BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    �



                                                                  AB 1599
                                                                  Page  1

          Date of Hearing:   May 16, 2012

                        ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
                                Felipe Fuentes, Chair

                    AB 1599 (Feuer) - As Amended:  April 30, 2012 

          Policy Committee:                              JudiciaryVote:9-1

          Urgency:     No                   State Mandated Local Program: 
          No     Reimbursable:               

           SUMMARY  

          This bill requires that documents related to the non-judicial 
          home foreclosure process be made available in specific languages 
          other than English. Specifically, this bill:

          1)Provides that a mortgagee, trustee, beneficiary, or authorized 
            agent shall provide to the mortgagor or trustor a standard 
            summary of the notice of default, attached to a copy of the 
            recorded notice of default, and a standard summary of the 
            notice of sale, attached to the copy of the recorded notice of 
            sale, in English and in Spanish, Chinese, Tagalog, Vietnamese, 
            and Korean in order to be properly recorded and effective.

          2)Provides that the Department of Real Estate (DRE) shall make 
            available a standard summary translation of a notice of 
            default and a notice of sale in Spanish, Chinese, Tagalog, 
            Vietnamese, and Korean, and shall make those documents 
            available without charge on its website if sufficient private 
            funds are provided to the DRE for this purpose. 

           FISCAL EFFECT  

          Minor costs (less than $10,000), fully offset by private 
          donations, for the DRE to provide translations of the summary 
          documents in the five languages and post on its website.

           COMMENTS  

           Purpose  . The author observes that virtually all home 
          foreclosures in California occur without court supervision.  The 
          mortgage lender or servicer simply issues a notice of alleged 
          default to the homeowner to begin the process, followed by a 








                                                                  AB 1599
                                                                  Page  2

          notice of sale when the property is about to be taken away.  
          These notices contain key information about the foreclosure 
          process and the homeowner's rights. Unlike many other similar 
          legal notices, however, these foreclosure documents are issued 
          only in English under existing law. Supporters of AB 1599 argue 
          that all homeowners should have equal access to the basic 
          information they need to make an informed decision when they are 
          hit with foreclosure.


           Analysis Prepared by  :    Chuck Nicol / APPR. / (916) 319-2081