AMENDED IN SENATE MARCH 28, 2022
SENATE BILL No. 847
Introduced by Senator Hurtado
January 13, 2022
An act to add and repeal Chapter 17.1 (commencing with Section 50897.9) to of Part 2 of Division 31 of the Health and Safety Code, relating to tenancy.
legislative counsel’s digest
SB 847, as amended, Hurtado. COVID-19 relief: tenancy: grant program.
Existing law, the COVID-19 Tenant Relief Act, until October 1, 2025, establishes procedural requirements and limitations on evictions for nonpayment of rent due to COVID-19 rental debt, as defined. Existing law, among other things, prohibits a tenant that delivers to a landlord or files with the court a declaration, under penalty of perjury, of COVID-19-related financial distress, as defined, from being deemed in default with regard to the COVID-19 rental debt, as prescribed.
Existing law, the State Rental Assistance Program, establishes a program for providing rental assistance, using funding made available pursuant to federal law, administered by the Department of Housing and Community Development.
This bill would, until January 1, 2025, create a grant program under the administration of the department and would require the department to award a program grant, as defined, to a qualified applicant who submits a complete application, as defined, on a first-come, first-served basis. basis, except that the bill would require the program to provide grants to all tier one applicants, as defined, before providing grants to other applicants. The bill would define “qualified applicant” to mean
98 a landlord who satisfies certain criteria, including that the landlord has applied for rental assistance funds pursuant to the State Rental Assistance Program and either received a negative final decision, as specified, or the landlord has been notified that an application to the State Rental Assistance Program was submitted, as specified, but 20 days have passed without a final decision being rendered. The bill would also establish a fund, the moneys in which would be available upon appropriation by the Legislature for the purposes of awarding program grants to qualified applicants.
This bill would require a complete application to include, among other things, a statement, signed under penalty of perjury, by the landlord making certain attestations, including that a program grant constitutes full satisfaction of the tenant’s obligation to the landlord with respect to the COVID-19 rental debt, as defined. By expanding the scope of the crime of perjury, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program.
The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state.
Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.
This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: yes.
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
line 1 SECTION 1. The Legislature finds and declares all of the line 2 following:
line 3 (a) As of July 2021, more than 1,800,000 property owners were line 4 behind on their mortgages. Many of these property owners are line 5 landlords. When federal mortgage forbearance ends, these landlords line 6 may be forced to remove their rental units from the market and line 7 sell them in order to avoid foreclosure.
line 8 (b) The State Rental Assistance Program (program) provides line 9 rental assistance only for tenants who make less than or equal to line 10 80 percent of the area median income. There are still many line 11 landlords with tenants who are behind on their rent and who will line 12 not qualify for any form of government rental assistance because line 13 they earned too much money to qualify for the program. 98 SB 847 — 2 —
line 1 (c) Although the program has been accepting rental assistance line 2 applications for most of 2021, payment to landlords and tenants, line 3 especially small landlords who are in desperate financial straits, line 4 has been untenably slow.
line 5 (d) Some tenants have claimed a COVID-19 hardship and yet line 6 do not qualify for rental assistance. Unfortunately, the COVID-19 line 7 Tenant Relief Act (CTRA) self-certification process allows only line 8 tenants to state their cases with no ability for landlords to challenge line 9 a self-certification of COVID-19-related financial distress. line 10 (e) Upon the expiration of CTRA, tenants with rental debt who line 11 do not qualify for the program may face small claims judgments line 12 that will unnecessarily burden their financial stability. line 13 SEC. 2. Chapter 17.1 (commencing with Section 50897.9) is line 14 added to Part 2 of Division 31 of the Health and Safety Code, to line 15 read:
line 16
line 17 Chapter 17.1. COVID-19 Tenancy Grant Program
line 18
line 19 50897.9. As used in this chapter:
line 20 (a) “Complete application” means an application for a program line 21 grant that satisfies all of the provisions of Section 50897.11. line 22 (b) “Covered time period” means the time period between March line 23 1, 2020, and September 30, 2021.
line 24 (c) “COVID-19 rental debt” means unpaid rent or any other line 25 unpaid financial obligation of a tenant under the tenancy that came line 26 due during the covered time period.
line 27 (d) “Department” means the Department of Housing and line 28 Community Development.
line 29 (e) “Landlord” means any of the following or the agent of any line 30 of the following:
line 31 (1) An owner of residential real property.
line 32 (2) An owner of a residential rental unit.
line 33 (3) An owner of a mobilehome park.
