BILL NUMBER: AB 2613 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 27, 2010
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 26, 2010
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 7, 2010
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Beall
FEBRUARY 19, 2010
An act to amend Section 53069.4 of the Government Code, relating
to local government.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 2613, as amended, Beall. Local government: fines and penalties:
assessments.
Existing law authorizes the legislative body of a local agency to
make any violation of any ordinance enacted by the local agency
subject to an administrative fine or penalty, as specified.
This bill would authorize a city, county, or city and county to,
after notice and public hearing, specially assess any fines or
penalties not paid after demand by the city, county, or city and
county against real property owned by the person owing those fines or
penalties. The bill would provide that the assessment may be
collected at the same time and in the same manner as ordinary county
taxes are collected, and shall be subject to the same penalties and
the same procedure and sale in case of delinquency as are provided
for ordinary county taxes, and would authorize the local
agency city, county, or city and county to
record a lien against the property. This bill would authorize a
city, county, or city and county local agency
to appoint a hearing officer to hear and decide issues
regarding ordinance violations and the imposition of administrative
fines and penalties.
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 53069.4 of the Government Code is amended to
read:
53069.4. (a) (1) The legislative body of a city, county,
or city and county local agency, as the term "local
agency" is defined in Section 54951 , may by ordinance make any
violation of any ordinance enacted by the city, county, or
city and county local agency subject to an
administrative fine or penalty. The city, county, or city
and county local agency shall set forth by
ordinance the administrative procedures that shall govern the
imposition, enforcement, collection, and administrative review by the
city, county, or city and county local
agency of those administrative fines or penalties. Where the
violation would otherwise be an infraction, the administrative fine
or penalty shall not exceed the maximum fine or penalty amounts for
infractions set forth in subdivision (b) of Section 25132 and
subdivision (b) of Section 36900.
(2) (A) The administrative procedures set forth by ordinance
adopted by the city, county, or city and county
local agency pursuant to paragraph (1) shall provide for a
reasonable period of time, as specified in the ordinance, for a
person responsible for a continuing violation to correct or otherwise
remedy the violation prior to the imposition of administrative fines
or penalties, when the violation pertains to building, plumbing,
electrical, or other similar structural or zoning issues, that do not
create an immediate danger to health or safety.
(B) Pursuant to Chapter 14 (commencing with Section 27720) of Part
3 of Division 1 of Title 3, the administrative procedures adopted by
ordinance pursuant to paragraph (1) may authorize the appointment of
one or more hearing officers to hear and decide issues regarding
ordinance violations and the imposition of administrative fines or
penalties.
(C) A city, county, or city and county may, by ordinance, combine
the administrative procedures adopted pursuant to paragraph (1) with
nuisance abatement procedures adopted by ordinance pursuant to
Section 25845.
(3) (A) If the owner of real property fails to pay fines or
penalties upon demand by the a city,
county, or city and county, the city, county, or city and county may,
after notice and public hearing, order the fines or penalties to be
specially assessed against the parcel if the fines or penalties are
related to ordinance violations on the real property upon which the
fines or penalties would be specially assessed. The assessment may be
collected at the same time and in the same manner as ordinary county
taxes are collected, and shall be subject to the same penalties and
the same procedure and sale in case of delinquency as are provided
for ordinary county taxes. All laws applicable to the levy,
collection, and enforcement of county taxes are applicable to the
special assessment.
(B) If a city, county, or city and county specially assesses the
cost of the administrative fines or penalties against the parcel, the
city, county, or city and county also may cause a notice of
abatement lien to be recorded. The notice shall, at a minimum,
identify the record owner or possessor of property, set forth the
last known address of the record owner or possessor, set forth the
date upon which assessment was ordered by the city, county, or city
and county, and include a description of the real property subject to
the lien and the amount of the lien.
(C) If the a city, county, or city
and county does not cause the recordation of a notice of lien
pursuant to subdivision (B), and any real property on which the
assessment has been imposed has been transferred or conveyed to a
bona fide purchaser for value, or a lien on a bona fide encumbrancer
for value has been created and attaches to that property, prior to
the a date on which the first
installment of county taxes would become delinquent, then the
assessment shall not result in a lien against that real property but
shall be transferred to the unsecured roll for collection.
(D) Recordation of a notice of lien pursuant to subparagraph (B)
has the same effect as recordation of an abstract of a money judgment
recorded pursuant to Article 2 (commencing with Section 697.310) of
Chapter 2 of Division 2 of Title 9 of Part 2 of the Code of Civil
Procedure. The lien created has the same priority as a judgment lien
on real property and continues in effect until released. Upon order
of the city, county, or city and county, or any officer authorized by
the city, county, or city and county to act on its behalf, a lien
created under this section may be released or subordinated in the
same manner as a judgment lien on real property may be released or
subordinated.
(b) (1) Notwithstanding the provisions of Section 1094.5 or 1094.6
of the Code of Civil Procedure, within 20 days after service of the
final administrative order or decision of the city, county,
or city and county local agency is made pursuant
to an ordinance enacted in accordance with this section regarding
the imposition, enforcement or collection of the administrative fines
or penalties, a person contesting that final administrative order or
decision may seek review by filing an appeal to be heard by the
superior court, where the same shall be heard de novo, except that
the contents of the city's, county's, or city and county's
local agency's file in the case shall be
received in evidence. A proceeding under this subdivision is a
limited civil case. A copy of the document or instrument of the
city, county, or city and county local agency
providing notice of the violation and imposition of the
administrative fine or penalty shall be admitted into evidence as
prima facie evidence of the facts stated therein. A copy of the
notice of appeal shall be served in person or by first-class mail
upon the local agency by the contestant.
(2) The fee for filing the notice of appeal shall be as specified
in Section 70615. The court shall request that the city's,
county's, or city and county's local agency's
file on the case be forwarded to the court, to be received within 15
days of the request. The court shall retain the fee specified in
Section 70615 regardless of the outcome of the appeal. If the court
finds in favor of the contestant, the amount of the fee shall be
reimbursed to the contestant by the city, county, or city
and county local agency . Any deposit of the
fine or penalty shall be refunded by the city, county, or
city and county local agency in accordance with
the judgment of the court.
(3) The conduct of the appeal under this section is a subordinate
judicial duty that may be performed by traffic trial commissioners
and other subordinate judicial officials at the direction of the
presiding judge of the court.
(c) If no notice of appeal of the city's, county's, or
city and county's local agency's final
administrative order or decision is filed within the period set forth
in this section, the order or decision shall be deemed confirmed.
(d) If the fine or penalty has not been deposited and the decision
of the court is against the contestant, the city, county,
or city and county local agency may proceed to
collect the penalty pursuant to the procedures set forth in its
ordinance.