BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 1267
Page 1
ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AB
1267 (Bloom)
As Amended April 27, 2015
Majority vote
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|Committee |Votes |Ayes |Noes |
|----------------+------+---------------------+----------------------|
|Judiciary |10-0 |Mark Stone, Wagner, | |
| | |Alejo, Chau, Chiu, | |
| | |Gallagher, Cristina | |
| | |Garcia, Holden, | |
| | |Maienschein, | |
| | |O'Donnell | |
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SUMMARY: Extends an existing law that prohibits a person from
filing or recording lawsuits, liens, and other encumbrances
against a public official or employee for purposes of harassment,
and that provide corresponding remedies to the victims thereof,
to any person or entity subject to such lawsuit, lien, or
encumbrance. Specifically, this bill:
1)Prohibits a person from filing or recording a lawsuit, lien, or
encumbrance against another person or entity, knowing it is
false, with the intent to harass the person or entity or to
influence or hinder the person in discharging his or her
official duties if the person is a public officer or employee.
Subjects any person who knowingly violates this provision to a
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$5,000 civil penalty.
2)Permits a person or entity that is subject to lien or
encumbrance that violates the provisions of this bill to
petition the appropriate superior court. Requires the court to
order the lien or other encumbrance claimant to appear at a
hearing before the court and show cause why the lien or other
encumbrance should not be stricken and other appropriate relief
granted. If the court finds that lien or encumbrance was
unlawfully filed, the court shall strike the lien or encumbrance
and award costs and reasonable attorney's fees to the
petitioner. If the court finds that the lien or encumbrance is
valid, it shall issue an order so stating and award costs and
reasonable attorney's fees to the lien or encumbrance claimant.
EXISTING LAW:
1)Prohibits a person from filing or recording a lawsuit, lien, or
other encumbrance, as specified, against a public officer or
employee, knowing it is false, with the intent to harass the
officer or employee or to influence or hinder the public officer
or employee in discharging his or her official duties. Subjects
any person who knowingly violates this provision to a $5,000
civil penalty.
2)Permits a public officer or employee whose property is subject
to a lien or encumbrance that violates the above provision to
petition the appropriate superior court for an order directing
the lien or encumbrance claimant to appear at a hearing to show
why the lien or encumbrance should not be stricken and other
appropriate relief granted. If the court finds that the lien or
encumbrance was unlawfully filed, the court shall strike the
lien or encumbrance and award costs and reasonable attorney's
fees to the petitioner. If the court finds that the lien or
encumbrance is valid, it shall issue an order so stating and
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award costs and reasonable attorney's fees to the lien or
encumbrance claimant.
3)Makes a person who knowingly procures or offers any false or
forged instrument to be filed, registered, or recorded in any
public office within this state, as specified, guilty of a
felony, and provides a process to allow a judge to declare an
instrument void, as specified.
FISCAL EFFECT: None
COMMENTS: Sponsored by the Anti-Defamation League, this bill
seeks to address the problem of "paper terrorism" - or the
practice of filing legal documents, knowing that they are false
and meritless, in order to harass, intimidate, threaten, or
retaliate against both public officials and private citizens. The
author and sponsor are particularly concerned by extremist
anti-government groups, especially the so-called "sovereign
citizen" movement. For example, one "sovereign citizen" member in
Chico, California, filed false liens against judges, lawyers,
Internal Revenue Service officers, and private witnesses who were
involved in his trial for various kinds of tax fraud. In November
of 2014, he was sentenced to three years in federal prison.
Existing Law Protects Public Officials and Public Employees.
Existing law prohibits a person from filing a knowingly false
lawsuit, lien, or encumbrance against a public official or
employee for the purposes of harassing the official or employee,
or attempting to influence or interfere with the official or
employee in the carrying out of his or her official duties.
Existing law also provides expedited procedures by which a public
official or employee may seek civil remedies and have a false lien
or encumbrance removed from the record. Specifically, existing
law allows a public official or employee to file a petition with
the superior court for an order requiring the person who filed the
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false and harassing document to appear before the court and show
cause why the lien or encumbrance should not be stricken from the
record. (In the case of a falsely filed lawsuit, there is, of
course, no need to require the person who recorded the false
document to appear before the court since there is already a
lawsuit.) If the court finds that the lien or encumbrance was
filed only to harass or unduly influence the official or employee,
the court will strike the lien or encumbrance and award costs and
reasonable attorney's fees to the victim. If, on the other hand,
the court finds that the lien or encumbrance was lawfully and
legitimately recorded, then the lien or encumbrance stays on the
books and the person wrongly accused of recording the false
document will be awarded costs and attorney's fees. The person
who filed the false lawsuit, however, would be subject to a $5,000
civil penalty.
This straight-forward bill simply applies the existing
prohibitions and remedies relative to false lawsuits, liens, and
encumbrances against public officials and employees to instances
in which false and harassing lawsuits, liens, and encumbrances are
filed or recorded against any person or entity. The rationale for
this extension, according to the author, is an alleged resurgence
in "paper terrorism" by groups like the "sovereign citizens"
movement that target both public officials and private persons.
The need for this bill, according to the author, is illustrated by
at least three California cases in the past year where members of
the sovereign citizens' movement filed harassing liens against
California public officials, mostly judges and Internal Revenue
Service employees and agents. In each of these cases the persons
who filed the false liens against public officials were
prosecuted. These cases illustrate the recent nature of the
problem, but they also reveal the limitation of existing law:
private persons subject to the same liens would not have had the
same remedies. This bill seeks to address that shortcoming in
existing law. The author believes that this bill will
appropriately extend to private citizens protections currently
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available only to public officials and public employees.
Analysis Prepared by:
Thomas Clark / JUD. / (916) 319-2334 FN: 0000263