BILL NUMBER: AB 725	AMENDED
	BILL TEXT

	AMENDED IN SENATE  JULY 7, 2008
	AMENDED IN SENATE  JUNE 17, 2008
	AMENDED IN SENATE  APRIL 28, 2008
	AMENDED IN SENATE  MARCH 13, 2008
	AMENDED IN SENATE  MARCH 4, 2008
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  JANUARY 24, 2008
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  APRIL 24, 2007

INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Members Lieber and DeVore
   (Coauthors: Assembly Members Beall, Hancock, and Hayashi)

                        FEBRUARY 22, 2007

   An act to add Section 50455.7 to the Health and Safety Code,
relating to housing.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 725, as amended, Lieber. Housing: universal rental housing
application.
   Existing law requires the California State Housing Plan to include
a housing strategy that coordinates housing assistance and
activities of state and local agencies.
   This bill, on  and after November   or before
April  1, 2009, would require  specified rental housing
providers to use and make available to prospective tenants,
not-for-profit agencies, and others upon request, a universal rental
housing application, to be developed by  the Department of
Housing and Community Development  in coordination with
  to convene a first meeting of a working group
consisting of  specified governmental agencies  and private
associations  ,  as provided   as
specified, to draft a uniform subsidized affordable housing
application, and would require the department to take other specified
actions upon the development of a uniform application  .
 The bill would require the department and specified
governmental agencies to notify specified rental housing providers of
the requirements of these provisions. 
   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 to
create a uniform affordable housing rental application, including two
formats accessible to people with disabilities, to benefit both of
the following:  
   (a) Low- and moderate-income housing applicants, by allowing them
to fill out and copy a single application that they can use to apply
for multiple affordable housing opportunities.  
   (b) Subsidized housing providers, by allowing them to collect all
the information that they typically request, including all the
information that state and federal funding agencies require them to
gather, on a single application. 
   SEC. 2.    Section 50455.7 is added to the  
Health and Safety Code   , to read:  
   50455.7.  (a) (1) On or before April 1, 2009, the department shall
convene a first meeting of a working group to draft a uniform
subsidized affordable housing application. The department shall
invite organizations representing subsidized affordable housing
providers, including, but not limited to, the Affordable Housing
Management Association of Northern California; the Affordable Housing
Management Association-Pacific Southwest; the Aging Services of
California; the Apartment Association, Southern California Cities;
the California Apartment Association; the California Association of
Realtors; the California Housing Consortium; Housing California; the
Non-Profit Housing Association of Northern California; and the
Southern California Association of Nonprofit Housing.
   (2) The working group may organize itself as it chooses and
schedule future meetings.
   (3) Nothing in this section shall require the department to
participate in the working group or to pay the travel or other
expenses of any person attending any meeting of the working group.
   (b) If the working group develops a draft uniform application, the
department shall do each of the following:
   (1) Review the draft for compliance with state and federal legal
requirements and department policy and, if the draft does not comply,
return it to the working group to make the necessary changes.
   (2) Add the following statement to the application:


   "This uniform application is available in a downloadable text file
format and in formats accessible to people with disabilities at
(insert the URL of the page on the department's Internet Web site
where the application is posted)."


   (3) Provide the completed uniform application to the State Council
on Developmental Disabilities, which shall do all of the following:
   (A) Select a contractor, to be paid an amount not to exceed five
thousand dollars ($5,000), to develop two accessible formats of the
uniform application as follows:
   (i) One application in plain English, with a large font.
   (ii) One application in plain English, with a large font and color
illustrations.
   (B) Require the contractor to conduct at least one test with a
focus group of persons with diverse disabilities.
   (C) Review and approve the accessible formats developed by the
contractor and provide them to the department.
   (4) Post the application in a downloadable text file format,
including, but not limited to, in the formats accessible to people
with disabilities, on the department's Internet Web site.
   (5) Reconvene the working group in the future as necessary to
draft revisions in the uniform application to comply with changes in
law or in the requirements of federal or state funding agencies.
   (c) After the department completes all the requirements of
subdivision (b), the department, the California Tax Credit Allocation
Committee, and the California Housing Finance Agency shall do each
of the following:
   (1) Inform current and future recipients of state affordable
housing subsidies of the existence of the uniform application,
including, but not limited to, all of the following:
   (A) The accessible formats of the uniform application.
   (B) Where the application is located on the Internet Web site.
   (C) The goals of the uniform application, as declared in Section 1
of the act that enacts this section.
   (2) Consider awarding additional points to future funding
applicants who agree to distribute and accept the uniform
application.
   (d) Nothing in this section shall require a housing provider to
use the uniform application or shall prevent a housing provider from
requesting additional information from rental applicants.
   (e) Any requirement of this section relating to the accessible
formats shall be inapplicable if the State Council on Developmental
Disabilities does not produce the accessible formats because of the
financial limitation of subparagraph (A) of paragraph (3) of
subdivision (b).
   (f) The department's adoption of the universal rental housing
application and compliance with the other requirements of this
section shall not be subject to Chapter 3.5 (commencing with Section
11340) of Part 1 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code.
Nothing in this section shall authorize the department to adopt or
amend any regulation.  
  SECTION 1.    Section 50455.7 is added to the
Health and Safety Code, to read:
   50455.7.  (a) (1) On and after November 1, 2009, a rental housing
provider as specified in subdivision (b) shall use and make available
to prospective tenants, not-for-profit housing assistance
organizations, public agencies, and others upon request, a universal
rental housing application, to be developed by the department under
subdivision (c). Nothing in this section prevents a rental housing
provider from lawfully requesting other information not contained in
this application from prospective tenants.
   (2) The rental housing provider shall require a rental agent or
property manager to do both of the following:
   (A) Make the application available to any person who requests it,
including, if requested, the accessible formats developed under
subdivision (d).
   (B) Post, in a prominent place on the leasing agent's or property
manager's Internet Web site, if any, a link to the page on the
department's Internet Web site containing the application and the
accessible formats.
   (b) Subdivision (a) applies to a rental housing provider that has
received any of the following and whose rental housing units are
still subject to the rent restrictions pursuant thereto:
   (1) A loan or grant from the department or the California Housing
Finance Agency.
   (2) State or federal tax credits allocated by the Tax Credit
Allocation Committee.
   (3) Tax-exempt bond authority allocated by the Debt Limit
Allocation Committee.
   (c) By no later than August 1, 2009, and each time new
requirements or other changed circumstances require it, the
department shall develop and adopt a universal rental housing
application in coordination with the Tax Credit Allocation Committee,
the Debt Limit Allocation Committee, and the California Housing
Finance Agency.
   (d) (1) The department shall develop the application in the
following accessible formats, in addition to the standard format:
   (A) In plain English, with a large font.
   (B) In plain English, with a large font and colored illustrations.

