BILL ANALYSIS �
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 1599|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 1599
Author: Feuer (D), et al.
Amended: 8/6/12 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE BANKING & FINANCIAL INST. COMM. : 5-1, 6/27/12
AYES: Vargas, Blakeslee, Evans, Kehoe, Liu
NOES: Walters
NO VOTE RECORDED: Padilla
SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE : 4-0, 7/3/12
AYES: Evans, Blakeslee, Corbett, Leno
NO VOTE RECORDED: Harman
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : Senate Rule 28.8
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 49-25, 5/21/12 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Mortgages and deeds of trust
SOURCE : Author
DIGEST : This bill requires a foreclosing financial
institution to provide the borrower with a copy of a
recorded Notice of Default (ND) or recorded Notice of Sale
(NS) that contains a summary of the respective notice that
is translated into Spanish, Chinese, Tagalog, Vietnamese,
and Korean, codifies the contents of that summary and
requires the Department of Corporations (DOC) to translate
the summary and post the translation on their Internet Web
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site.
ANALYSIS : Existing law regulates the nonjudicial
foreclosure of properties pursuant to the power of sale
contained within a mortgage contract. To commence the
process, existing law requires the trustee, mortgagee, or
beneficiary to record a ND and allow three months to lapse
before setting a date for sale of the property. A copy of
the notice must be mailed to the homeowner and any parties
that have filed a request for notice within 10 business
days following recordation. (Civil Code (CIV) Sections
2924, 2924f)
Existing law requires a notice of nonjudicial foreclosure
sale to be officially noticed in a newspaper of general
circulation, posted on the property, and recorded at least
20 days before the sale date. (CIV Sections 2924, 2924f.)
Existing law permits the sale to be postponed for any
period of time not to exceed 365 days set forth in the NS.
The trustee must postpone the sale in accordance with: (1)
an order of the court; (2) a stay by operation of law; (3)
a mutual agreement of any trustor and any beneficiary; or
(4) the discretion of the trustee. (CIV Section 2924g)
Existing law requires a person engaged in a trade or
business who negotiates primarily in Spanish, Chinese,
Tagalog, Vietnamese, or Korean, orally or in writing, to
deliver to the other party to the contract or agreement a
translation of the contract in the language in which the
contract was negotiated. (CIV Section 1632)
This bill:
1. Requires the mortgagee, trustee, beneficiary or
authorized agent to provide the mortgagor or trustor
with:
A. A copy of the recorded ND that contains a summary
of the ND in English and the languages described in
CIV Section 1632; and
B. A copy of the recorded NS containing a summary of
the information required to be contained in the NS in
English and the language described in CIV Section
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1632.
2. Codifies the contents of the summary in two parts - a
statement that must appear at the beginning of the
ND/NS, and, a statutory summary that must appear at the
end of the ND/NS.
3. Requires the DOC to translate the statutory summary of
the ND and the NS into the languages described in CIV
Section 1632. Those documents must be made available,
without charge, on the DOC's Internet Web site. Any
mortgagee, trustee, beneficiary, or authorized agent who
provides the DOC's summary translation in the manner
prescribed by this section shall be in compliance with
this bill.
4. States that the summaries are not required to be
recorded, and apply the above requirements to
residential real property containing no more than four
dwelling units.
5. Provides that the requirement to provide a ND or NS with
the included summary will become operative on April 1,
2013, or 90 days following the issuance of summary
translations by the DOC, whichever is later.
Background
Foreclosures in California are generally nonjudicial,
meaning that they are accomplished without court
involvement. The first step in the foreclosure process is
the filing of a ND, which generally occurs after three or
more months of delinquency. The foreclosing entity must
then generally wait at least three months before noticing
the sale of the property, which must be posted, published,
and filed with the county recorder. The sale date
contained in the NS may be postponed by public proclamation
(given at the time and date of sale) for a total of up to
365 days.
This bill requires a foreclosing entity to provide
borrowers with a copy of the recorded ND that includes a
summary of the notice, and similarly, a copy of a recorded
NS that also includes a summary. Those summaries would be
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in English, Spanish, Chinese, Tagalog, Vietnamese, and
Korean, with the DOC performing the translation.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: No
SUPPORT : (Verified 8/6/12)
ACLU
Asian Americans for Civil Rights and Equality
California Communities United Institute
California Immigrant Policy Center
California Labor Federation, AFL-CIO
California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation
Center for Responsible Lending; Central California Legal
Services
Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles
Housing and Economic Rights Advocates
Law Foundation of Silicon Valley
National Housing Law Project
Southeast Asia Resource Action Center
Western Center on Law and Poverty
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : According to the author:
The purpose of this bill is to the help more homeowners
obtain equal access to the basic information they need
to make an informed decision when they are hit with
foreclosure, regardless of whether they have become
fully proficient in English.
Unlike many other similarly important legal notices,
home foreclosure documents are issued only in English
under existing law in the prevailing non-judicial
foreclosure process. If the foreclosure process
commonly took place through the courts, as it does in
other jurisdictions, state and federal law would require
language assistance for people who need help with
English.
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 49-25, 5/21/12
AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Allen, Ammiano, Atkins, Beall,
Bill Berryhill, Blumenfield, Bonilla, Bradford, Brownley,
Buchanan, Butler, Charles Calderon, Campos, Carter,
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Cedillo, Davis, Dickinson, Eng, Feuer, Fong, Fuentes,
Furutani, Galgiani, Gatto, Gordon, Hall, Hayashi, Hill,
Huber, Hueso, Huffman, Lara, Bonnie Lowenthal, Ma,
Mendoza, Mitchell, Monning, Pan, V. Manuel P�rez,
Skinner, Solorio, Swanson, Torres, Wieckowski, Williams,
Yamada, John A. P�rez
NOES: Chesbro, Conway, Cook, Donnelly, Beth Gaines,
Garrick, Grove, Hagman, Halderman, Harkey, Jeffries,
Jones, Knight, Logue, Mansoor, Miller, Morrell, Nestande,
Nielsen, Norby, Olsen, Silva, Smyth, Valadao, Wagner
NO VOTE RECORDED: Block, Fletcher, Gorell, Roger
Hern�ndez, Perea, Portantino
JJA:k 8/8/12 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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