BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 679
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Date of Hearing: May 27, 2015
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Jimmy Gomez, Chair
AB
679 (Travis Allen) - As Amended May 18, 2015
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Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: YesReimbursable:
No
SUMMARY:
This bill requires any document presented for county recording
to state the number
AB 679
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of pages to be recorded, and requires the county recorder to
verify the number of pages stated on the cover page match the
number of pages presented for recordation.
FISCAL EFFECT:
Minor nonreimbursable state mandated costs. County recorders
are authorized to assess fees to recover the administrative cost
of recording documents if the administrative cost increases.
COMMENTS:
1)Purpose. 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."
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.
2)Background. Existing law requires the recorder of each
county, upon payment of proper fees and taxes, to accept for
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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. 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.
3)Opposition. The California Land Title Association (CLTA) has
raised three issues: 1) this bill could render some documents
unrecordable or invalid simply because they do not meet the
new requirements; 2) this bill could result in delay in
property transactions; 3) the new provisions should be
optional.
Analysis Prepared by:Pedro R. Reyes / APPR. / (916)
319-2081