BILL NUMBER: AB 2317INTRODUCED BILL TEXT INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Saldana FEBRUARY 19, 2010 An act to amend Sections 38773.1 and 38773.5 of the Government Code, relating to local government. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST AB 2317, as introduced, Saldana. Local government: nuisance abatement. Existing law authorizes a local legislative body to establish a procedure to use a nuisance abatement lien or a special assessment to collect abatement and related administrative costs. This bill would authorize a local government body to also collect fines using a nuisance abatement lien or a special assessment. Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no. State-mandated local program: no. THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS: SECTION 1. Section 38773.1 of the Government Code is amended to read: 38773.1. (a) The legislative body may by ordinance establish a procedure to collect abatement and related administrative costs and fines by a nuisance abatement lien. This ordinance shall require notice prior to the recordation of the lien to the owner of record of the parcel of landoron which the nuisance is maintained, based on the last equalized assessment roll or the supplemental roll, whichever is more current. (b) The notice shall be served in the same manner as summons in a civil action in accordance with Article 3 (commencing with Section 415.10) of Chapter 4 of Title 5 of Part 2 of the Code of Civil Procedure. If the owner of record, after diligent search cannot be found, the notice may be served by posting a copy thereof in a conspicuous place upon the property for a period of 10 days and publication thereof in a newspaper of general circulation published in the county in which the property is located pursuant to Section 6062. (c) A nuisance abatement lien shall be recorded in the county recorder's office in the county in which the parcel of land is located and from the date of recording shall have the force, effect, and priority of a judgment lien. (1) A nuisance abatement lien authorized by this section shall specify the amount of the lien, the name of the agency on whose behalf the lien is imposed, the date of the abatement order, the street address, legal description and assessor's parcel number of the parcel on which the lien is imposed, and the name and address of the recorded owner of the parcel. (2) In the event that the lien is discharged, released, or satisfied, either through payment or foreclosure, notice of the discharge containing the information specified in paragraph (1) shall be recorded by the governmental agency. A nuisance abatement lien and the release of the lien shall be indexed in the grantor-grantee index. (3) A nuisance abatement lien may be foreclosed by an action brought by the city for a money judgment. (4) Notwithstanding Section 6103, Section 27383, or any other provision of law, the county recorder may impose a fee on the city to reimburse the costs of processing and recording the lien and providing notice to the property owner. A city may recover from the property owner any costs incurred regarding the processing and recording of the lien and providing notice to the property owner as part of its foreclosure action to enforce the lien. SEC. 2. Section 38773.5 of the Government Code is amended to read: 38773.5. (a) As an alternative to the procedure authorized by Section 38773.1, the legislative body may , by ordinance , establish a procedure for the abatement of a nuisance and make the cost of abatementof a nuisance upon a parcel of land, including fines, a special assessment against that parcel of land on which the nuisance is maintained . (b) A city may, by ordinance, provide for the recovery of attorneys' fees in any action, administrative proceeding, or special proceeding to abate a nuisance. If the ordinance provides for the recovery of attorneys' fees, it shall provide for recovery of attorneys' fees by the prevailing party, rather than limiting recovery of attorneys' fees to the city if it prevails. The ordinance may limit recovery of attorneys' fees by the prevailing party to those individual actions or proceedings in which the city elects, at the initiation of that individual action or proceeding, to seek recovery of its own attorneys' fees. In no action, administrative proceeding, or special proceeding shall an award of attorneys' fees to a prevailing party exceed the amount of reasonable attorneys' fees incurred by the city in the action or proceeding. (c) Any procedure established pursuant to this section shall include notice, by certified mail, to the property owner, if the property owner's identity can be determined from the county assessor' s or county recorder's records. The notice shall be given at the time of imposing the assessment and shall specify that the property may be sold after three years by the tax collector for unpaid delinquent assessments. The tax collector's power of sale shall not be affected by the failure of the property owner to receive notice. The assessment may be collected at the same time and in the same manner as ordinary municipal taxes are collected, and shall be subject to the same penalties and the same procedure and sale in case of delinquency as provided for ordinary municipal taxes. All laws applicable to the levy, collection and enforcement of municipal taxes shall be applicable to the special assessment. However, if any real property to which the cost of abatement relates has been transferred or conveyed to a bona fide purchaser for value, or if a lien of a bona fide encumbrancer for value has been created and attaches thereon, prior to the date on which the first installment of the taxes would become delinquent, then the cost of abatement shall not result in a lien against the real property but instead shall be transferred to the unsecured roll for collection. (d) A local agency that has imposed an assessment pursuant to this section may, subject to the requirements applicable to the sale of property pursuant to Section 3691 of the Revenue and Taxation Code, conduct a sale of vacant residential developed property for which the payment of that assessment is delinquent. (e) Notices or instruments relating to the abatement proceeding or special assessment shall be entitled to recordation.