BILL ANALYSIS �
SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE
Senator Noreen Evans, Chair
2011-2012 Regular Session
SB 279 (Emmerson)
As Introduced
Hearing Date: March 22, 2011
Fiscal: No
Urgency: No
BCP:rm
SUBJECT
Business: Self-service Storage Facilities
DESCRIPTION
Existing law requires the lien sale of a self-service storage
space to be advertised in a newspaper of general circulation in
the county where the sale is to be held, as specified.
This bill would, instead, require that sale to be advertised in
a newspaper of general circulation in the judicial district
where the sale is to be held.
BACKGROUND
Existing law, the California Self-Service Storage Facility Act,
governs self-service storage facilities and specifies certain
procedures to be followed when their occupants are delinquent in
their payments. When occupants are delinquent, the owner must
first send a preliminary lien notice that informs them that if
they do not pay the amount due that their right to use the space
will terminate, they will be denied access, and an owner's lien
will be imposed on all stored property. If the occupant fails
to pay the amount, the owner may then send a notice of lien
sale, which states that the property will be sold to satisfy the
lien on or after a specified date (not less than 14 days after
mailing) unless: (1) the amount of the lien is paid; or (2) the
occupant executes and returns a declaration in opposition to the
lien sale.
To provide public notice of an upcoming lien sale, existing law
requires the owner to advertise the sale for two weeks in a
(more)
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newspaper of general circulation that is published in the county
where the sale is to be held. If there is no paper of general
circulation, the advertisement must be posted in not less than
six conspicuous places, as specified.
This bill would change the above publication requirement to,
instead, require the advertisement to be in a newspaper of
general circulation published in the judicial district (as
opposed to county) where the sale is to be held. That change is
consistent with the publication requirement that existed prior
to January 1, 2011: AB 655 (Emmerson, Chapter 439, Statutes of
2010) replaced then-existing law's reference to "judicial
district" with "county." This bill reverses that change.
CHANGES TO EXISTING LAW
Existing law , the California Self-Service Storage Facility Act,
specifies remedies and procedures for self-service storage
facility owners when occupants are delinquent in paying rent or
other charges. (Bus. & Prof. Code Sec. 21700 et seq.)
Existing law provides that if an owner sends an occupant a
preliminary lien notice, the owner may, upon the effective date
of the lien, deny the occupant access to the space, enter the
space, and remove property for safe keeping. (Bus. & Prof. Code
Sec. 21705.)
Existing law requires owners to send occupants a notice of lien
sale that states the property will be sold to satisfy the lien
after a specified date that is not less than 14 days from the
date of mailing unless: (1) the amount of the lien is paid; or
(2) the occupant returns a declaration in opposition to lien
sale. (Bus. & Prof. Code Sec. 21705(c).)
Existing law requires a lien sale to be advertised in a
newspaper of general circulation in the county in which the sale
is to be held, or, if there is no newspaper of general
circulation in the county, posted in not less than six
conspicuous places in the neighborhood of the proposed sale.
(Bus. & Prof. Code Sec. 21707.)
This bill would replace two references to "county" with
"judicial district," thus, requiring any advertisement of a lien
sale to be in a newspaper of general circulation in the judicial
district where the sale is to be held, as specified.
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COMMENT
1. Stated need for the bill
According to the author:
SB 279 is �a] clean-up measure to AB 655, which updated the
California Self-Service Storage Facility Act. This bill
would correct a provision that allows lien sales of property
at self-storage facilities to be advertised in any newspaper
of general circulation in the county where the lien sale is
held. SB 279 will return the law to its previous state and
require that these lien sales be advertised in a newspaper
of general circulation in the judicial district where the
sale is held.
2.Proposed change corrects an error in floor amendments to AB
655 (Emmerson)
As originally introduced, AB 655 (Emmerson) sought to substitute
the requirement to publish notice of lien sales with an
obligation to advertise the sale in a commercially reasonable
manner. The substitution of that requirement was opposed by the
California Newspaper Publishers Association (CNPA) who asserted
that publication in a newspaper is the best way to inform the
entire community of an important public event, the lien sale.
Although the bill was amended to reinsert the publication
requirement, clarifying amendments taken on the Senate Floor
erroneously replaced "judicial district" with "county." This
bill would correct that error and restore the references to
judicial districts for purposes of publication.
CNPA, sponsor of this bill, asserts that the rationale for
requiring lien sales notices to be published within the judicial
district, instead of county, is clear: "notices are only
effective if they reach the intended audience, which in this
case are the people who live in the community where the sale is
to take place and where the personal property is located. To be
effective, public notices publicizing an event must be published
in newspapers that are adjudicated and circulated in communities
that are affected by the event. Allowing advertisers to publish
notices in any newspaper in the county would produce absurd
results."
3. Change consistent with prior legislation to preserve
judicial districts for purposes of publication
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CNPA additionally notes that "�w]hen the �L}egislature
consolidated the courts in the early 1990s, it kept the judicial
districts in place as they existed before consolidation for the
sole purpose of maintaining the system of providing public
notice in a local newspaper of general circulation." As part of
that restructuring, the Legislature provided that where judicial
districts have been consolidated in a county, or municipal and
superior courts have been unified within a county, the
"territory embraced within the respective prior component
judicial districts shall be separate judicial districts for the
purpose of publication within a judicial district." (Gov. Code
Sec. 71042.5.) The net effect of that section was to preserve
the smaller historical judicial districts so that the required
publications could arguably target the community in which the
published event is taking place.
As an example of how the shift to "county" could create
potential for mischief, the CNPA asserts that under existing
law, "a storage facility in Chino could advertise lien sales in
Barstow, a storage facility in the city of San Bernardino, in
Needles. In Los Angeles County, a storage facility in Santa
Monica could notice lien sales in a newspaper in Claremont; a
facility in Santa Clarity could advertise in Long Beach."
By changing the publication requirement back to "judicial
district," this bill appears consistent with the prior
legislative intent to preserve historical judicial districts and
would arguably address the above issues raised by CNPA regarding
publication outside the community at issue.
Support : None Known
Opposition : None Known
HISTORY
Source : California Newspaper Publishers Association
Related Pending Legislation : None Known
Prior Legislation : AB 655 (Emmerson, Chapter 439, Statutes of
2010), see Background.
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