1 City Council Meeting April 22, 2025 Santa Monica, California ORDINANCE NUMBER _____ (CCS)
(City Council Series)
AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SANTA MONICA AMENDING SANTA MONICA MUNICIPAL CODE SECTIONS 1.09.010, 1.09.020,
1.09.120, 13.06.030, 13.06.040, 13.06.050, AND 13.06.090, AND ADDING SECTIONS 1.09.025, 1.09.045, 1.09.170, 13.06.055, 13.06.095, AND 13.06.110
TO THE SANTA MONICA MUNICIPAL CODE
WHEREAS, the City of Santa Monica is committed to protecting its’ residents’, businesses’, and visitors’ health, safety, welfare, and quality of life; and WHEREAS, the City is also committed to preserving aesthetic qualities and charm which enrich residents’ lives and attract visitors; and WHEREAS, effective code enforcement is vital to the effectuation of these commitments; and
WHEREAS, code enforcement is the method by which the City assures that the use of land and the operation of business activity continues to comply with local regulations after permits and licenses have been issued; and WHEREAS, enforcement of this Code and nuisance abatement are matters of local concern and serve important public purposes; and
WHEREAS, California Government Code Section 53069.4 authorizes the legislative body of a local agency to, by ordinance, make any violation of its municipal code subject to an administrative fine or penalty, and to set forth the administrative procedures that shall govern the imposition, enforcement, collection, and administrative review of those administrative fines and penalties, and requires such procedures provide for a reasonable period of time for a person responsible for a continuing violation to 2 correct or otherwise remedy the violation prior to imposition of administrative fines or penalties, when the violation pertains to building, plumbing, electrical, or other similar structural or zoning issues, that do not create an immediate danger to health or safety; and
WHEREAS, in adopting Government Code 53069.4, the state legislature found that “code enforcement is complex and, therefore, there is a need for many tools, including fines, to help maintain an effective, efficient, and responsive enforcement of codes”; and WHEREAS, this finding is particularly applicable to Santa Monica, as achieving effective code enforcement is complicated by various factors including the City’s unusual density, its age, its diversity of structures, and variety of sometimes conflicting activities and land uses occurring within the City’s eight square miles; and WHEREAS, it is essential to effective and efficient code enforcement that all persons and entities responsible for or contributing to a violation or public nuisance be held accountable and subject to swift administrative enforcement; and WHEREAS, providing persons responsible for code violations that are capable of being ceased, not frequently recurring, and do not pose immediate danger to health or safety, an opportunity to promptly cease the violation and pay a reduced administrative fine both encourages faster compliance and timely payment of fines, thereby reducing the need for further code enforcement and other resources to be expended achieving compliance and recovering fines; and
WHEREAS, setting clear rules regarding the City’s process for providing a reasonable period of time for persons to correct conditions that do not create an immediate danger to health or safety prior to the imposition of administrative fines and 3 penalties, delivering administrative citations to persons subject to the citation, and notifying persons who appeal citations of the date, time, location, and outcome of their appeal, serves to inform and benefit the public, administrative enforcement officials and practitioners, and hearing officers; and
WHEREAS, a comprehensive code enforcement system that uses a combination of judicial and administrative remedies is critical to ensure code compliance; and WHEREAS, the City adopts the administrative fine and penalty provisions of this ordinance pursuant to the City’s powers as a charter city and Government Code Section 53069.4; and
WHEREAS, Article XI, Section 7 of the California Constitution authorizes the City to enact, amend, and enforce ordinances to promote social, economic, or aesthetic considerations and/or that regulate conditions which may be public nuisances or create health hazards; and
WHEREAS, Civil Code Sections 3479 and 3480 define a nuisance as anything that is injurious to health, offensive to the sense, or an obstruction to the free use of property, so as to interfere with the comfortable enjoyment of life or property, and anything that unlawfully obstructs the free passage or use of public spaces and waterways, and a public nuisance as one that affects an entire community or neighborhood, or considerable number of people; and
WHEREAS, Government Code Section 38771 authorizes a city legislative body to declare what constitutes a nuisance by ordinance; and WHEREAS, the City has long regulated public nuisances through administrative, civil, and criminal enforcement; and
4 WHEREAS, on February 13, 2024, the City Council directed staff to review the City’s laws and regulations regarding the abatement of public nuisances and propose revisions that include additional definitions of what constitutes a public nuisance; and WHEREAS, including repeat violators of housing, building, and tenant protection codes, and those that engage in nuisance activity in the conduct of their business, in the definition of public nuisances ensures that those responsible for conduct that threatens or harms the health, safety, enjoyment of property, and use of public spaces of a significant number of people are appropriately penalized, that enforcement resources are directed toward those properties and persons negatively affecting larger numbers of people, and that the City has comprehensive remedies to abate such conduct; and WHEREAS, clearly designating the Community Development Department Director as primarily responsible for enforcement of the City’s Public Nuisances code is consistent with the Director’s responsibility for enforcement of other codes contained in Article 13, of the municipal code, but does not limit the City Attorney’s authority to seek appropriate remedies to abate public nuisances, including civil and criminal enforcement actions; and
WHEREAS, setting clear rules regarding notices to persons responsible for committing public nuisances will improve enforcement and efficient abatement of nuisances, benefiting the public; and
NOW, THEREFORE, THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SANTA MONICA DOES HEREBY ORDAIN AS FOLLOWS:
5 SECTION 1. Section 1.09.010 of the Santa Monica Municipal Code is hereby amended to read as follows:
Section 1.09.010 Applicability.