   (2) Upon the request of the department, the State Council on
Developmental Disabilities shall advise and assist the department in
developing the accessible formats of the application required under
this subdivision.
   (3) The application shall include this statement: "This
application is available, upon request, in plain English with large
print, and in plain English with large print and colored
illustrations. It also is available in an accessible, downloadable
text file at (insert the URL for the page on the department's
Internet Web site where this format is posted)."
   (e) The department shall make the application available for public
review and comment 45 days prior to adopting the application.
   (f) The information requested on the application form shall
include, but need not be limited to, all of the following:
   (1) The name, age, and student status of each person who will live
in the household.
   (2) All of the following regarding the applicant:
   (A) Mailing address, contact telephone number, and any e-mail
address.
   (B) The applicant's physical address, if any.
   (C) Not less than two years of housing history.
   (D) Detailed income information, including, but not limited to,
all of the following that apply:
   (i) Current employment income and information, and employment
history for the past five years.
   (ii) The amounts of and information on any pension or retirement
benefits.
   (iii) The amounts of and information on any child, spousal, or
family support income.
   (E) Information on current assets and on any asset that was
disposed for less than fair market value within the past two years.
   (F) The information required under the guidelines in the United
States Department of Housing and Urban Development Handbook (HUD
4350.3, Rev. 1, Change 2).
   (G) The information required on California Apartment Association
form 3.0-R, revised 1/08, "Application for Rent."
   (H) The information required on the California Association of
Realtors form, "Application to Rent/Screening Fee" (C.A.R. Form LRA,
Rev. 4/03), except that the application shall include only the
information required of the applicant, and shall not include the
screening fee.
   (I) The information required on the Apartment Association,
Southern California Cities form, "Application to Rent" (Rev. 1/08).
   (g) In designing the form, the department shall consider the
format that the Tax Credit Allocation Committee uses on the following
forms:
   (1) Tenant Income Certification (February 2004).
   (2) Tenant Income Certification Questionnaire.
   (3) Employment Verification (September 2000).
   (4) Student Verification (September 2000).
   (5) Certification of Zero Income (September 2000).
   (6) Under $5,000 Asset Certification (September 2000).
   (7) Child and Spousal Support (May 2007).
   (8) Marital Separation Status Affidavit (May 2007).
   (9) Student Financial Aid Verification (July 2006).
   (h) The department shall post the application form and the
accessible formats developed under paragraph (1) of subdivision (d)
on its Internet Web site.
   (i) The department, the Tax Credit Allocation Committee, the Debt
Limit Allocation Committee, and the California Housing Finance Agency
shall do both of the following:
   (1) Notify the rental housing providers specified in subdivision
(b) of the requirements of this section after publishing the
application, and each time the department publishes a revised
application.
   (2) Notify rental housing providers who receive the funds, tax
credits, or bond authority specified in subdivision (b) of the
requirements of this section when they receive the funds, tax
credits, or bond authority.
   (j) The department shall release a request for proposal for the
development of the accessible formats required under subdivision (d),
including, but not limited to, at least one test with a focus group
of persons with diverse disabilities. The department shall not accept
any bid that is for more than five thousand dollars ($5,000). Any
requirement under this section relating to the accessible formats
shall not apply if the department does not accept a bid under this
subdivision for the development of the formats.
   (k) (1) The department shall consider any subsequent changes made
to the forms listed in subparagraphs (G) to (I), inclusive, of
paragraph (2) of subdivision (f), but shall not be required to
include those changes in the application form developed under this
section.
   (2) Nothing in this section shall be construed to require the
department to include any information in the application form
developed under this section that would be in violation of state or
federal law.
   (l) The department's adoption of the universal rental housing
application and compliance with the other requirements of this
section shall not be subject to Chapter 3.5 (commencing with Section
11340) of Part 1 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code.
Nothing in this section shall authorize the department to adopt or
amend any regulation.