Assembly Bill 632, sponsored by RCRC and authored by Assemblymember Gregg Hart (D-Santa Barbara), seeks to strengthen local enforcement mechanisms for state housing law violations, fire hazards, and unlicensed cannabis activities by providing more penalty collection options and clarifying local jurisdictions’ ability to collect fines and penalties through ordinary priority lien.
Specifically, AB 632 enhances code enforcement mechanisms for serious violations by giving local agencies additional tools to collect penalties imposed for certain serious violations, once the administrative review process is concluded. Penalties for these violations could be entered as a money judgment, thereby providing the full range of enforcement mechanisms available for judgment under the Code of Civil Procedure. This model is already used for pesticide violations and is more effective for cases where assets are harder to locate. This proposal is narrowly tailored, so that this enhanced penalty collections option would be limited to serious violations that impact community health and safety, those that pertain to cannabis, State Housing Law and laws pertaining to the safety of rental housing, as well as fire hazards. The bill also codifies existing case law to provide additional clarity.
Local governments often struggle to enforce serious violations, including state housing laws, fire safety regulations, and unlicensed cannabis activity, because the current code enforcement mechanisms are insufficient when dealing with persistent bad actors that often have numerous other violations and liens on the property and are consequently undeterred by existing enforcement mechanisms.
AB 632 will address this by providing clarity, codifying existing case law, and giving local governments more tools to acutely address threats to surrounding property owners and the public.
RCRC is a Sponsor of AB 632, along with the California Association of Code Enforcement Officers and the County of Santa Clara. This bill has passed the Assembly and is currently awaiting a final vote on the Senate floor before going to the Governor’s desk. RCRC’s most recent letter of support can be found here.
For additional information, contact RCRC Senior Policy Advocate Sarah Dukett.