(a) This Chapter provides for the issuance of administrative citations which are in addition to all other legal remedies, criminal or civil, which may be pursued by the City to address any violation of this Code.
(b) The administrative citations process set forth in this Chapter applies to violations of the Code that: (1) are transitory or immediately remediable; (2) create an immediate danger to health or safety; or (3) are continuing violations pertaining to building, plumbing, electrical or other similar structural or zoning issues that persist after the responsible party has been given notice and failed to comply within the specified time frame. Unless otherwise stated in the Code, the administrative citations process set forth in this Chapter applies to violations of Articles 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 13 of this Code or any other provision specifically identified as subject to the administrative citation process. This Chapter shall only apply to administrative citations issued for violations of this Code, and shall not apply civil, criminal, or other enforcement of any section of this Code.
(c) Use of this Chapter shall be at the sole discretion of the City, subject to subsection (b) of this Section.
SECTION 2. Section 1.09.020 of the Santa Monica Municipal Code is hereby amended to read as follows:
Section 1.09.020 Definitions.
“Correctable offense” means any ongoing or continuous violation of the Santa Monica Municipal Code or any law the City is authorized to enforce that can be legalized 6 by taking a positive action towards compliance rather than refraining from committing a future violation.
“Enforcement Officer” means a City Police Officer, a City Code Compliance Officer or Code Enforcement Officer, a City Building Inspector, a City Combination Building Inspector, a City Parking Enforcement Officer, a City Public Works Inspector, a City Fire Inspector, a City Office of Sustainability and the Environment Inspector, a City License Inspector, a City Animal Control Officer, a City Public Services Officer, a City Lead Public Services Officer, a City Public Services Officer Supervisor, a City Public Services Administrator, a Pier and Harbor Services Officer, a Lead Pier and Harbor Services Officer, a City Pier and Harbor Services Supervisor, or any other authorized agent or employee of the City whose duty is to assure Code compliance. “Responsible party” means any individual or entity who is responsible for causing or maintaining a violation of this Code or applicable state codes or causing or maintaining any public nuisance. The term “responsible party” includes, but is not limited to, a property owner, tenant, occupant, person with a legal interest in real property or person in possession of real property, the president or other head of a corporation, or a business owner, or manager of a business.
SECTION 3. Section 1.09.025 of the Santa Monica Municipal Code is hereby added to read as follows:
Section 1.09.025 Notices of violation.
Pursuant to California Government Code 53069.4, when a violation pertains to building, plumbing, electrical, or other similar structural or zoning issues, that do not create an immediate danger to health or safety, an enforcement officer shall issue a 7 notice of violation to the responsible party prior to the imposition of administrative fines or penalties. Such notice shall serve as a written warning of responsibility and required action to abate the violation. The notice of violation shall include the following information:
(a) The name of the responsible party;
(b) The name of the owner, if different from the responsible party; (c) Street address;
(d) The code sections in violation;
(e) Date of the violation, if known;
(f) A description of the conditions which violate the applicable codes; (g) The date of the violation or, if the date of the violation is unknown then the date the violation is identified;
(h) A list of corrections to bring the condition into compliance; (i) A reasonable period of time to correct the violations listed in the notice of violation prior to the imposition of fines or penalties, unless the violation constitutes an immediate danger to public health, safety, or welfare, or materially interferes with public travel or passage, in which case the notice of violation may require immediate compliance; and
(j) A list of the potential consequences for failure to comply with the notice of violation or permitting the violation such as criminal prosecution, civil injunction, administrative abatement, administrative citations, civil penalties, revocation of permits, recordation of the notice of violation and withholding of future municipal permits, and receivership.
