BILL NUMBER: AB 1170 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 15, 2009
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Charles Calderon
( Coauthor: Assembly Member
Hagman )
FEBRUARY 27, 2009
An act to add Section 290.47 to the Penal Code, relating to sex
offenders, and making an appropriation therefor.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 1170, as amended, Charles Calderon. Registered sex offenders:
rental housing: consumer information booklet.
Existing law requires a person who has been convicted of specified
crimes to register as a sex offender and establishes the procedures
for registration. Existing law also requires leases and rental
agreements for residential real property to contain a notice
regarding information about specified registered sex offenders made
available to the public via an Internet Web site maintained by the
Department of Justice.
This bill would require the Department of Justice to make
available to the public a consumer information booklet providing
federal and state law relating to regarding
sex offender registration as it relates to the lease or rental
of real property and would require the department to consult
with the Department of Consumer Affairs and other interested
organizations in developing the consumer information booklet .
The bill would also provide that if the consumer information booklet
is delivered to a prospective or current resident by the owner or
owner's agent in connection with the lease or rental of residential
real property, the owner or owner's agent is not required to provide
additional information on this subject, as specified.
The bill would create the Megan's Law Disclosure Booklet for
Landlords and Tenants Fund, would continuously appropriate voluntary
contributions or donations received into the fund to the department
to pay for the costs directly associated with the consumer
information booklet, and would provide that the department
need not incur may delay incurring any cost
associated with the provisions of this bill until sufficient
contributions to the fund have been deposited.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: yes. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 290.47 is added to the Penal Code, to read:
290.47. (a) The Department of Justice shall make available to the
public a consumer information booklet in a question and answer
format that shall educate and inform consumers about federal and
state law relating to regarding persons
who are required to register pursuant to Section 290 as it relates
to the lease or rental of real property. The consumer information
booklet shall include the following:
(1) General information concerning federal and state laws relating
to persons who are required to register pursuant to Section 290.
(2) Information regarding the statutory duty to disclose specific
language in subdivision (b) of Section 2079.10a of the Civil Code to
a prospective resident.
(3) A discussion about legal access and use of information
contained in the department's Internet Web site.
(4) Disclosure duties and obligations, if any, of an owner or
owner's agent regarding a sex offender on or about the property.
(5) Duties and rights of an owner or owner's agent associated with
the discovery that a tenant or prospective tenant is a registered
sex offender, including those relating to the denial to rent or lease
to a prospective resident and the termination of a rental or lease
agreement on the basis of a conviction for an offence requiring
registration as a sex offender.
(4) Identification of the constitutional, statutory, and
decisional law applicable to this section.
(b) If the consumer information booklet is delivered to a
prospective resident or current resident by the owner or owner's
agent in connection with the lease or rental of residential real
property, the owner or owner's agent shall not be required to
provide additional information concerning this subject, and
the information shall be deemed to be adequate to inform the
prospective resident or resident regarding the information that is
contained in the booklet. provide information in
addition to that contained in the booklet.
(c) Notwithstanding subdivision (a), this section does not alter
the duty of an owner or owner's agent to report and otherwise act on
the existence of known illegal activity on or affecting the real
property. Nothing in this section alters any existing duty of an
owner or owner's agent under any other statute or decisional law.
(d) In the development of the consumer information booklet, the
Department of Justice shall consult with the Department of Consumer
Affairs and public and private organizations having a demonstrated
interest in this area of law.
(d)
(e) The Department of Justice may receive voluntary
contributions or donations to pay for the costs directly associated
with the research, development, and public release of the consumer
information booklet. Voluntary contributions or donations shall be
deposited into the Megan's Law Disclosure Booklet for Landlords and
Tenants Fund, which is hereby created in the State Treasury. Only
moneys contributed or donated for the purposes of this section may be
deposited into the fund. The fund shall be credited with all
investment income earned by moneys in the fund. The moneys received
in contributions or donations for the purposes of this section are
not part of the General Fund as defined in Section 16300 of the
Government Code and are special funds held in trust for those
purposes. Notwithstanding Section 13340 of the Government Code,
moneys in the fund from voluntary contributions or donations are
hereby continuously appropriated to the department without regard to
fiscal years and shall be used to support the department's costs
associated with the implementation of this section. However, the
Department may delay incurring any cost associated with the
implementation of this section until sufficient voluntary
contributions have been deposited in the fund to pay those costs.