BILL NUMBER: AB 2280	AMENDED
	BILL TEXT

	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  APRIL 21, 2016

INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Ridley-Thomas

                        FEBRUARY 18, 2016

   An act to add Section 50964 to the Health and Safety Code,
relating to housing.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 2280, as amended, Ridley-Thomas. California Housing Finance
Agency: program eligibility requirements: changes.
   Existing law creates the California Housing Finance Agency, which
is administered by a board of directors and which is supervised on a
day-to-day basis by an executive director. Existing law provides that
the primary purpose of the agency is to meet the housing needs of
persons and families of low to moderate income. Existing law
authorizes the agency to make loans to housing sponsors for housing
developments and to qualified mortgage lenders, among others.
   This bill would  generally prohibit   require
 the  agency from changing   agency,
within 5 business days of making a change to  the eligibility
requirements for a housing or lending program that the agency
 administrates without providing  
administrates, to provide  a lender or other party participating
in the program notice of the change  at least  
unless providing that notice within  5 business  days
prior to the change taking effect.   days would impose
an undue burden on the agency.  The bill would  require
  authorize  the notice to be provided by a program
 bulletin and that the program bulletin be posted on the
agency's Internet Web site. The bill would permit the agency to make
a change in eligibility requirements without satisfying the
notification requirements upon a specified finding of the agency's
executive director or a vote of the board of directors. The bill
would require the agency to require a lender or other party
participating in these programs to have protocols that provide timely
notification to representatives of the participants of changes to
program eligibility requirements.  bulletin. 
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  It is the intent of the Legislature in enacting this
act to do all of the following:
   (a) Promote home ownership in California by establishing stability
and predictability in the programs administered by the California
Housing Finance Agency.
   (b) To improve the confidence of prospective home buyers in
government programs designed to assist them in the complex process of
buying a home and the ability of prospective home buyers to purchase
a home.
   (c) To ensure that prospective home buyers who are in the process
of purchasing a home through a program administered by the California
Housing Finance Agency receive notice as soon as practically
possible regarding changes in eligibility requirements, so they are
best positioned to secure the financing that they need and deserve.
  SEC. 2.  Section 50964 is added to the Health and Safety Code, to
read:
   50964.   (a)    The agency
 shall not   shall, within five business days of
making a  change  to  the eligibility requirements for
a housing or lending program that the agency administers, however
that program may be characterized, including, but not limited to, the
California Homebuyer's Downpayment Assistance Program (Chapter 11
(commencing with Section 51500)) and the Mortgage Credit Certificate
Program (Chapter 3.5 (commencing with Section  50172),
 50172) of  Part 1),  without providing
  provide  a lender or other party participating in
the program notice of the  change at least five business
days prior to the change taking effect.   change unless
providing that notice within five business days would impose an undue
burden on the agency.  The notification  shall
  may  be provided by means of a program bulletin.
 The requirements of this subdivision may be excepted only as
provided in this section.  
   (b) Except as otherwise provided in subdivision (c), the agency
shall post a program bulletin notifying of a change in eligibility in
a housing or lending program that it administers on its Internet Web
site at the earliest practicable time.  
   (c) The agency may change eligibility requirements without the
five-business-day notification period if the executive director makes
a determination that both of the following are true: 

   (1) The change in eligibility is required by federal law.
 
   (2) The agency will lose federal funding if the eligibility
requirements are subject to the five-business-day notification
period.  
   (d) Notwithstanding subdivision (a) or (c), the board of directors
may change eligibility requirements by majority vote without regard
to the five-business-day notification period.  
   (e) The agency shall require, as a condition of participating in a
housing or lending program that the agency administers, that a
lender or other participating party has protocols that provide for
timely notification to its representatives of changes to program
eligibility requirements.