Sacramento Report
By Ron Kingston

The only pro landlord bill to be approved by the California State Legislature this year is on its way to the Governor’s office for his signature.  This legislation is OUR BILL, sponsored by Apartment Association, California Southern Cities!

Should the Governor sign into law AB 976 (Calderon), it will assure landlords that they cannot be compelled by local government to compile dossiers or become de facto immigration police concerning a tenant, a prospective tenant and occupants of any residential rental unit.  The bill also reassures landlords and property managers that they will continue to be able to request and receive information necessary to determine the financial qualifications and identity of prospective tenants and prospective occupants without the ever present threat of a lawsuit.

The bill recognizes a basic tenet of law: government is to make, enforce and interpret law and the people, including landlords and property managers, are to follow the law. AB 976 recognizes the province of federal government which totally occupies the field on immigration law.

Here are our reasons for sponsoring the bill:

• We are seeking relief from laws that expose us to unnecessary and costly lawsuits. Today we are faced with legal challenges when qualifying prospective tenants. Our bill resolves this legal quandary by providing clear direction that allows us to ask and obtain information about prospective tenants and occupants.
• Despite what local government city council and board of supervisors think, we are not qualified to enforce laws. Enforcement has always been (and should continue to be) vested with government. Need we remind local government officials that we are in the business of renting housing and we already are following a complex set of laws in order to stay in business?
• There is no precedent in history for government to create a de facto police force of private citizens.  To that end, we are not legally authorized by the federal government to do so and we are not trained to enforce the law.  Should this ever occur, we could easily endanger everyone in connection with the rental of housing.
• Congress has never considered changing federal immigration law to authorize local governments OR landlords to enforce federal law. Since the enactment of the first immigration laws by Congress, the federal government has occupied the entire field to enforce immigration law.
• Late last year, plaintiffs were successful in obtaining a restraining order against Escondido City to keep that city from enforcing an ordinance that would have severely penalized landlords who failed to determine the immigration status of tenants and prospective tenants face significant fines and suspension of business licenses. Shortly following the issuance of the order by the court, the city council rescinded their ordinance that targeted landlords and property managers. This lawsuit cost the city a great deal of taxpayer cost. Not only did the city incur over $100,000 of legal fees defending the action, they paid the plaintiffs over $90,000 in an out-of-court settlement. This is one of a handful of successful cases being brought against cities that want to make us de facto immigration cops and penalize us for not complying with their laws and forcing us to violated enumerable state and federal laws.
• No government should ever violate state and federal due process rights by failing to provide a procedure for dispute of any alleged violation of law before sanctions are imposed on a citizen. This maxim of law was clearly at issue in the lawsuit against Escondido City.
• We follow and fully embrace federal and state anti discrimination laws. If we had complied with the Escondido’s ordinance, we would have violated many laws, including federal and state anti discrimination laws.

Now we wait for the Governor to take action on our all-to-important bill.