BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



                                                                     AB 679


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          Date of Hearing:  May 13, 2015


                       ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON LOCAL GOVERNMENT


                              Brian Maienschein, Chair


          AB 679  
          (Travis Allen) - As Amended April 20, 2015


          SUBJECT:  Documents: recordation.


          SUMMARY:  Requires any document presented for county recording  
          to state the number 


          of pages to be recorded.  Specifically, this bill:  
          1)Requires any instrument, paper, or notice presented for  
            recordation to state the number 
          of pages to be recorded.



          2)Allows the number of pages to be recorded to be stated on a  
            cover page or a sticker on the first page of the instrument,  
            paper, or notice.


          EXISTING LAW requires the recorder of each county, upon payment  
          of proper fees and taxes, to accept for recordation any  
          instrument, paper, or notice that is authorized or required by  
          law to be recorded.  These documents must comply with specified  
          standards respecting margins, quality of paper, print size and  
          color, and other related matters.









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          FISCAL EFFECT:  None


          COMMENTS:  


          1)Bill Summary.  This bill requires any document presented for  
            county recording to state the number of pages to be recorded,  
            which can be satisfied with a cover page or a sticker attached  
            to the first page of the filing.  This bill is sponsored by  
            the author.



          2)Author's Statement.  According to the author, "This bill would  
            require that a count of all pages to be submitted be on the  
            front page of recorded documents to ensure that no documents  
            are lost.  AB 679 will make it easier for individuals who are  
            submitting documents to be recorded by the county to ensure  
            all pages of a given document are present.  This will,  
            therein, reduce the risk of lengthy and expensive court  
            procedures to restore or verify recorded documents."



          3)Background.  Existing law requires the recorder of each  
            county, upon payment of proper fees and taxes, to accept for  
            recordation any instrument, paper, or notice that is  
            authorized or required by law to be recorded.  These documents  
            must comply with specified standards respecting margins,  
            quality of paper, print size and color, and other related  
            matters.











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            This recording is done by a county-appointed official, the  
            County Recorder (or, in some counties, the Clerk-Recorder),  
            who officially records these documents and archives them 


            for public access.  Documents that are commonly recorded  
            include payments of taxes or fees, filings of fictitious  
            business names, deeds, mortgage documents, easements, power of  
            attorney documents, liens, and any documents that affect the  
            ownership of any given property.



            According to the author, when documents are processed by a  
            county recorder, pages can be lost or go missing, resulting in  
            lengthy and expensive court processes to restore the document  
            and/or provide a new copy.  This bill would require that a  
            count of all pages to be submitted be on the front page of  
            recorded documents to ensure that no documents are lost.  





          4)Arguments in Support.  None on file.



          5)Arguments in Opposition.  The California Land Title  
            Association (CLTA), which has taken an "oppose, unless  
            amended" position, writes:



            "AB 679 could render some documents unrecordable or invalid  
            simply because a new pagination requirement is not fully met:   
            AB 679 would require documents presented to county recorders  
            for recordation to state the number of pages to be recorded  
            sticker affixed to the cover page of the document.  While CLTA  








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            applauds the intent of the legislation, AB 679 as drafted  
            stands to unnecessarily complicate the recordation process and  
            could unintentionally call into question the recordability or  
            validity of documents that do not meet the statute's  
            requirements as currently drafted.  





            "Furthermore, AB 679 provides no safeguards against instances  
            of missing or inaccurate page counts, which could call into  
            question the recordability or validity of documents that have  
            not met the statute's requirements simply because the new  
            pagination count requirement created by this bill is not met  
            or is slightly inaccurate.   Amendments need to be added that  
            make clear that failing to comply with this new requirement do  
            NOT render the document unrecordable or invalid.





            "AB 679 could result in delays in real property transactions:   
            The new requirement, if it is interpreted to make a document  
            unrecordable or invalid could substantially slow down real  
            estate transactions if documents are rejected at the time of  
            presentation, or complicate consummated transactions if the  
            validity of documents is challenged after recordation due to  
            missing or inaccurate page counts.  It is vital that AB 679  
            expressly states that if the page counts are missing or  
            inaccurate that the recordability or validity of the documents  
            not be affected.





            "AB 679 should be optional for country recorders:  Given that  








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            there has not been a hew and cry throughout California to  
            require pagination up to this point, CLTA asserts that such a  
            requirement is an isolated matter and county recorders,  
            subject to retooling of operations and procedures every time a  
            new recording requirement is created, should be free to adopt  
            or reject this new requirement.  In short, counties should be  
            allowed to "opt in" to such a program.  CLTA believes  
            amendments should be taken to make this opt in provision  
            clear."





          REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:




          Support                    Opposition


          None on file                  California Land Title Association







          Analysis Prepared by:Angela Mapp / L. GOV. / (916) 319-3958
















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