BILL ANALYSIS Ó
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 2485|
|Office of Senate Floor Analyses | |
|1020 N Street, Suite 524 | |
|(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | |
|327-4478 | |
-----------------------------------------------------------------
THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 2485
Author: Dickinson (D) and Ridley Thomas (D)
Amended: 8/4/14 in Senate
Vote: 27 - Urgency
SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE : 6-1, 6/24/14
AYES: Jackson, Corbett, Lara, Leno, Monning, Vidak
NOES: Anderson
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : Senate Rule 28.8
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 71-0, 4/24/14 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Unlawful detainer: nuisance: controlled substances
SOURCE : City of Sacramento
DIGEST : This bill reauthorizes a lapsed pilot program
allowing city attorneys or prosecutors in specified cities to
bring an unlawful detainer action in the name of the people
against a tenant for illegal conduct involving a controlled
substance on real property. This bill also requires a court
hearing an unlawful detainer action pursuant to the bill's
provisions to enter a specified order depending on whether
grounds for an eviction or a partial eviction have been
established.
ANALYSIS :
Existing law:
CONTINUED
AB 2485
Page
2
1. Provides that anything which is injurious to health,
including, but not limited to, the illegal sale of controlled
substances, or is indecent or offensive to the senses, or an
obstruction to the free use of property, so as to interfere
with the comfortable enjoyment of life or property, or
unlawfully obstructs the free passage or use, in the
customary manner, of any navigable lake, or river, bay,
stream, canal, or basin, or any public park, square, street,
or highway, is a nuisance.
2. Provides that every building or place used for the purpose
of unlawfully selling, serving, storing, keeping,
manufacturing, or giving away any controlled substance,
precursor, or analog, and every building or place wherein or
upon which those acts take place, is a nuisance which shall
be enjoined, abated, and prevented, and for which damages may
be recovered, whether it is a public or private nuisance.
3. Permits a landlord to file an unlawful detainer action
against a tenant in order to evict him/her when, among other
things, the tenant has: (a) committed waste upon the
premises contrary to the conditions of the lease; or (b)
committed or maintained a nuisance upon the premises or
permitted the nuisance to be committed or maintained. While
a landlord must prove each element of the unlawful detainer
action, the tenant may also present evidence to support an
affirmative defense which, if proved, defeats the landlord's
right to possession.
4. Permits a city prosecutor or city attorney to file, in the
name of the people, an action for unlawful detainer against a
tenant to abate a nuisance caused by illegal conduct
involving a controlled substance on real property, as
provided.
5. Provides that such an unlawful detainer action shall be
based upon an arrest report or other report by a law
enforcement agency, reporting an offense committed on the
property and documented by the observations of a police
officer.
6. States that prior to filing an unlawful detainer action, the
city prosecutor or city attorney shall give 30 calendar days'
CONTINUED
AB 2485
Page
3
written notice to the owner, requiring the owner to file an
action for the removal of the person who is creating the
nuisance, and shall include sufficient documentation
establishing the nuisance. Also requires the city prosecutor
or city attorney to provide a specified written notice to the
tenant allegedly creating the nuisance 30 calendar days prior
to filing an unlawful detainer action.
7. Provides that an owner shall, within 30 calendar days of the
mailing of the written notice, either provide the city
prosecutor or city attorney with all relevant information
pertaining to the unlawful detainer case, or provide a
written explanation setting forth any safety-related reasons
for noncompliance, and an assignment to the city prosecutor
or city attorney of the right to bring an unlawful detainer
action against the tenant. The assignment shall be on a form
provided by the city prosecutor or city attorney and may
contain a provision for costs of investigation, discovery,
and reasonable attorney's fees, in an amount not to exceed
$600.
8. Provides that upon the failure of an owner to file the
unlawful detainer action, or to respond to the city
prosecutor or city attorney as required, or having filed an
action, if the owner fails to prosecute it diligently and in
good faith, the city prosecutor or city attorney may file and
prosecute the action, and join the owner as a defendant in
the action. Also provides that if a jury or court finds the
defendant tenant guilty of unlawful detainer, the city
prosecutor or city attorney may be awarded costs, including
the costs of investigation and discovery and reasonable
attorney's fees, assessed against the defendant owner.