8 SECTION 4. Section 1.09.045 of the Santa Monica Municipal Code is hereby added to read as follows:
Section 1.09.045 Service Procedures for Issuing Administrative Citations.
An administrative citation on a form approved by the City Manager may be issued to a responsible party by an enforcement officer for violation of those sections set forth in subsection (b) of Section 1.09.010 as follows:
(a) By Personal Service. The person on whom the citation is served is required to confirm receipt by signing a copy of the citation, but his or her failure to do so shall have no effect on the citation’s validity or enforceability; or (b) By Regular First-Class Mail. Service shall be deemed effective when the citation is deposited in the United States mail to the responsible party as shown on the County’s current equalized assessment roll or other records pertaining to the matter to which such notice is directed; or
(c) By Posting on Property. If the enforcement officer is unable to serve the citation under subsection (a) or (b) above, by posting a copy of the citation on any real property within the city in which the city has knowledge that the responsible party has a legal interest. Service under this subsection shall be deemed effective on the date when the notice is posted; or
(d) By Publication. If the enforcement officer cannot post the citation by any of the above methods, by publishing the citation in a newspaper likely to give actual notice to the party subject to the citation. The publication shall be once a week for four successive weeks in a newspaper published at least once a week. 9 SECTION 5. Section 1.09.050 of the Santa Monica Municipal Code is hereby amended to read as follows:
Section 1.09.050 Compliance with administrative citations. (a) The responsible party shall comply with any administrative citation by abating the Code violations described in the citation and by paying the required fines within the time allotted by the citation.
(b) Any administrative citation fine paid pursuant to subsection (a) of this Section shall be refunded in accordance with Section 1.09.100 if it is determined, after a requested review, that the person charged in the administrative citation was not responsible for the violation or that there was no violation as charged in the administrative citation.
(c) Payment of a fine under this Chapter shall not excuse or discharge any continuation or repeated occurrence of the Code violation that is the subject of the administrative citation.
(d) If the citation is the responsible party’s first violation of the cited code provision within a thirty-six month period, is a correctable offense, is deemed by the enforcement officer not to create an immediate danger to health and safety, and is deemed by the enforcement officer to be corrected within the time indicated on the citation, the responsible party shall not be required to pay more than fifty percent of the fine, provided the responsible party pays fifty percent of the fine within 30 days of providing proof of correction of the violation to the enforcement officer. Subsequent administrative citations for a violation of the same code provision issued within thirty-six months of another administrative citation shall not be eligible for a fine reduction under 10 this subsection. This paragraph shall not apply to orders issued pursuant to Section
10.04.04.040.
SECTION 6. Section 1.09.090 of the Santa Monica Municipal Code is hereby amended to read as follows:
Section 1.09.090 Hearing procedure.
(a) No hearing to contest an administrative citation before a Hearing Officer shall be held unless the fine has been deposited in advance in accordance with Section
1.09.050 or an advance deposit hardship waiver has been issued in accordance with Section 1.09.070.
(b) A hearing before the Hearing Officer shall be set for a date that is not less than five days and not more than sixty days from the date that the request for hearing is filed in accordance with the provisions of this Chapter, unless the Hearing Officer determines that the matter is urgent or that good cause exists for an extension of time.
Notice of hearing shall be sent to the party contesting the administrative citation by email, unless the party contesting the citation requests to receive notice of the hearing by mail, in which case the notice shall be mailed to his or her last known mailing address.
(c) At the hearing, the party contesting the administrative citation shall be given the opportunity to testify and to present evidence concerning the administrative citation.
(d) Unless the recipient of an administrative citation requested a paper review pursuant to Section 1.09.060(e), the failure of the recipient to appear at the administrative citation hearing shall constitute a forfeiture of the fine and a failure to 11 exhaust his or her administrative remedies.
