Steve Carlson
Sacramento Lobbyist

First-House Committee Deadlines

s this is being written, we are in the middle of the maelstrom known as first-house committee deadlines. Many bills are being amended, and we often get very little time to analyze or respond to these amendments. Below is a summary of some of the key measures we are working on.

AB 2052 (Lieu) — Victims of Domestic Violence

This bill allows for shortened lease terminations in domestic violence cases. Amendments taken in the Assembly Judiciary Committee narrow the scope of the bill substantially. We hope they will remove many, if not most, of our legitimate concerns. As we have not yet seen the new language reflecting, the changes and discussions in committee, we'll have to withhold our judgment for now. Our hope is to get to a place where we can support a final version of the measure. We do appreciate Assemblyman Lieu's flexibility in addressing our concerns. Support if Amended.

AB 2586 (Torrico) — Tenants in Foreclosed Properties

Aimed at the subprime mortgage issue, the bill expands a number of rights for tenants in foreclosed properties. Unfortunately, while it should be targeted at the single-family market, it also would permit these rights in the multifamily context. As such, it is inappropriate and has negative consequences for rental property ownership. Oppose unless amended.

SB 1299 (Migden) — Replacement of Units

Would require one-for-one replacement of units demolished in rent control communities and place the new units under any previous price controls. Oppose.

SB 1126 (Cedillo) — Seizure of Assets

In its original form, it would authorize the prosecuting attorney to seize the assets of a criminal street gang or from persons who knew or should have known of the unlawful acts of the street gang. We worked with the sponsor, the L.A. City Attorney, and secured amendments that clarify that the remedies in the bill apply only to gang members. With those amendments, we agreed to support the bill as another weapon in law enforcement's arsenal to go after gangs. Support.

AB 2363 (Ma) — Megan's Law

This proposal says that the presence of a tenant on the sex offender database would be a "cause" for eviction in rent-controlled communities in order to protect a person at risk. Support.

SB 1598 (Padilla) — Smoking

We understand the goal is to allow owners to declare their buildings non-smoking and to provide some liability limitation. We are analyzing proposed amendments. Watch.

SB 1518 (Correa) — Water Allocation/RUBS

This bill creates a safe harbor to allow owners without water sub-meters to allocate a portion of water costs to tenants. It also will mandate sub-meters in all new multifamily buildings after 2012. Support if amended.

AB 2925 (Davis) — Substandard Housing

AB 2925 is a reintroduction of the vetoed AB 864, from last year, regarding substandard housing. In the Housing Committee, the Chair insisted on a number of amendments that improve the measure somewhat, but we remain opposed. Oppose.

SB 1386 (Lowenthal) — Carbon Monoxide Detectors

The bill would require carbon monoxide detectors in all multifamily properties after June 1, 2010, or after June 1, 2009, if a building permit is issued for over $1,000.

The author has taken many amendments, including a requirement that tenants regularly test the devices. We remain concerned that there is no provision to pass the new costs through in rent-controlled communities, and will be addressing that issue with the author. Oppose unless amended.

Annual Legislative Day a Huge Success

t has been an active first two months of the session with a seminal election in which the voters rejected a term‑limits measure. As predicted, the defeat of the measure led to the replacement of three of the four legislative leaders with the new leaders agreeing to take office at various times throughout the course of the session.

The new Senate President Pro Tern is Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento). The Republican Leader in the Senate will be Dave Cogdill from the Central Valley, near Fresno. In an historic election, Karen Bass of Los Angeles was elected Speaker of the Assembly, the first African-American woman to hold that post. AAGLA has good working relationships with each of these new leaders.

We also just had a very successful Annual Legislative Day on March 5 with our allies from the California Housing Providers Coalition (CHPC). CHPC representatives joined together in a whirlwind of meetings with key legislators and administration representatives. We collectively saw over 30 legislators during this very productive day.

The messages included making sure legislators know that CHPC is an organization of independent apartment associations that join together on key policy matters, and that collectively, we represent about a million apartment units in Central and Southern California.

We also stressed that this is an already heavily-regulated industry and asked them to keep that in mind when a fellow elected official comes up with just another "little bill." Please understand the cumulative effect of the legislation and the fact that these bills can often add costs and be further disincentives for people to invest in and own rental property.

During the day, we identified four key bills of concern.

AB 2052 (Lieu)

Lieu deals with victims of domestic violence in apartments. It seeks to develop a process whereby a victim might be allowed to terminate a lease or tenancy earlier than would be permitted by contract. While the industry is very supportive of dealing with domestic violence issues, both for the victim and the other tenants at the property, there are provisions of the bill that we believe need to be modified to make it a more balanced process and lessen the chance that the bill can be used to fraudulently terminate a lease or rental agreement.

AB 2586 (Torrico)

Aimed at the sub-prime mortgage crisis, the bill, ostensibly, is focused on tenants in single-family homes displaced due to foreclosures. Unfortunately, language in the bill applies also to multi‑family properties, which are unaffected by the sub-prime issues. The offensive language creates unbalanced rights to terminate tenancies between owners and tenants, allows offsets of utility payments to rent, and runs the risk of producing significant negative impacts on apartments. It should be targeted to single-family homes only.

SB 1299 (Migden)

Authorizing local governments to impose replacement requirements when properties are removed from the rental market through demolition using the Ellis Act, SB 1299 requires a one‑for‑one replacement and would impose rent control on newly-constructed units. If enacted, it would be the death knell for new rental unit construction.

SIB 1126 (Cedillo)

Although well intended to deal with gang activity, the bill would allow forfeiture of assets, including apartment properties, if the owner knew or should have known of gang activity taking place. This is an untenable position for an owner and a function that is rightfully the providence of law enforcement.

We are confident that on a number of these bills we will be able to negotiate reasonable amendments, however, SB 1126 appears to be one that we will have no option other than to kill.

In future editions, we will talk further on the many other bills that impact our industry and our progress in dealing with the key ones listed above. Here we go!