Three bills that could hurt the rental housing industry will likely advance out of their respective judiciary committees in the Assembly and Senate next week. Because of the political leanings of the judiciary committees in each house of the state Legislature, they tend to approve bills not necessarily friendly to business, including those that CAA believes have major flaws.
Three bills that go before the judiciary committees Tuesday, May 7 --and have detrimental provisions for the rental housing industry -- include:
Three bills that go before the judiciary committees Tuesday, May 7 --and have detrimental provisions for the rental housing industry -- include:
- SB 603 (Leno-D), which would require that landlords pay interest on security deposits while dramatically increasing penalties, even for honest mistakes.
- SB 750 (Wolk-D), which would mandate the installation of submeters on all new multifamily units and -- as currently written -- ban ratio utility billing systems, or RUBS.
- AB 969 (Ammiano-D), which would encourage jury trials for eviction cases when a tenant claims he or she withheld rent because a landlord failed to make repairs to an apartment. The bill implies landlords are at fault, and by encouraging trial by jury, would greatly delay evictions.