CA Realtors Oppose a Number of Bills
Realtors from throughout California, myself included, will be meeting in Sacramento next week for mid-year meetings. Highlighting those sessions will be the June 3rd gathering to make it loud and clear which legislation is on the “oppose” list.
Some of those bills, with explanation from the California Association of Realtors (C.A.R.):
SB 407 (Padilla) Point-of-Sale Plumbing Fixture Replacement – C.A.R. is opposing SB 407, a bill that requires that ALL residential and commercial properties be retrofitted at point-of-sale with low-flow toilets, shower heads and faucets. While C.A.R. appreciates the goal of conserving water, C.A.R. opposes SB 407 because it will not achieve the objective of significantly reducing water consumption and because it will burden escrows and further destabilize the already weak housing market. C.A.R. will oppose SB 407 until it is amended to utilize an approach that does not use point-of-sale as an enforcement tool and instead employs a comprehensive broad-based approach for all homes. SB 407 is pending on the Senate Floor.
AB 603 (Price) Statewide “Just Cause” for REO Property – This bill would prohibit anyone who acquires foreclosed rental property from terminating a tenancy unless the new owner has owned the property for a minimum of one year or can demonstrate a “just cause” (e.g., non-payment of rent, etc.) for the eviction. AB 603 would apply to ANY property that is being leased by a tenant prior to the completion of the foreclosure proceedings, and includes single-family detached homes, condominiums, cooperatives, duplexes, apartments and townhomes. The provisions in AB 603 would sunset January 1, 2013. C.A.R. opposes AB 603 because it will create a disincentive for ANY buyer to purchase an REO home, which will only serve to further delay the recovery of California’s housing market. AB 603 is pending on the Assembly Floor.
AB 902 (Torres) Foreclosed Homes Income Tax Credit – AB 902 would grant purchasers of foreclosed homes, whose annual gross income is no more than 120% of the area’s median income, a tax credit equal to two percent of the cost of the home up to $3,000. The credit will be available to buyers purchasing the foreclosed property as a principle residence if the purchase is made after January 1, 2009, and before January 1, 2012. Unfortunately, AB 902 was recently amended to fund this tax credit by repealing mortgage interest deductions for second homes from January 1, 2010, through January 1, 2012. C.A.R. will oppose AB 902 until it is amended to utilize an alternative funding source for this tax credit. AB 902 was scheduled to be heard by the Assembly Revenue and Taxation Committee on May 18, but was removed from the committee calendar prior to the hearing in order to explore other funding options.
AB 827 (Yamada) Recording Fees to Fund Historical County Records – This measure would authorize county boards of supervisors to impose an additional recording fee of three dollars for the first page and one dollar for each additional page on property related documents. The fee would be used to fund the archiving of historical documents including real property records, local agency meetings and actions, roads and other public works, and other records of general public or historical interest. Current law requires that fee amounts be related to the cost of providing the service for which the fee is collected. C.A.R. opposes AB 827 because the fee collected is not related the cost of recording the affected documents but, instead, will be used to archive historical county records. AB 827 may be voted on the by the entire Assembly this week.
In addition, C.A.R. has changed its opposition to SB 676 (Wolk) Recording Fees – which would have increased the cost of recording the first page of a document from $4.00 to $10.00 because it was amended to limit the recoding fee to actual costs, up to a maximum of $10.00.
Watch this spot for further blogging about the Sacramento meetings.