line 34 (4) An owner of a mobilehome park space or lot. line 35 (f) “Program grant” means a grant of an amount equal to 100 line 36 percent of a COVID-19 rental debt owed to a qualified applicant. line 37 (g) (1) “Qualified applicant” means a landlord who satisfies line 38 any of the following criteria:
line 39 (1)
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line 1 (A) The landlord has applied for rental assistance funds pursuant line 2 to the State Rental Assistance Program and either of the following line 3 is true:
line 4 (A)
line 5 (i) The landlord has been notified of a negative final decision line 6 pursuant to paragraph (3) of subdivision (r) of Section 50897.1. line 7 (B)
line 8 (ii) The landlord has been notified pursuant to paragraph (2) of line 9 subdivision (r) of Section 50897.1 that a completed application line 10 for rental assistance has been submitted by the landlord or the line 11 tenant, and both of the following are true:
line 12 (i)
line 13 (I) Twenty days have passed since the application was submitted. line 14 (ii)
line 15 (II) A final decision on the application has not been rendered. line 16 (2)
line 17 (B) The landlord has obtained a civil money judgment against line 18 a tenant for COVID-19 rental debt.
line 19 (2) (A) A landlord is a “tier one applicant” if the landlord is line 20 a qualified applicant that is not any of the following:
line 21 (i) A real estate investment trust, as defined in Section 856 of line 22 the Internal Revenue Code.
line 23 (ii) A corporation.
line 24 (iii) A limited liability company in which at least one member line 25 is a corporation.
line 26 (iv) An owner who has requested more than one hundred line 27 thousand dollars ($100,000) in grants from the program. line 28 (B) Notwithstanding subdivision (b) of Section 50897.10, the line 29 program shall provide grants to all tier one applicants before line 30 providing grants to other applicants.
line 31 (h) “State Rental Assistance Program” means the rental line 32 assistance program created by Chapter 17 (commencing with line 33 Section 50897), including Option A, Option B, and Option C line 34 grantees.
line 35 50897.10. (a) The COVID-19 Tenancy Grant Program is line 36 hereby created under the administration of the department. line 37 (b) The department shall award a program grant to a qualified line 38 applicant who submits a complete application on a first-come, line 39 first-served basis.
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line 1 (c) A program grant awarded pursuant to this section shall be line 2 deemed to satisfy a civil money judgment for COVID-19 rental line 3 debt that is the subject of the application with respect to which the line 4 grant was awarded.
line 5 50897.11. An application for a program grant submitted to the line 6 department shall meet all of the following criteria:
line 7 (a) The application shall include an explanation as to why the line 8 landlord is a qualified applicant and any of the following evidence, line 9 if applicable, supporting that explanation:
line 10 (1) Proof that a landlord applied to the State Rental Assistance line 11 Program.
line 12 (2) Proof of a final decision rendered by the State Rental line 13 Assistance Program.
line 14 (3) A copy of a civil judgment against the tenant. line 15 (b) The application shall include a statement, signed under line 16 penalty of perjury, by the landlord attesting to both of the line 17 following:
line 18 (1) A program grant constitutes full satisfaction of the tenant’s line 19 obligation to the landlord with respect to the COVID-19 rental line 20 debt.
line 21 (2) The amount requested in the application is the actual amount line 22 of COVID-19 rental debt owed by the tenant.
line 23 50897.12. A landlord who receives a program grant pursuant line 24 to this chapter shall return the amount of that grant to the line 25 department if the landlord receives money from the State Rental line 26 Assistance Program for the tenant and property for which the line 27 program grant was awarded.
line 28 50897.13. (a) The COVID-19 Tenancy Grant Program Fund line 29 is hereby established within the Treasury.
line 30 (b) Moneys in the fund shall be available, upon appropriation line 31 by the Legislature, for the purpose of awarding program grants to line 32 qualified applicants pursuant to this chapter.
line 33 50897.14. (a) The department may adopt, amend, and repeal line 34 rules, guidelines, or procedures necessary to administer the line 35 provisions of this chapter.
line 36 (b) The adoption, amendment, or repeal of rules, guidelines, or line 37 procedures authorized by this subdivision are exempt from the line 38 rulemaking provisions of the Administrative Procedure Act line 39 (Chapter 3.5 (commencing with Section 11340) of Part 1 of line 40 Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code).
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line 1 50897.15. This chapter shall remain in effect until January 1, line 2 2025, and as of that date is repealed.
line 3 SEC. 3. No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to line 4 Section 6 of Article XIIIB of the California Constitution because line 5 the only costs that may be incurred by a local agency or school line 6 district will be incurred because this act creates a new crime or line 7 infraction, eliminates a crime or infraction, or changes the penalty line 8 for a crime or infraction, within the meaning of Section 17556 of line 9 the Government Code, or changes the definition of a crime within line 10 the meaning of Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California line 11 Constitution.
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