BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SB 488
Page 1
SENATE THIRD READING
SB 488 (Hueso)
As Amended June 26, 2012
Majority vote
SENATE VOTE :34-0
HOUSING 7-0
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|Ayes:|Chau, Beth Gaines, |
| |Atkins, Brown, |
| |Maienschein, Quirk-Silva, |
| |Mullin |
| | |
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SUMMARY : Authorizes local code enforcement officers to
determine an infestation of insects, vermin, or rodents and lack
of adequate garbage and rubbish storage and removal facilities
for purposes of deeming a building to be substandard.
Specifically, this bill :
1)Authorizes code enforcement officers to determine an
infestation of insects, vermin, or rodents, upon successful
completion of a course of study in the appropriate subject
matter as determined by the local jurisdiction, if an
agreement does not exist with an agency that has a health
officer to make such determinations.
2)Authorizes code enforcement officers to determine a lack of
adequate garbage and rubbish storage and removal facilities if
an agreement does not exist with an agency that has a health
officer to make such determinations.
3)Makes various findings and declarations related to exposure to
pests and the resulting health impact.
FISCAL EFFECT : None
COMMENTS : Current law lists various conditions that, if present
in a residential building to an extent that there is a danger to
public health and safety, require that the building be declared
substandard. Inadequate sanitation is one of those conditions,
which the law specifies includes, but is not limited to, 15
SB 488
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different conditions. Two of those conditions are infestation
of insects, vermin, or rodents and a lack of adequate garbage
facilities. While each jurisdiction's code enforcement
department is typically responsible for inspecting buildings and
determining whether a building is substandard, in the case of
infestations and a lack of garbage facilities the law specifies
that those determinations can only be made by a health officer.
A health officer is typically a county position; very few cities
have a health officer. Many cities across the state do not have
an agreement for the services of a health officer, so there is
no way to legally determine an infestation or inadequate garbage
facilities in these jurisdictions. This leaves tenants living
in infested housing with little recourse to ensure their housing
is safe and habitable.
In 2011, the California Healthy Housing Coalition conducted an
informal survey of code enforcement officers through the
California Association of Code Enforcement Officers and found
that 40% had experienced barriers to enforcing pest infestations
in their community. The types of barriers generally fell into
the following categories:
1)Efficiency-Extra coordination and time is needed for
additional inspection by the county, delaying resolution.
2)Responsiveness-For a variety of reasons, counties can be slow
to do inspections, delaying resolution.
3)Fiscal-Cities unable to pay for county services, resulting in
an inability to resolve problems.
4)Legal-Cities without county services cannot cite or mandate
compliance, resulting in a reliance on voluntary compliance to
resolve problems.
This bill allows local code enforcement officers to determine
infestations and inadequate garbage facilities if there is no
agreement in place for a health officer to perform this work.
The bill requires that in order to determine infestations, code
enforcement officers must first complete a course of study in
the appropriate subject matter as determined by the local
jurisdiction.
SB 488
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According to the bill's sponsors, pest infestations are a common
problem in California's housing, particularly in rental housing,
and can have significant impacts on residents' health, including
triggering asthma and skin conditions. They state that a wide
range of healthy homes programs, legal aid organizations, and
public health groups that conduct home visits list pests as one
of the most common problems they encounter that make a home
unhealthy. One of the sponsors, the Regional Asthma Management
and Prevention Initiative (RAMP) cites as an example a healthy
homes program finding in the City of San Diego of pest
infestations in more than 90% of the 400 plus housing units they
inspected. This bill will ensure that infestations can be
addressed throughout the state rather than just in jurisdictions
that have a health officer or have the resources to contract
with a health officer.
Analysis Prepared by : Anya Lawler / H. & C.D. / (916)
319-2085
FN: 0001331