BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON GOVERNANCE AND FINANCE
Senator Robert M. Hertzberg, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular
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|Bill No: |AB 679 |Hearing | 7/8/15 |
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|Author: |Travis Allen |Tax Levy: |No |
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|Version: |7/1/15 Amended |Fiscal: |Yes |
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|Consultant|Lewis |
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Documents: recordation.
Requires a county recorder, upon recording any instrument,
paper, or notice as authorized by law, to endorse upon the
instrument the number of pages.
Background and Existing Law
State law requires county recorders (or, in some counties,
clerk-recorders) to accept and record certain documents and
archive them for public access upon payment of proper fees and
taxes. Commonly recorded documents include payments of taxes or
fees, filings of fictitious business names, deeds, mortgage
documents, easements, power of attorney documents, liens, and
many other documents affecting property ownership.
Existing law requires county recorders to indicate, on each
document they receive for recordation, the year, month, day,
hour, and minute of its reception, and the amount of fees for
recording. Most often, county clerk's fees are based on the
number of pages recorded.
Sometimes, pages of recorded documents become lost. When it is
unclear how many pages were originally in a recorded document,
lost pages can result in lengthy and expensive court processes
to restore the document to its original status, or to obtain new
copies. To avoid this scenario, some county clerks'
AB 679 (Travis Allen) 7/1/15 Page 2
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offices-such as San Diego County's-indicate not only when they
received each document, but also its total number of pages, by
affixing a label with this information to the front of the
document.
To save consumers and taxpayers time and money, the author of AB
679 assert that state law should be changed to require all
county clerks to indicate "the number of pages to be recorded"
on each document they receive, in addition to the year, month,
day, hour, and minute it was received.
Proposed Law
Assembly Bill 679 requires a county recorder, upon recording any
instrument, paper, or notice as authorized by law, to endorse
upon the instrument the number of pages in addition to the year,
month, day, hour, and minute it was received.
State Revenue Impact
No estimate.
Comments
1. Purpose of the bill. 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,
thereby reducing the incidence of lengthy and expensive court
procedures to restore or verify recorded documents. Endorsing a
document's total number of pages up front, rather than after a
discrepancy arises, will also reduce the administrative burden
and cost of verifying recorded documents and making copies.
2. What's new? Existing law permits county clerks to note the
number of pages in recorded documents, and at least some county
clerks are already doing so. Many county clerks also charge by
the page, and therefore have to count the number of pages they
record as a practical matter. It is unclear why a change to
state law is necessary if counties already can reflect the page
numbers in recorded documents in the manner suggested by this
bill if they so choose.
3. Mandate . Because, the Legislative Counsel's Office says that
AB 679 (Travis Allen) 7/1/15 Page 3
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because this bill imposing new duties upon the county recorder,
this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. But the
bill disclaims the state's responsibility for reimbursing
counties for compliance with AB 679; this disclaimer is
consistent with the California Constitution, which provides that
the state does not have to reimburse local governments where
local agencies or school districts have the authority to levy
service charges, fees, or assessments sufficient to pay for the
program mandated by the law (Article XIIIB).
Assembly Actions
Assembly Local Government 6-1
Assembly Appropriations 16-0
Assembly Floor 52-14
Support and
Opposition (7/2/15)
Support : Unknown.
Opposition : Unknown.
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