(e) The administrative citation and any additional report submitted by City staff shall constitute prima facie evidence of the respective facts contained in those documents.
(f) The Hearing Officer may continue the hearing and request additional information from the enforcement officer or the recipient of the administrative citation prior to issuing a written decision.
(g) The Hearing Officer may grant any request for a continuance of the hearing from either party upon a showing of good cause. (h) The Hearing Officer shall have the power to issue orders to keep order and decorum during an Administrative Hearing. No person shall fail to comply with any such order.
(i) At any time prior to, during or after the hearing, the City Attorney’s office may exercise its prosecutorial discretion to reach a plea agreement or compromise with the responsible party or to dismiss any citation.
SECTION 7. Section 1.09.100 of the Santa Monica Municipal Code is hereby amended to read as follows:
Section 1.09.100 Hearing Officer’s decision.
(a) After considering all of the testimony and evidence submitted at the hearing, the Hearing Officer shall issue a written decision to uphold or cancel the administrative citation and shall list in the decision the reasons for that decision. The decision of the Hearing Officer shall be issued within thirty days after the conclusion of the hearing or the submission of all written materials if no hearing is requested and the 12 Hearing Officer’s decision shall be final.
(b) If the Hearing Officer determines that the administrative citation should be upheld, then the fine amount on deposit with the City shall be retained by the City. (c) If the Hearing Officer determines that the administrative citation should be upheld and the fine has not been deposited pursuant to an advance deposit hardship waiver, the Hearing Officer shall set forth in the decision a schedule on which the fine must be paid.
(d) If the Hearing Officer determines that the administrative citation should not be upheld and the fine was deposited with the City, then the City shall promptly refund the amount of the deposited fine. Unless the City returns the fine within thirty days after it was deposited, this refund shall also include interest at the average rate earned on the City’s portfolio for the period of time that the fine amount was held by the City. (e) The recipient of the administrative citation shall be served with a copy of the Hearing Officer’s written decision. Notice of the decision shall be sent to the party contesting the administrative citation by email, unless the party contesting the citation requests to receive the decision by mail, in which case it shall be mailed to his or her last known mailing address.
(f) The employment, performance evaluation, compensation and benefits of the Hearing Officer shall not be directly or indirectly conditioned upon the amount of administrative citation fines upheld by the Hearing Officer.
SECTION 8. Section 1.09.120 of the Santa Monica Municipal Code is hereby amended to read as follows:
13 Section 1.09.120 Recovery of administrative citation fines and costs. (a) The City may collect any past due administrative citation fines or late payment charges by use of all available legal means. The City also may recover its collection costs pursuant to subsection (b) of this Section. (b) Any person who fails to pay any obligation required by this Chapter shall also be liable in any action brought by the City for all the City’s costs incurred in securing payment of the delinquent amount including, but not limited to, administrative costs and attorney’s fees. Collection costs imposed under this provision shall be added to and become a part of the underlying obligation.
(c) The City may recover from a Responsible Party any and all costs incurred by the City in connection with the issuance of any citation which is upheld or becomes final. These recoverable costs include, but are not limited to, costs of investigation, personnel costs incurred in connection with any administrative hearing, and costs for all reinspections necessary to enforce compliance with the Code.
SECTION 9. Section 1.09.170 of the Santa Monica Municipal Code is hereby amended to read as follows:
Section 1.09.170 Identification
Unless prohibited by this code or any State, County, or federal law, any person who violates or fails to comply with any provisions in this code and who possesses no photo identification or refuses to identify themselves to an enforcement officer, making it impossible to issue an administrative citation, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. This provision shall not be enforceable if superseded by any provision of this Code, or other State, County, or Federal law or regulation.
14 SECTION 10. Section 13.06.040 of the Santa Monica Municipal Code is hereby amended to read as follows:
13.06.030 Definitions.
“Cost of abatement” means the total cost incurred by the City in connection with abating a public nuisance, including, but not limited to:
(1) Any cost incurred in removing or remedying a public nuisance; and (2) A service fee for services rendered by the City in connection with inspection, notification, prosecution, and abatement procedures authorized by this Chapter, which fee will be calculated based on all services rendered by the City from initial inspection of the property for the purpose of documenting a violation of this Chapter until the violation is corrected; and
(3) Any expense incurred by the City in collecting the costs enumerated in this subsection.
