BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    �



                                                                  AB 2161
                                                                  Page  1

          Date of Hearing:   May 14, 2014

                        ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
                                  Mike Gatto, Chair

                    AB 2161 (Chau) - As Amended:  April 23, 2014 

          Policy Committee:                              Housing and  
          Community Development                         Vote: 5 - 2

          Urgency:     No                   State Mandated Local Program:  
          No     Reimbursable:              

           SUMMARY  

          This bill authorizes the Department of Housing and Community  
          Development (HCD), at the request of a borrower of any loan  
          issued by the department that has reached maturity, to either  
          reloan the original amount of the matured loan plus any accrued  
          interest on the same terms and conditions as the original loan,  
          or restructure the loan pursuant to a streamlined process  
          authorized by AB 1699 (Torres) (2012), Chapter 780. 

           FISCAL EFFECT  

          Minor and absorbable costs to the Department of Housing and  
          Community Development.

           COMMENTS  

           Purpose  . In 2012, AB 1699 (Torres) gave HCD the authority to  
          extend and modernize the older multifamily housing loans in its  
          portfolio through conversion to its more recent Multifamily  
          Housing Program.  The purpose was to streamline the loan  
          restructuring process and to keep the affected units affordable.  
          With many of these older loans, once the loan is paid off, the  
          regulatory agreement which requires the units to remain  
          affordable is extinguished.  Many affordable housing providers  
          would like to keep their projects affordable, but need to take  
          on additional debt financed with a low interest rate.  

          The terms of the streamlined process in AB 1699 are required to  
          be spelled out in guidelines that have not yet been adopted.  
          Some of the loans for projects that want to use the AB 1699  
          guidelines to restructure have reached maturity. It is unclear  








                                                                  AB 2161
                                                                  Page  2

          if HCD has discretion to modify a loan that's term has ended. AB  
          2161 would explicitly give HCD two options to do so.


           Analysis Prepared by  :    Jennifer Swenson / APPR. / (916)  
          319-2081