BILL ANALYSIS Ó SENATE COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION AND HOUSING Senator Jim Beall, Chair 2015 - 2016 Regular Bill No: AB 1516 Hearing Date: 7/14/2015 ----------------------------------------------------------------- |Author: |Committee on H&CD | |----------+------------------------------------------------------| |Version: |6/22/2015 | ----------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------- |Urgency: |No |Fiscal: |Yes | ----------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------- |Consultant|Alison Dinmore | |: | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- SUBJECT: Housing omnibus bill DIGEST: This bill makes technical and non-controversial changes to sections of law relating to housing. ANALYSIS: According to the Legislative Analyst's Office, the cost of producing a bill in 2001-2002 was $17,890. By combining multiple matters into one bill, the Legislature can make minor changes to law in the most cost-effective manner. Proposals included in this housing omnibus bill must abide by the Senate Transportation and Housing Committee policy on omnibus committee bills. The proponent of an item submits proposed language and provides background materials to the committee for the item to be described to legislative staff and stakeholders. Committee staff provides a summary of the items and the actual legislative language to all majority and minority consultants in both the Senate and Assembly, as well as all known or presumed interested parties. If an item encounters any opposition and the proponent cannot work out a solution with the opposition, the item is omitted from or amended out of the bill. Proposals in the bill must reflect a consensus and be without opposition from legislative members, agencies, and other stakeholders. This bill makes non-controversial changes to sections of law relating to housing. Specifically, the bill includes the AB 1516 (Committee on H&CD) Page 2 of ? following provisions. The proposer of each provision is noted in brackets. 1)Technical change to Davis-Sterling Act. [Section 1] The Davis-Stirling Act establishes the rules and regulations governing the operation of a common interest development and the respective rights and duties of a homeowners association (HOA) and its members. The bill would make a technical, non-substantive change by replacing "funding" with "funded." [Kerry Mazzoni, Education Community for Homeowners] 2)Updating a cross-reference. [Section 2] The Housing Accountability Act, among other things, prohibits a local agency from disapproving a housing development project unless the local agency makes specified written findings. This bill would update cross-references and make technical changes to the Act. [Rebecca Rabovsky, Assembly Committee on Housing and Community Development] 3)Aligning state law with federal law. [Section 3] This bill will update the statute to allow a Home Purchase Assistance (HPA) downpayment assistance loan to be recorded in a junior lien position. When the HPA statute was originally enacted, it was common that a loan have two funding sources. The intent was that this loan would be junior to senior debt, thus the statutes currently state that this loan must be in second position. In recent years, it has become increasingly common for loans to have more than two funding sources. Other downpayment assistance programs administered by CalHFA allow them to be recorded in a "junior" position, which gives the agency the flexibility it needs to use these funds in conjunction with other downpayment assistance programs. This proposal would provide that same flexibility for the HPA program. This bill will also update the HPA statute to ensure it meets all of the qualifications of federal laws and regulations, allowing it to be used with a Federal Housing Authority-insured loan product. [Rebecca Rabovsky, Assembly Committee on Housing and Community Development] COMMENTS: Purpose of this bill. The purpose of omnibus bills is to include technical and non-controversial changes to various committee-related statutes into one bill. This allows the AB 1516 (Committee on H&CD) Page 3 of ? legislature to make multiple, minor changes to statutes in one bill in a cost-effective manner. The Senate Committee on Transportation and Housing insists that its housing omnibus bill be a consensus measure. If there is no consensus on a particular item, it cannot be included. There is no known opposition to any item in this bill. FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes Local: No POSITIONS: (Communicated to the committee before noon on Wednesday, July 8, 2015.) SUPPORT: None received OPPOSITION: None received -- END --