|
|
|
|
|
|
An Article
|
|
California Senate Judiciary Committee passes SB 137
Bill will prohibit homeowners associations from foreclosing for assessments of less than $2500.
March 29, 2005
By
AHRC News Services
Copyright AHRC News Services
|
| Sacramento, California - Today, the California Senate Judiciary Committee voted 4-1 to pass SB 137. This bill is authored by Senators Denise Ducheny, Joseph Dunn and Liz Figueroa.
SB 137 would provide that when a homeowner association seeks to collect delinquent assessments of less than $2,500, not including specified late charges and fees, the association must either file a civil action in small claims court or record a lien upon which it would be prohibited from foreclosing until the amount equals or exceeds $2,500.
It is identical to AB 2598, a bill that Governor Arnold Schwarznegger vetoed last year.
The battle has begun.
The homeowner association lawyers and managers are lobbying furiously against the bill. They want to gut it For example, they want to lower the ceiling from $2,500 to $1,000.
Homeowners believe that both justice and common sense require that a person's home should not be taken for relatively minor sums of money. They argue that anybody can go through a financial rough patch - a loss of job, divorce, death in the family, sickness etc. Homeowners claim that the foreclosure industry is driving the opposition to the bill.
They point to the homeowner association lawyers who make hundreds of thousands of dollars just by posting notices of foreclosure sale. One study in San Diego County suggests that one law firm alone, Peters and Freedman, made over $200,000 from posting such notices in just 2 years.
In Northern California, Willard Harrington, a disabled man, recently lost his home for $123. Homeowners believe that such foreclosures are inherently unjust.
Homeowners say that they will be strongly supporting SB 137
How the California Senate Judiciary Committee Members voted on Homeowner Protection Bill SB 137
All the Democratic committee members voted "Yes"
Republican committee members voted "No" or "Abstained"
Senator Joseph Dunn (D) (Chair) - Yes
Senator Bill Morrow (R) (Vice-Chair) - Abstained
Senator Dick Ackerman (R) - No
Senator Gilbert Cedillo (D) - Yes
Senator Sheila Kuehl (D) - Yes
Senator Martha Escutia (D) - Yes
Legislative Contact Information
Bill author Senator Ducheny - Send her your support letter.
Senate Judiciary Committee Members - A thank you letter to those who voted for the bill will be a nice gesture.
Bill Information
SB 137 (Ducheny) Common Interest Developments Assessments
California Bill Information |
|
| |
|
View Comments (2) | Post a comment |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
