BILL ANALYSIS
AB 1838
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 28, 2010
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Felipe Fuentes, Chair
AB 1838 (Bill Berryhill) - As Amended: April 14, 2010
Policy Committee:
JudiciaryVote:10-0 (Consent)
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
No Reimbursable:
SUMMARY
This bill authorizes San Joaquin County to participate in an
existing pilot program, sunsetting January 1, 2014, allowing
district attorneys to file actions for unlawful detainers in
order to abate nuisances on rental property caused by illegal
conduct involving controlled substances, weapons, or ammunition.
FISCAL EFFECT
1)Minor absorbable costs for the California Research Bureau
(CRB) to incorporate data from San Joaquin County into its
evaluation of the pilot projects.
2)Potential minor costs to the courts for additional actions
brought by the county under the pilot programs.
COMMENTS
1)Background . An unlawful detainer is a special proceeding by a
landlord to regain possession of real property from a tenant,
such as when a tenant fails to pay rent for an apartment. The
procedure for an unlawful detainer case is prescribed by
statute, and designed to provide an expeditious means for a
landlord to regain possession when a tenant wrongfully refuses
to leave. The underlying goal is to promote peaceful
resolution of landlord-tenant disputes.
For various reasons, however, landlords are sometimes
reluctant to bring such actions. To address this problem, the
AB 1838
Page 2
Legislature has adopted, extended, and expanded pilot projects
allowing local city attorneys and prosecutors to bring
unlawful detainer actions on behalf of the people when a
landlord fails to act in situations involving controlled
substances or illegal weapons or ammunition.
Last year's AB 530 (Krekorian)/Chapter 244 extended sunset
dates on those projects and required the CRB to study the
project's effectiveness. Currently the programs only apply to
certain cities within the counties of Los Angeles, San Diego,
Alameda, and Sacramento. Participating jurisdictions are
required to provide information on the operation of these
projects to the CRB, which in turn must submit reports in
March 2011 and March 2013 in order to assist the Legislature
in determining the merits and deficiencies of this approach.
2)Purpose . This author believes the pilot program should be
extended to San Joaquin County because of its well-documented
criminal gang activity, which is as serious and extensive as
in the large metropolitan areas where the pilots presently
operate. The bill expresses the Legislature's intent that San
Joaquin County participate in the ongoing study by providing
information, as do the other participants, to the California
Research Bureau.
Analysis Prepared by : Chuck Nicol / APPR. / (916) 319-2081