“Director” means the Director of Community Development, or designee. “Graffiti” means any writing, printing, symbol, figure, design, painting, marking, inscription, or other defacement that is written, sprayed, painted, scratched, etched, engraved, drawn, marked, or otherwise applied to any exterior surface of a building, wall, window, fence, tree, sidewalk, curb, or other structure without the prior consent of the owner or person in possession.
“Minor automotive repair and service” includes replacement of wiper blades, fuses, radiator caps, lamps, and other minor accessories, changing oil and transmission fluid, patching or mounting of tires and similar repairs and services. “Owner” means the owner of record of real property.
15 “Person” means any natural person, firm, association, club, organization, corporation, partnership, business trust, company or any other entity which is recognized by law as having rights and duties.
“Premises” means any real property or improvements thereon. “Public nuisance” means any nuisance designated in Section 13.06.050 of this Chapter.
“Responsible party” means an individual or entity who is responsible for causing or maintaining a violation of this Chapter. The term “responsible party” includes, but is not limited to, a property owner, tenant, occupant, person with a legal interest in real property or person in possession of real property, the president or other head of a corporation, or a business owner, or manager of a business.
SECTION 11. Section 13.06.030 of the Santa Monica Municipal Code is hereby amended to read as follows:
13.06.040 Responsibility for maintenance.
(a) Every responsible party owning, possessing, managing, or having charge or control of any real property within the City is required to maintain such property so as not to violate the provisions of this Chapter. The owner of the property shall remain liable for violations hereof regardless of any contract or agreement with any third party regarding such property or the occupation of the property by any third party. (b) It shall be unlawful for any owner, occupant, lessee, or holder of any possessor interest of real property within the City to create or maintain a public nuisance on such property.
16 SECTION 12. Section 13.06.050 of the Santa Monica Municipal Code is hereby amended to read as follows:
13.06.050 Public nuisances.
It is hereby declared a public nuisance and a violation of this Chapter for a responsible party owning, possessing, managing, or having charge or control of any real property in the City to permit any of the following activities to occur on the real property of the owner, or for a responsible party to commit any of the following activities.
A violation of any of the following subsections may be cited as a separate offense:
(a) Any building, place, or business which has been operated or maintained in a manner that has resulted in repeated disruptive activities, including, but not limited to, assaults; batteries; curfew, loitering, or vagrancy violations; disorderly conduct; disturbances of the peace; driving under the influence; drunkenness; harassment of passersby; illegal parking; liquor law violations; loud noises (particularly in late night or early morning hours); peeping; public urination; sale of stolen goods; trespass; and/or vandalism.
(b) Animal disturbances or violations, including but not limited to any condition in violation of Chapter 4.04 (Animals) or Section 4.12.090 (Noisy animals) of this Code. (c) Every building or place used for the purpose of, and every business selling, serving, storing, keeping, manufacturing or giving away any controlled substance (as defined in Division 10 of the California Health and Safety Code) and every building or place wherein or upon which those acts take place.
(d) Every building or place used for the purpose of, and every business engaged in, unlawfully selling, serving, or giving away alcoholic beverages and every 17 building or place in or upon which alcoholic beverages are unlawfully sold, served, or given away.
(e) Every building or place used for the purpose of illegal gambling as defined by State or local law, lewdness or prostitution, and every building or place in or upon which such activities are held or occur.
(f) Reserved.
(g) Parking of vehicles, vessels, or similar mobile equipment on the grass, dirt, or other landscaped areas surrounding a residential property. (h) Repair and/or disassembling any vehicle or vessel in a residential zone and on residential property, where such activity is visible from the public right-of-way except:
(1) Minor automotive repair and service, performed on motor vehicles owned by and registered to the occupants of the dwelling, performed on a driveway, in a carport, or other legally paved surface on private property; (2) The work does not involve repetitive testing of an engine; (3) No more than one motor vehicle, as viewed from the public rightof-way, is being worked on at any point in time; and (4) The work complies with the City's Noise Ordinance.
(i) Any violation of Chapters 13.02 and 13.04 of this Code that poses an immediate threat to public health or safety, or one that is maintained for more than 48 hours after notification to the property owner or other responsible party by a city enforcement officer.
