The California State Legislature passed legislation on two issues last week that will be included in the state’s Homeowner Bill of Rights and help protect homeowners from mortgage scams.
Assembly Bill 1763, sponsored by Assemblyman Mike Davis (D-Los Angeles), and Senate Bill 1474, sponsored by Sen. Loni Hancock (D-Berkeley), allow the California attorney general to call special grand juries to investigate and indict alleged perpetrators of financial crimes involving victims in multiple jurisdictions.
Under current law, crimes with fraud victims across the state require separate grand juries and charges filed in each county where the defendant committed the crime.
The bills, which passed their respective houses unanimously, permit the special grand juries to convene in cases involving fraud or theft that occurs in more than one county and where all potential charges are against a single defendant or multiple defendants working together.
“Unfortunately, county-by-county grand juries do not work well in dealing with large-scale wrongdoing in multiple jurisdictions,” Hancock said in a press statement. “With this bill, the attorney general can investigate multijurisdictional crimes and it will provide protection when Californians need it the most.”
Davis also sponsored AB 1950, which extends the statute of limitations on mortgage-related crimes from one year to three. The assembly passed the bill 46 to 18. The bill will give law enforcement and prosecutors more time to take action on potential fraud and other housing-related cases, like the state’s prohibition on charging upfront fees for loan modification services. Also, because of the protracted foreclosure process, some homeowners don’t even realize that they are the victims of a scam before it is too late for prosecution.
“AB 1950 equips the attorney general to do her job; to go after the bad actors that have taken advantage of homeowners,” Davis said. “It accomplishes this by providing the attorney general with appropriate time to investigate and prosecute those who prey on California homeowners.”
