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: 8/30/12 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.
Senate Floor Amendments of 8/30/12 add double-jointing
language with AB 278 (Eng), Chapter 86, Statutes of 2012.
Senate Floor Amendments of 8/24/12 amend the content of the
summary translations; clarify the penalty for failure to
provide the summary translations; ensure that the
translations need not be published; and enable notices of
default and notices of sale to be accepted by county
recorders, despite their inclusion of information in a
language other than English.
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:
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1. Requires the mortgagee, trustee, beneficiary or
authorized agent to provide the mortgagor or trustor
with:
A. A copy of the recorded ND with an attached
separate a summary document of the ND in English and
the languages described in CIV Section 1632; and
B. A copy of the recorded NS with an attached
separate a summary document of the information
required to be contained in the NS in English and the
language described in CIV Section 1632.
2. Codifies the contents of the summary in two parts - a
statement that must appear at the beginning of the ND,
and, a statutory summary that must appear at the
beginning of the ND.
3. Requires the DOC to translate the statutory summary of
the ND and the statement into the languages described in
CIV Section 1632. Those translations and 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 or published, 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.
6. Contains double-jointing language with AB 278 (Eng),
Chapter 86, Statutes of 2012.
Background
Foreclosures in California are generally nonjudicial,
meaning that they are accomplished without court
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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
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.
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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,
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 8/30/12 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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