BILL ANALYSIS
SB 781
Page 1
Date of Hearing: June 30, 2009
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON HUMAN SERVICES
Jim Beall, Jr., Chair
SB 781 (Leno) - As Amended: June 8, 2009
SENATE VOTE : 36-0
SUBJECT : Residential care facilities for the elderly: eviction
procedure
SUMMARY : Provides additional information to a resident
receiving a notice of eviction from a Residential Care Facility
for the Elderly (RCFE). Specifically, this bill :
1)Requires that, in addition to complying with other applicable
regulations, an RCFE that sends a notice of eviction to a
resident shall set forth in the notice to quit the reasons
relied upon for the eviction, with specific facts to permit
determination of the date, place, witnesses, and circumstances
regarding those reasons.
2)Requires the notice to quit to include the following:
a) The effective date of the eviction;
b) Resources available to assist in identifying alternative
housing and care options, including public and private
referral services and case management organizations;
c) Information about the resident's right to file a
complaint with the Department of Social Services (DSS)
regarding the eviction, with the name, address, and
telephone number of the nearest office of community care
licensing and the State Ombudsman; and,
d) The following statement: "In order to evict a resident
who remains in the facility after the effective date of the
eviction, the residential care facility for the elderly
must file an unlawful detainer action in superior court and
receive a written judgment signed by a judge. If the
facility pursues the unlawful detainer action, you must be
served with a summons and complaint. You have the right to
contest the eviction in writing and through a hearing."
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3)Requires an RCFE, in addition to either serving a 30-day
notice or seeking approval from DSS and serving a three-day
notice on the resident, to also notify or mail a copy of the
notice to quit to the resident's responsible person.
EXISTING LAW
1)Provides, under the California Residential Care Facilities for
the Elderly Act, for statutes and regulations governing
licensing and operation of Residential Care Facilities for the
Elderly. (Health & Safety Code Section 1569 et seq .)
2)Provides, under existing regulations (California Code of
Regulations (CCR), Title 22, Section 87224.), that an RCFE
may, upon 30 days written notice to the resident, evict the
resident only for one or more of the following reasons:
a) Nonpayment of the rate for basic services within 10 days
of the due date;
b) Failure of the resident to comply with state or local
law after receiving written notice of the alleged
violation;
c) Failure of the resident to comply with the general
policies of the facility. The general policies must be in
writing, must be for the purpose of making it possible for
residents to live together and must be made part of the
admission agreement;
d) A determination, after admission, that the resident has
a need not previously identified and a reappraisal has been
conducted, and the licensee and the person who performs the
reappraisal believe that the facility is not appropriate
for the resident; or
e) Changes of use of the facility. (CCR, title 22, Section
87224.)
3)Provides, under existing regulations, that an RCFE may, upon
obtaining prior written approval from the licensing agency,
evict the resident upon three days written notice to quit.
The licensing agency may grant approval for the eviction upon
a finding of good cause, as specified. (CCR, title 22,
Section 87224(b).)
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4)Requires, under existing regulations, an RCFE to include in
the notice to quit the reasons relied upon for the eviction
with specific facts to permit determination of the date,
place, witnesses, and circumstances concerning those reasons.
(CCR, title 22, Section 87224(d).)
5)Requires, under existing regulations, an RCFE, in addition to
either serving a 30-day notice or seeking approval from the
Department of Social Services (DSS) and serving a three-day
notice on the resident, to also notify or mail a copy of the
notice to quit to the resident's responsible person. (CCR,
title 22, Section 87224(c).)
6)Provides, under existing regulations, that nothing in the RCFE
eviction regulations is intended to preclude the licensee or
resident from invoking any other available remedy. (CCR,
title 22, Section 87224(h).)
7)Permits a landlord to evict residents through an unlawful
detainer action which is summary in nature. (Code of Civil
Procedure Section 1161.)
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Senate Appropriations
Committee, pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8, negligible state costs.
COMMENTS : According to the author, this bill seeks to raise
consumer awareness. The other says that elderly seniors living
in RCFEs shouldn't be expected to know all of the legal
protections designed to shield them from unfair evictions. This
bill requires RCFEs to include additional information to
residents that will help reduce unfair evictions and minimize
the risk of displacement and transfer trauma. In support the
author states:
SB 781 will require RCFEs to include additional
provisions in their eviction notices to ensure that
vulnerable residents who have been living in these
facilities, often for years, are adequately informed
of their legal rights before being forced to leave
their homes.
Under current law, RCFEs are required to provide a
30-day notice when evicting a resident which includes
the cause and circumstances of the eviction. (CCR,
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title 22, Section 87224) RCFEs must also seek a court
order to remove any residents who do not comply with
an eviction notice. (Code of Civil Procedure Section
1161 et seq .) However, they are not required to
provide information regarding the location of
discharge, nor are they required to notify the
resident of their legal right to file a complaint or
appeal the eviction. This unfairly places the burden
entirely on senior advocates who must ensure that
residents understand their eviction and are not
deprived of any legal remedies available to them under
existing statute.
