Sponsored Legislation

AB 1119 rebalances the power dynamic between debt collectors and families with consumer debt. First, AB 1119 reduces the need for court appearances as people who get a notice to appear in court, but whose income and property are under the threshold protected by existing California law, will now be able to file a financial affidavit rather than taking up court time. Second, AB 1119 makes clear that there is no jail time for failure to pay debts in “limited civil” cases in superior court.

AB1414 prohibits common counts, which allow creditors and debt buyers to circumvent the usual rules of evidence and civil procedure, from being used in debt collection cases.

SB 478 adds a provision to the California Legal Remedies Act that prohibits businesses from advertising a price that does not include all required fees (excluding taxes).

AB 199, previously SB 355, incorporates provisions expanding eligibility for automatic court filing-fee waivers into the Budget Act of 2022.

SB 1200 provides relief to debt-burdened Californians subject to debt-collection lawsuits. SB 1200 reduces the interest rate on most personal and medical debt judgments from 10% to 5% per year, and limits renewals of those judgments to a single five-year period.

SB 633 provides that, for certain types of consumer contracts, where the tradesperson or business knows or has reason to know that a co signer or guarantor is not proficient in English, the tradesperson or business must provide a translated notice in Spanish, Chinese, Tagalog, Vietnamese, and Korean, as translated and made available by the Business, Consumer Services, and Housing Agency.

AB 1405 establishes the Fair Debt Settlement Practices Act (Act) to prohibit debt settlement companies from engaging in specified practices or acts and to authorize a harmed consumer to bring a civil action against the provider by debt settlement companies.

AB 390 allows consumers to cancel online subscriptions for unwanted goods and services immediately and at any time. AB 390 also requires businesses to provide a link or button on their website or a readily accessible email address for termination.

AB 430 modifies the documentation requirements involved in various statutes that provide civil protections for victims of identity theft. The bill replaces obsolete references to a Federal Trade Commission Affidavit of Identity Theft.

AB 790 would amend a provision of the Consumer Legal Remedies Act so that it clearly applies to PACE fraud and be used to hold program administrators liable for their involvement in these schemes.

AB 832 restricts landlords’ ability to evict tenants or to recover COVID back rent debt if tenants have applied for or would qualify for rental relief payments under federal and state efforts including the Emergency Rental Assistance Payments (ERAP) program. In addition, AB 832 "masks" actions to evict tenants for nonpayment of COVID rent debt or to collect that debt so that they will not appear on credit reports or tenant screening reports.

AB 1864 enacts the California Consumer Financial Protection Law (CCFPL) to provide the Department of Financial Protection & Innovation (DFPI) with the tools, including UDAAP (Unfair, Deceptive or Abusive Acts and Practices) authority, to monitor financial product and service purveyors of all kinds. AB 1864 makes explicit that the Department also has the authority under the Dodd-Frank Act to exercise UDAAP jurisdiction over providers not covered by the CCFPL.

AB 2463 prevents judgment creditors from foreclosing on homes for an unsecured consumer debt.

AB 2524 enhances regulation of unfair and deceptive actors in the debt settlement industry.

AB 3254 provides significant protection from fraud by requiring that non-English-speaking cosigners, who are often seniors, be given a copy of the contract in the language that they speak. The bill closes a loophole in current law by protecting Californians who don't read English but are called on to guarantee contracts.

AB 1821 restores the effectiveness of the FTC Holder Rule in California by overturning the Lafferty v. Wells Fargo decision, restoring consumers’ ability to recover their attorneys’ fees and costs in addition to their damages.

SB 187 extends the Rosenthal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act to explicitly include the collection of mortgage debt. SB 187 also removes the Rosenthal Act’s exception for attorneys, thus requiring lawyers who collect debt to conform to the Act's requirements.

SB 616 will reform the bank levy system for low-income California debtors by protecting $2000, enough to cover life's essential needs for a few months, from being seized by a creditor.

AB 2063 ensures that a program administrator cannot execute an assessment or home improvement contract, or start work on that home improvement contract that is financed by an assessment contract, unless and until the program administrator determines that the property owner has the ability to pay the annual payment obligations for the PACE assessment.

SB 818 (Homeowners Bill of Rights) prevents dual tracking while also facilitating a process for struggling homeowners to work with their lenders.