Sacramento Report
by Debra Carlton
Over the past year, the California Apartment Association (CAA), through its volunteer members, leadership team and staff, have worked diligently to positively impact the legislative environment for the rental housing industry. We have many successes to report to you this year. California legislators introduced over 3,173 bills and most were amended five times, requiring CAA staff to review over 16,312 bills. CAA took positions on 229 bills. An overview of the new laws signed by the governor is provided below, as well as a summary of measures that were vetoed or otherwise failed passage in the legislature.
The New Laws
AB 437 (D-Parra): Megan's Law. This new law requires California's
Megan's Law web site to include the sex offender's conviction date,
as well as the incarceration release date.
AB 1323 (D-Vargas): Megan's Law Disclosure. This new law changes the disclosure information that rental property owners must provide in their rental contracts. No longer must contracts include information about a Megan's Law telephone line. Instead, the information must direct tenants to the state's Megan's Law web site. CAA has updated its forms to include this new information.
AB 1078 (R-Keene): Meth
Lab Cleanup. This new law creates cleanup standards and procedures
that rental-property owners can rely upon to ensure that their
property is adequately cleaned if it has been contaminated by an
illegal meth lab.
Legislation Vetoed by the Governor
SB 399 (D-Montanez): Recycling. The governor vetoed this bill, which would have required rental-property owners to tell new tenants, in writing, whether separate recycling receptacles were provided at the property. Owners would also have been required to direct tenants to a state web site that provides information about recycling.
AB 735 (D-Torlakson): Trespassing. This bill, which was vetoed by the governor, would have made “clarifications” to the state's trespass law. The current law makes it illegal for a rental-property owner to prohibit tenants from inviting a guest to the property to provide tenants with information about their rights under the law.
Legislation That Failed Passage
SB 51 (D-Kuehl): 60-Day Notice. This bill would have extended the
existing law that requires rental-property owners to provide tenants
with a 60-day notice prior to terminating the tenancy of a tenant
who had been in place for one year or longer. Since the bill failed
passage, the existing 60-day notice law is repealed as of January
1, 2006.
AB 528 (D-Frommer): Environment Lawsuits. The bill would have authorized any person with a beneficial interest in the outcome of a legal action to enforce (through the filing of a lawsuit) specific laws relating to public health and the environment, including regulations, permits and orders issued pursuant to those laws.
AB 781 (D-Leno): Housing Business Requirements. The bill would have allowed local governments to require a five-year notice period if an owner wished to remove the rental units from the market.
AB 1528 (D-Jones): Tenant Right to Sue. This bill would have created the ability for tenants to sue property owners in the same eviction case, or simultaneously in a separate action, based upon any allegations made by the owner in the eviction complaint. This bill was amended to impact a different subject.
SB 540 (D-Kehoe):
Tenant Right to Post Property. This bill would have required rental
property owners to allow residents to post any type of noncommercial
sign or banner on any area of the rental property.
For further information about these bills, you can find a complete
year-end report on the California Apartment Association's web site
at www.caanet.org.
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the viewpoint of the SFAA or the San Francisco Apartment Magazine. Debra Carlton is the senior vice president of legislative affairs for the California Apartment Association. Copyright © 2005 by the San Francisco Apartment Magazine. All rights reserved.