Amended in Senate August 19, 2016

Amended in Senate June 21, 2016

Amended in Senate June 8, 2016

California Legislature—2015–16 Regular Session

Assembly Bill No. 1974

Introduced by Assembly Member Gallagher

February 16, 2016

An act to amend Sections 27201 and 27288.1 of the Government Code, relating to the county recorder.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

AB 1974, as amended, Gallagher. County recorder: recordation of documents.

Existing law requires the county recorder, upon payment of proper fees and taxes, to record any instrument, paper, or notice that is authorized or required to be recorded, provided that the instrument, paper, or notice meets certain standards. Existing law also requires all documents authorized by law to be recorded in the official records of a county to contain specified information.

This bill would require the documents described above that are rerecorded to be executed and acknowledged or verified as new documents, unless otherwise exempted, as specified, presented solely to correct a rerecording sequence, begin insert as specified, end insert or presented solely to make a minor correction, as defined, with a corrective affidavit. The bill would require the corrective affidavit to satisfy certain requirements, including a requirement that the corrective affidavit be certified under penalty of perjury. The bill would require each rerecorded instrument, paper, or notice to include a cover sheet and to state the reason for rerecording.

By imposing new duties upon local county officials with respect to the recordation of documents and by expanding the crime of perjury, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program.

The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.

This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for specified reasons.

Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: yes.

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.  

Section 27201 of the Government Code is
amended to read:

27201.  

(a) The recorder shall, upon payment of proper fees
and taxes, accept for recordation any instrument, paper, or notice
that is authorized or required by statute, or court order to be
recorded, or authorized or required to be recorded by a local
ordinance that relates to the recordation of any instrument, paper,
or notice that relates to real property, if the instrument, paper, or
notice contains sufficient information to be indexed as provided
by statute, meets recording requirements of state statutes and local
ordinances, and is photographically reproducible. The county
recorder shall not refuse to record any instrument, paper, or notice
that is authorized or required by statute, court order, or local
ordinance that relates to the recordation of any instrument, paper,
or notice that relates to real property to be recorded on the basis
of its lack of legal sufficiency.

“Photographically reproducible,” for purposes of this division,
means all instruments, papers, or notices that comply with
standards as recommended by the American National Standards
Institute or the Association for Information and Image Management
for recording of records.

(b) (1) Each instrument, paper, or notice shall contain an
original signature or signatures, except as otherwise provided by
law, or be a certified copy of the original.

(2) A facsimile signature shall be accepted on a lien recorded
by a governmental agency when that facsimile signature has been
officially adopted by that agency. The lien shall have noted on its
face a statement to that effect. The officially adopted facsimile
signature shall be provided to the county recorder by a letter from
the agency. A facsimile signature shall continue to be valid until
the agency notifies the county recorder that the facsimile signature
has been revoked.

(c) (1) Each instrument, paper, or notice that is rerecorded shall
be executed and acknowledged or verified as a new document, in
addition to any previous execution and acknowledgment or
verification, unless any of the following apply:

(A)  begin delete Otherwise end delete begin insert The instrument, paper, or notice is otherwise end insert
exempted by Section 27287 or any other law.

(B)  begin delete Presented end delete begin insert The instrument, paper, or notice is presented end insert
solely to correct a recording sequence. begin insert The intent of the parties
with regard to the priority of recorded documents shall be
controlling regardless of the sequence of recording by a county
recorder or the sequence of recording specified in instructions
given by a submitter to a county recorder. This subparagraph is
declaratory of existing law, and any rerecording of documents to
change the sequential numbers assigned to a document by the
recorder shall not require the document to be executed and
acknowledged or verified as a new document. end insert

(C) (i)  begin delete Presented end delete begin insert The instrument, paper, or notice is presented end insert
solely to make a minor correction with a corrective affidavit. The
corrective affidavit shall satisfy all of the following:

(I) Be attached to the original recorded instrument, paper, or
notice.

(II) Set out the information corrected.

(III) Be certified by the party submitting the affidavit under
penalty of perjury.

(IV) Be acknowledged pursuant to Section 27287.

(ii) For purposes of this subparagraph, “minor correction”
includes any of the following:

begin delete

(I) An incorrect or missing name of the party requesting
recording pursuant to Section 27361.6.

end delete begin delete

(II)

end delete

begin insert (I) end insert  An incorrect or missing begin delete name and end delete address of the party to
which the instrument, paper, or notice is to be returned following
recording pursuant to Section 27361.6.

begin delete

(III)

end delete

begin insert (II) end insert  A clarification of illegible text pursuant to Section 27361.7.

begin delete

(IV)

end delete

begin insert (III) end insert  An incorrect or missing printed or typed name of an
individual or entity near the signature pursuant to Section 27280.5.

begin delete

(V)

end delete

begin insert (IV) end insert  An incorrect or missing documentary transfer tax amount
due pursuant to Section 11932 of the Revenue and Taxation Code.

(2) Each rerecorded instrument, paper, or notice shall include
a cover sheet that complies with Section 27361.6 and shall state
the reason for rerecording on the cover sheet.

SEC. 2.  

Section 27288.1 of the Government Code is amended
to read:

27288.1.  

All documents described in this section now or
hereafter authorized by law to be recorded in the official records
of a county shall contain the following information in addition to
any information as may be required by law pertaining to the
particular document:

(a) If the document effects or evidences a transfer or
encumbrance of an interest in real property, the name or names in
which the interest appears of record, except that a notice of
assessment recorded pursuant to Section 3114 of the Streets and
Highways Code, a notice of special tax lien recorded pursuant to
Section 3114.5 of the Streets and Highways Code, and a notice of
award of contract recorded pursuant to Section 5248 of the Streets
and Highways Code, shall show the name or names of the assessed
owners as they appear on the latest secured assessment roll.

(b) If the document releases or terminates any interest, right, or
encumbrance, it shall contain or have appended thereto all of the
names of those persons and entities owning the title or interest
being relieved by the document, or the names of the owners of that
title or interest as they appeared at the time and in the document
creating the interest, right, or encumbrance.

(c) In cases where the county tax collector is filing purchaser’s
deeds with respect to a sale for defaulted taxes, those documents
shall be deemed to constitute compliance with this section.

No document subject to this section shall be recorded or indexed
in the official records of a county unless it contains the information
required by this section as well as any additional information
required by law pertaining to the particular document, but the
recorder may rely upon the information contained in, or appended
to, the document being offered for record. The failure of any
document to include all of the names required by this section shall
not affect the constructive notice which would otherwise be
afforded by the recording of the document. This section shall not
apply to a vacation or abandonment by a public agency of a public
highway or road.

(d) If a document is rerecorded, it shall comply with subdivision
(c) of Section 27201.

SEC. 3.  

No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to
Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution because
a local agency or school district has the authority to levy service
charges, fees, or assessments sufficient to pay for the program or
level of service mandated by this act or because costs that may be
incurred by a local agency or school district will be incurred
because this act creates a new crime or infraction, eliminates a
crime or infraction, or changes the penalty for a crime or infraction,
within the meaning of Section 17556 of the Government Code, or
changes the definition of a crime within the meaning of Section 6
of Article XIII B of the California Constitution.