9. States that in an unlawful detainer proceeding, a court may
issue a partial eviction ordering the removal of any person,
including, but not limited to, members of the tenant's
household if the court finds that the person has created a
nuisance, as specified. Persons removed pursuant to this
provision may be permanently barred from returning to or
reentering any portion of the premises, and the court may
further order as an express condition of the tenancy that the
remaining tenants shall not give permission or invite the
person who has been removed to return to or reenter any
portion of the premises.
CONTINUED
AB 2485
Page
4
10.States that the authority to bring an unlawful detainer
against a tenant to abate a nuisance caused by illegal
conduct involving a controlled substance on real property
described above shall apply only to the City of Los Angeles.
This bill:
1. Extends, until January 1, 2019, the authority to bring an
action for unlawful detainer under the above provisions to
the City of Sacramento and the City of Oakland as part of an
unlawful detainer pilot program.
2. Requires jurisdictions participating in the pilot program to
transmit specified information to the California Research
Bureau (CRB) regarding their use of the program. Requires
the CRB to report to the Senate and Assembly Judiciary
Committees on the use of this program by participating
jurisdictions, as specified.
3. Provides that a property owner shall only be required to pay
the costs or fees associated with assigning an unlawful
detainer action under this program upon acceptance of the
assignment for unlawful detainer by the jurisdiction
participating in the pilot program or by the City of Los
Angeles, as specified.
4. Requires a court hearing an unlawful detainer action
pursuant to this bill's provisions to enter a specified order
depending on whether grounds for an eviction or a partial
eviction have been established. The court has discretion to
dismiss the action or stay the execution of an order of
eviction for a reasonable time if the tenant can show, by
clear and convincing evidence, that immediate eviction would
pose extreme hardship that outweighs the benefit to the
community.
5. Requires jurisdictions to make a good faith effort to comply
with requirements of this bill.
Background
In 1988, the Legislature passed and Governor Deukmejian signed
CONTINUED
AB 2485
Page
5
AB 1384 (Havice, Chapter 613, Statutes of 1998) to create a
pilot project within five former Los Angeles Municipal Court
districts to allow city attorneys and district attorneys to seek
the eviction of any person who is in violation of particular
nuisance or controlled substance laws. The pilot project became
effective on January 1, 1999, for a three-year trial period.
Participating cities were required to collect specified data on
their experiences under the pilot program and transmit that data
to Judicial Council (JC). A required JC report, issued on
January 31, 2001, was unable to provide a full evaluation of the
merits of the pilot program due to insufficient data. (See
Unlawful Detainer Pilot Project Report (Feb. 2001)
(as of June 14, 2014))
AB 815 (Havice, Chapter 431) was enacted in 2001 to add
additional cities to the pilot program and to extend the program
for three additional years. The bill also modified the program
to expressly allow courts to order "partial evictions" to allow
other tenants to maintain possession of a premise if the target
of an unlawful detainer eviction had permanently vacated the
premises. A required JC report, issued on April 22, 2004, could
not fully evaluate the program again due to insufficient data,
but observed:
The ultimate evidence of the programs success is the creation
of a safer environment and improved quality of life for
lawabiding tenants through the removal of offending tenants
from the community. . . . Beyond anecdotal evidence provided
by the pilot programs, however, no data are available to
assess the impacts of the programs on safety and quality of
life in this regard. (Unlawful Detainer Pilot Program Report
(Apr. 2004)
(as of Jun. 14, 2014).)
In 2004, AB 2523 (Frommer, Chapter 304) further extended the
unlawful detainer pilot program to January 1, 2010, and
augmented the reporting requirements for participating
jurisdictions. The bill also required two additional JC reports
to the Senate and Assembly Judiciary Committees summarizing the
collected information and evaluating the merits of the pilot
program. A 2007 JC report again could not fully evaluate the
program, noting "[e]valuation of the merits of the pilot program
CONTINUED
AB 2485
Page
6
is necessarily limited by the data received from the
participating pilot cities." (Unlawful Detainer Pilot Program
Report (Apr. 2007) (as of Jun. 14,
2014).)
