BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 2485
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 9, 2014
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Mike Gatto, Chair
AB 2485 (Dickinson and Ridley-Thomas) - As Amended: March 28,
2014
Policy Committee:
JudiciaryVote:10-0
Urgency: Yes State Mandated Local Program:
Yes Reimbursable: Yes
SUMMARY
This bill:
1)Re-establishes authority, which inadvertently sunset last
year, for the City of Sacramento to participate in a pilot
program allowing the city attorney, until January 1, 2019, to
bring eviction proceedings against tenants for committing
nuisance violations involving unlawful drugs or controlled
substances.
2)Revises the information required to be reported annually by
the city to the California Research Bureau (CRB), and requires
the CRB to submit reports to the Legislature in March 2016 and
March 2018 summarizing the data and evaluating the pilot
program's merits.
FISCAL EFFECT
Minor absorbable costs to the city and to the CRB for the
reporting requirements.
COMMENTS
1)Purpose . The pilot program authorizes the city attorneys,
rather than the landlord or property owner, to initiate
eviction proceedings against tenants for committing nuisance
violations involving controlled substances. This special
statutory authority is unusual because traditionally only the
landlord has authority to file an unlawful detainer against a
tenant for recovery of possession of the property. Under the
AB 2485
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pilot program, the prosecutor must first give 30 calendar days
of written notice documenting the alleged nuisance or illegal
activity to the landlord and the offending tenant, thus
providing the landlord the first opportunity to file an
unlawful detainer action against the offending tenant.
Authority for Sacramento's participation in the program was
first established by AB 530 (Krekorian)/Statutes of 2009, but
that authority lapsed on December 31, 2013 when no statute was
subsequently enacted to continue Sacramento's participation
without interruption. According to City, AB 2485 is needed to
correct that oversight and ensure the continued implementation
and evaluation of the pilot program. (The only other
jurisdiction with such authority is City of Los Angeles. The
City of Long Beach was formerly in the program, but no
legislation has been introduced to extend that city's
authority.)
2)Program Data . According to the most recent CRB report to the
Legislature, which analyzed only 2011 data, the Sacramento
City Attorney's office used this authority on 26 occasions to
send notices of intent to evict to landlords and nuisance
tenants. By contrast, in that time period the Long Beach City
Attorney sent 62 notices and the Los Angeles City Attorney
sent 106 such notices. The percentage of cases in which the
property owner responded by filing an unlawful detainer
directly ranged from 12% in Los Angeles to 24% in Long Beach.
3)Related Legislation . AB 2310 (Ridley-Thomas and Dickinson),
also on today's committee agenda, re-establishes a pilot
program, which also inadvertently sunset last year, allowing
the city attorney in the Cities of Long Beach, Los Angeles,
and Sacramento, until January 1, 2019, to bring eviction
proceedings against tenants for committing nuisance violations
involving unlawful weapons.
Analysis Prepared by : Chuck Nicol / APPR. / (916) 319-2081