SB 781 aims to protect some of the most vulnerable
tenants in the state--those seniors living in the
nearly 8,000 RCFEs in California. These residents are
often frail and highly susceptible to transfer trauma
and displacement. They typically require greater
protections to keep them from falling victim to
financial fraud and other deceptive practices, as
well.
SB 781 will reduce the number of unfair evictions and
the impact they have on residents by requiring RCFE
eviction notices to include: 1) the effective date of
eviction, 2) a list of alternate housing and care
options 3) the resident's right to file a complaint
with DSS, Community Care Licensing, 3) an explanation
of the facility's duty to file an unlawful detainer in
Superior Court to evict, and 4) the resident's right
to contest the eviction when served with a summons and
complaint as a result of an unlawful detainer pursued
by the facility.
RCFEs provide care to persons 60 years and older. These
facilities provide 24-hour non-medical care, including room,
board, housekeeping, supervision, and personal care assistance
with basic activities such as bathing, laundry, and eating. The
number of elderly Californians who live in RCFEs has grown as
the state's population has continued to age, according to one of
the co-sponsors of this bill, California Advocates for Nursing
Home Reform (CANHR). CANHR reports that there are more than
7,800 RCFEs housing over 168,000 elderly Californians.
Existing regulations provide that an RFCE may evict a resident
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with 30 days written notice for specified reasons only. An RCFE
must include in the notice to quit the reasons relied upon for
the eviction with specific facts to permit determination of the
date, place, witnesses, and circumstances of those reasons.
Despite these regulatory requirements, CANHR and co-sponsor Bet
Tzedek Legal Services report that too often RCFE residents'
rights are violated because they are unaware of these
protections.
Previous legislative efforts to address problems related to
evictions of RCFE residents were not successful. In 1997, AB
846 (Knox, 1997) proposed to prohibit evictions of RCFE
residents unless certain conditions were met and adopt the due
process provisions of the unlawful detainer statutes for those
RCFE residents who do not voluntarily surrender the residential
unit after being served with a notice of eviction. That bill
was vetoed. Similarly, AB 3383 (Knox, 1996), which would have
specified the circumstances under which an RCFE resident could
be evicted, was held in the Assembly Appropriations Committee.
This bill takes a more modest approach by requiring that RCFEs
include specified information in the notice to quit so that
residents are empowered and understand the protections to which
they are entitled. This bill would require an RCFE to include
additional information in a notice to quit in order to help a
resident better understand his or her rights when facing
eviction. For example, the notice to quit must give the
resident information about resources available to assist him or
her in identifying alternate housing and care options. This
information must include public and/or private referral services
and case management organizations. RCFEs must also include
information about a resident's right to file a complaint with
DSS about the eviction and relevant contact information.
This bill would also give RCFE residents notice of
landlord-tenant rights. According to California Elder Law
Litigation: An Advocates' Guide (Sec. 4.64, Cal. CEB 2008), a
resident of an RCFE, "just like an apartment tenant, is
protected by the landlord-tenant law." A combination of
regulations, statutes, and case law supports this assertion.
For example, regulations provide that the eviction procedures
governing RCFEs are not intended to preclude an RCFE or resident
from "invoking any other available remedy." Under Civil Code
Section 1940(a), landlord-tenant law applies to anyone who
"hire[s] a dwelling unit," such as a room in an RCFE.
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California Elder Law Litigation further states that Civil Code
Section 1940(a) provides that "[l]andlord-tenant protections
explicitly apply to 'tenants, lessees, boarders, lodgers, and
others, however denominated."
And, in Klarfeld v. Berg (1981) 29 Cal.3d 893, the California
Supreme Court held that, for purposes of a rent control
ordinance, the term "dwelling unit" includes a room in a
retirement residence where meals and other services are included
as part of a single overall charge. In sum, California Elder
Law Litigation states "Accordingly, an RCFE resident can
challenge an eviction by simply refusing to move. The RCFE will
then be forced to file an unlawful detainer action and prove its
allegations in court." This bill would provide RCFE residents
with notice of landlord-tenant rights.
SECOND COMMITTEE OF REFERENCE . This bill was previously heard
in the Assembly Judiciary Committee on June 23, 2009, and was
approved on a 10-1 vote.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
Bet Tzedek Legal Services (co-sponsor)
California Advocates for Nursing Home Reform (co-sponsor)
Disability Rights California (co-sponsor)
Advocacy, Inc.
Alzheimer's Association
Area Agency on Aging of Lake and Mendocino County
California Alliance for Retired Americans
Consumer Attorneys of California
Senior Law Project
Opposition
None on file.
Analysis Prepared by : Eric Gelber / HUM. S. / (916) 319-2089