In 2007, AB 1013 (Krekorian, Chapter 456) was enacted to create
a similar pilot program to allow city attorneys and prosecutors
to seek the eviction of tenants who violated specified weapons
and ammunitions offenses while in rental property. This
program, which was to sunset on January 1, 2010, was extended
four years along with the nuisance and controlled substance
pilot program by AB 530 (Krekorian, Chapter 244, Statutes of
2009). AB 530 added the City of Sacramento to the controlled
substances pilot program, and exempted the City of Los Angeles
from the sunset date of the controlled substances program,
thereby extending the program indefinitely for that city. AB
530 made additional changes to the eviction notice and reporting
requirements of both pilot programs. A 2009 JC report again
could not fully evaluate the merits of the program, noting the
failure of participating jurisdictions to consistently report
required data. (Unlawful Detainer Pilot Program Report (Apr.
2009) (as of
Jun. 14, 2014).)
As part of the changes to the pilot programs' reporting
requirements, AB 530 directed participating jurisdictions to
report specific information to the CRB for analysis. The most
recent report from CRB noted, nonetheless, that "[c]urrent
reporting requirements and practices make it difficult to assess
the overall merits of the [unlawful detainer] pilot programs."
(Lindsey, City-Attorney-Sponsored Unlawful Detainer in
California Part I: Mandated Information 2013 Report to the
Legislature (April 2013)
(as of June 14,
2014).)
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: Yes
SUPPORT : (Verified 8/5/14)
City of Sacramento (source)
CONTINUED
AB 2485
Page
7
Apartment Association of Greater Los Angeles
California Apartment Association
Los Angeles City Attorney
Santa Barbara Rental Property Association
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : The author writes:
Persons who use their residential premises for illegal
activity involving firearms, ammunition and controlled
substances threaten the health and safety of their neighbors,
and create conditions which are deleterious to the
neighborhood within which they live. Existing law provides
that a tenant who maintains, commits, or permits these kinds
of nuisances upon the premises is subject to eviction pursuant
to an unlawful detainer action.
In some instances, a landlord is unwilling or unable to take
action to evict a tenant who is committing an illegal
controlled substance or firearm related crime on his [or] her
property. In those cases, the crime continues to occur and
the harms the crime causes persist. In recognition of this
fact the Legislature granted the Office of the Sacramento City
Attorney and several other city attorneys the authority to
file an action for unlawful detainer against any person who
was in violation of the nuisance or the illegal purpose
provision, with respect to controlled substances or unlawful
weapons or ammunition.
. . .
This bill seeks to re-establish pilot authority for the City
of Sacramento to continue to participate in the controlled
substances-related eviction program pursuant to Civil Code
Section 3486. Authority for Sacramento's participation in the
program was first established by AB 530 (Krekorian), [Chapter]
244, [Statutes of] 2009, but that authority lapsed on December
31, 2013 pursuant to the sunset date in AB 530 when no statute
was subsequently enacted to continue Sacramento's
participation without interruption.
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 71-0, 4/24/14
AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Allen, Ammiano, Atkins, Bigelow, Bloom,
Bocanegra, Bonilla, Bonta, Bradford, Brown, Buchanan, Ian
Calderon, Campos, Chau, Chávez, Chesbro, Cooley, Dababneh,
Dahle, Daly, Dickinson, Eggman, Fong, Fox, Frazier, Beth
CONTINUED
AB 2485
Page
8
Gaines, Garcia, Gatto, Gomez, Gonzalez, Gordon, Gorell, Grove,
Hagman, Hall, Roger Hernández, Holden, Jones, Jones-Sawyer,
Levine, Linder, Logue, Lowenthal, Maienschein, Medina,
Melendez, Mullin, Muratsuchi, Nestande, Pan, Patterson, Perea,
V. Manuel Pérez, Quirk, Quirk-Silva, Rendon, Ridley-Thomas,
Rodriguez, Salas, Skinner, Stone, Ting, Wagner, Waldron,
Weber, Wieckowski, Williams, Yamada, John A. Pérez
NO VOTE RECORDED: Conway, Donnelly, Gray, Harkey, Mansoor,
Nazarian, Olsen, Wilk, Vacancy
AL:k 8/5/14 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
**** END ****
CONTINUED