BILL NUMBER: AB 2317	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Saldana

                        FEBRUARY 19, 2010

   An act to amend Sections 38773.1 and 38773.5 of the Government
Code, relating to local government.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 2317, as introduced, Saldana. Local government: nuisance
abatement.
   Existing law authorizes a local legislative body to establish a
procedure to use a nuisance abatement lien or a special assessment to
collect abatement and related administrative costs.
   This bill would authorize a local government body to also collect
fines using a nuisance abatement lien or a special assessment.
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no.
State-mandated local program: no.


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

  SECTION 1.  Section 38773.1 of the Government Code is amended to
read:
   38773.1.  (a) The legislative body may by ordinance establish a
procedure to collect abatement and related administrative costs 
and fines  by a nuisance abatement lien. This ordinance shall
require notice prior to the recordation of the lien to the owner of
record of the parcel of land  or   on 
which the nuisance is maintained, based on the last equalized
assessment roll or the supplemental roll, whichever is more current.
   (b) The notice shall be served in the same manner as summons in a
civil action in accordance with Article 3 (commencing with Section
415.10) of Chapter 4 of Title 5 of Part 2 of the Code of Civil
Procedure. If the owner of record, after diligent search cannot be
found, the notice may be served by posting a copy thereof in a
conspicuous place upon the property for a period of 10 days and
publication thereof in a newspaper of general circulation published
in the county in which the property is located pursuant to Section
6062.
   (c) A nuisance abatement lien shall be recorded in the county
recorder's office in the county in which the parcel of land is
located and from the date of recording shall have the force, effect,
and priority of a judgment lien.
   (1) A nuisance abatement lien authorized by this section shall
specify the amount of the lien, the name of the agency on whose
behalf the lien is imposed, the date of the abatement order, the
street address, legal description and assessor's parcel number of the
parcel on which the lien is imposed, and the name and address of the
recorded owner of the parcel.
   (2) In the event that the lien is discharged, released, or
satisfied, either through payment or foreclosure, notice of the
discharge containing the information specified in paragraph (1) shall
be recorded by the governmental agency. A nuisance abatement lien
and the release of the lien shall be indexed in the grantor-grantee
index.
   (3) A nuisance abatement lien may be foreclosed by an action
brought by the city for a money judgment.
   (4) Notwithstanding Section 6103, Section 27383, or any other
provision of law, the county recorder may impose a fee on the city to
reimburse the costs of processing and recording the lien and
providing notice to the property owner. A city may recover from the
property owner any costs incurred regarding the processing and
recording of the lien and providing notice to the property owner as
part of its foreclosure action to enforce the lien.
  SEC. 2.  Section 38773.5 of the Government Code is amended to read:

   38773.5.  (a) As an alternative to the procedure authorized by
Section 38773.1, the legislative body may ,  by ordinance
 ,  establish a procedure for the abatement of a nuisance
and make the cost of abatement  of a nuisance upon a parcel
of land   , including fines,  a special assessment
against that parcel  of land on which the  nuisance is
maintained  .
   (b) A city may, by ordinance, provide for the recovery of
attorneys' fees in any action, administrative proceeding, or special
proceeding to abate a nuisance. If the ordinance provides for the
recovery of attorneys' fees, it shall provide for recovery of
attorneys' fees by the prevailing party, rather than limiting
recovery of attorneys' fees to the city if it prevails. The ordinance
may limit recovery of attorneys' fees by the prevailing party to
those individual actions or proceedings in which the city elects, at
the initiation of that individual action or proceeding, to seek
recovery of its own attorneys' fees. In no action, administrative
proceeding, or special proceeding shall an award of attorneys' fees
to a prevailing party exceed the amount of reasonable attorneys' fees
incurred by the city in the action or proceeding.
   (c) Any procedure established pursuant to this section shall
include notice, by certified mail, to the property owner, if the
property owner's identity can be determined from the county assessor'
s or county recorder's records. The notice shall be given at the time
of imposing the assessment and shall specify that the property may
be sold after three years by the tax collector for unpaid delinquent
assessments. The tax collector's power of sale shall not be affected
by the failure of the property owner to receive notice. The
assessment may be collected at the same time and in the same manner
as ordinary municipal taxes are collected, and shall be subject to
the same penalties and the same procedure and sale in case of
delinquency as provided for ordinary municipal taxes. All laws
applicable to the levy, collection and enforcement of municipal taxes
shall be applicable to the special assessment. However, if any real
property to which the cost of abatement relates has been transferred
or conveyed to a bona fide purchaser for value, or if a lien of a
bona fide encumbrancer for value has been created and attaches
thereon, prior to the date on which the first installment of the
taxes would become delinquent, then the cost of abatement shall not
result in a lien against the real property but instead shall be
transferred to the unsecured roll for collection.
   (d) A local agency that has imposed an assessment pursuant to this
section may, subject to the requirements applicable to the sale of
property pursuant to Section 3691 of the Revenue and Taxation Code,
conduct a sale of vacant residential developed property for which the
payment of that assessment is delinquent.
   (e) Notices or instruments relating to the abatement proceeding or
special assessment shall be entitled to recordation.