceeding one year, or by a fine not exceeding $1,000, or both. 9)Provides that the local city council or board of supervisors shall establish fees for registering a vacant property with the local police agency and for the conduct of inspections by the police agency pursuant to this bill. 10)Limits application of these provisions to residential property consisting of one to four units, located in the Cities of Palmdale and Lancaster, in Los Angeles County. 11)Establishes a sunset date of January 1, 2018, for these provisions. FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Assembly Appropriations Committee, the costs for the two cities in the pilot program to process registrations and to conduct inspections, when so requested by a property owner, should be covered by the fees authorized in the bill. To establish the program and the registration system, each city might incur some start-up costs, which would be state reimbursable but should be minor. Finally, both cities will incur non-reimbursable costs for enforcement, offset to some extent by fine revenues. COMMENTS : This bill, sponsored by the California Association of Realtors, seeks to provide property owners with an additional tool to enforce criminal trespass laws in cities where the so-called practice of "squatting" by unauthorized occupants in residential property poses a problem to the community at large. According to the author, "Unlawful detainer laws are not specifically designed to provide law enforcement officials the tools they need to assist owners of residential real property in their efforts to remove, or prevent occupancy by squatters on vacant properties. It is clear that under California law it can take a minimum of 30-60 days to evict a sophisticated squatter. This bill will provide a definitive remedy for owners of AB 1513 Page 4 residences in California that have been taken over by squatters." The bill outlines a pilot project to allow property owners to declare property to be vacant, register it with local law enforcement, and gain greater certainty that any subsequent trespasser upon the property will be subject to arrest for trespassing, so long as regular inspection of the property at three day intervals has confirmed it to be vacant since the date of registration. According to the intent language of the bill, the program is intended to provide a means to deter squatting at an early stage and to provide a second chance for squatters to vacate the premises in lieu of arrest, and is not intended to be an abridgment of other statutes relating to trespass or civil eviction proceedings. It is believed that the threat of arrest for trespassing on a property registered under this program (and so noticed on the property itself) will serve as a deterrent to those persons who the author and sponsor believe to be sophisticated squatters targeting vacant properties in many California cities. The property owner registering the property under this program must provide a phone number he can be reached at within a 24-hour period, which is intended to enable law enforcement to quickly contact the owner should unauthorized occupants ever be discovered on the property during one of the regular inspections required under the program. In addition, the owner must retain either law enforcement or a private security service to regularly inspect the vacant property, and provide a copy of the contract or agreement to perform those services at the time of registration. The security company or law enforcement agent must then inspect the vacant property at least every three days to ensure it is vacant. According to the author, this key requirement is intended to ensure that the properties registered with this program truly are vacant properties from the first day of registration, and are not occupied by holdover tenants or any other persons with legitimate claim to possess the property. It is thought that the regular inspection of the property at least once every three days will reveal quickly whether the property is a foreclosure property with a holdover tenant, or a vacant property as AB 1513 Page 5 declared to be by the owner under penalty of perjury. If the property is established to be vacant as a condition of registration, then subsequent discovery of an occupant on the property would indicate that the person indeed fits the description of a "squatter," and is not a holdover tenant who had been living openly in the property, never having any idea that the owner had sworn the property to be vacant despite the occupant's presence. Under the program, law enforcement is required to respond soon after being notified that an unauthorized person has been found on the property. The bill provides that law enforcement responding to a first call shall not arrest the person for trespass, but instead advise him or her that written authorization from the owner must be acquired within 48 hours, or the person is subject to arrest upon the officer's next inspection of the property. According to the sponsor, this simple allowance provides a second chance for any unauthorized occupant to vacate the premises in lieu of arrest, and demonstrates the author's commitment to avoid arrest of people who might otherwise be persuaded to move along after a single visit from law enforcement. For those who are arrested and convicted of trespass under this bill, the criminal penalty is imprisonment in the county jail for up to one year and a fine of up to $1,000, or both. The pilot program established by this bill applies to residential property of one to four units, with the Cities of Palmdale and Lancaster named as the initial cities to participate in the program. The author anticipates that several more cities will voluntarily seek to be included as the bill moves forward, given the reported prevalence of squatting in certain areas of California where vacant homes are common as a result of the recent foreclosure crisis. Recent author amendments attempt to address workability problems with the proposed pilot program, and signal the author's continued willingness to work with opponents and other stakeholders as the bill moves forward. This bill is opposed by a number of tenant advocate groups, who contend that the bill compromises established due process protections for occupants of property who may be legitimately entitled to possession of the premises. They state, "This bill would substantially change landlord-tenant law, bypassing the AB 1513 Page 6 most basic due process requirement of an opportunity to be heard in court. Proponents have made no showing that existing laws governing trespass and eviction are insufficient to sort out occupancy by unauthorized persons. For years, post-foreclosure owners blatantly violated tenants' rights by improperly treating tenants as unknown occupants, utilizing a loophole in state law that was recently addressed by the tenant protections in the Homeowner Bill of Rights (HBOR). HBOR allows any tenant in the property unnamed in an unlawful detainer action to file a claim of right to possession at any time to get a hearing to determine whether the tenant can become a party to the eviction action. By allowing owners to circumvent the entire court eviction process when the right to occupy is disputed, the current proposal would undermine the very protections the legislature just adopted in HBOR." Analysis Prepared by : Anthony Lew / JUD. / (916) 319-2334 FN: 0003437