(j) Any public nuisance as defined in Civil Code Sections 3479 and 3480 and 18 Penal Code Sections 370 and 371, or otherwise recognized in law or in equity as constituting a public nuisance, and any condition identified as a public nuisance in any other provision of this Code.
(k) Five or more violations in any rolling one-year period of any combination of Chapter 4.27 (Tenant Protection), Chapter 4.28 (Housing Anti-Discrimination Code), Chapter 4.36 (Tenant Relocation), Chapter 4.56 (Tenant Harassment), Chapter 8.92 (Housing Code), Chapter 13.02 (Property Maintenance), Chapter 13.04 (Vacant Properties), or any city, County, or State law related to building construction or fire prevention.
(l) The illegal subdividing or renting of dwelling units in violation of building codes and occupancy standards.
(m) Employing harassing or unsafe tactics in the course of conducting business operations that endangers the health or safety of a considerable number of persons, including, but not limited to:
(1) Intentionally or recklessly making physical contact with or touching another person without consent;
(2) Intentionally or recklessly blocking or impeding the free passage or use of a public right-of-way;
(3) Engaging in speech or conduct in a manner intended or likely to cause a reasonable person to: (i) fear imminent bodily harm or the commission of a criminal act upon property in the person’s possession; (ii) intimidate a person being solicited into responding affirmatively to the solicitation; or (iii) intimidate another person or business into altering their business operations.
19 (n) Any violation of Chapters 8.58 (Mandatory Seismic Retrofit Administrative Requirements), 8.60 (Mandatory Seismic Retrofit Requirements for Unreinforced Masonry Bearing Wall Buildings), 8.64 (Mandatory Seismic Retrofit Requirements for Existing Concrete and Reinforced Masonry Wall Buildings with Flexible Diaphragms),
8.72 (Mandatory Seismic Retrofit Requirements for Soft Weak or Open Front Walls in in Light, Wood-Framed Buildings), 8.76 (Mandatory Seismic Retrofit Requirements for Existing Welded Steel Moment Frame Structures), or 8.80 (Mandatory Seismic Retrofit Requirements for Existing Non-Ductile Concrete Buildings). (o) Any combination of three or more violations in a rolling one-year time period for engaging in construction or demolition work without first obtaining all required permits and approvals in violation of Section 8.08.050 of this code, or for violating a stop work order. The issuance of a Notice of Violation, stop work order, or administrative citation for violation of Section 8.08.050 is sufficient to prove the existence of a qualifying violation, except that a stop work order or an administrative citation that is in the process of being appealed, or which has been appealed and overturned, shall not establish a qualifying violation.
SECTION 13. Section 13.06.055 of the Santa Monica Municipal Code is hereby added to read as follows:
Section 13.06.055 Notice to Responsible Parties
(a) The Director or the City Attorney or designee, shall, within a reasonable period of time from the date of the occurrence of any activity listed in Section 13.06.050, notify the known responsible parties of the nuisance activity. The notice shall include:
(1) the location of the property;
20 (2) the name of the person(s) conducting the nuisance activity (if known and appropriate);
(3) the description of the nuisance activity; and
(4) suggested remedies to abate the nuisance activity.
(b) The notice provided for by this section may constitute a compliance order for the purposes of Chapter 1.10 of this Code. A notice pursuant to this section is not required to be given prior to the issuance of an administrative citation for violation of this Chapter pursuant to Chapter 1.09 of this Code, or the imposition of any other penalty or remedy permitted by law.
(c) The notice provided for by this section shall not require or encourage the owner of real property actually used for residential rental purposes to do any of the following, nor shall it impose or threaten to impose any penalty on the owner of real property actually used for residential rental purposes for failing to take any of the following actions:
(1) Evict or penalize a tenant because of the tenant’s association with another tenant or household member who has had contact with a law enforcement agency or has a criminal conviction;
(2) Evict or penalize a tenant because of the tenant’s alleged unlawful conduct or arrest;
(3) Include a provision in a lease or rental agreement that provides a ground for eviction not provided by, or that is in conflict with, state or federal law; (4) Perform a criminal background check of a tenant or a prospective tenant.
21 (d) The notice described in this section shall be delivered to the responsible party by personal delivery or regular mail, in a sealed envelope postage prepared, addressed to the person to be notified at his or her last known business or residence address. Service by mail is deemed to have been completed at the time of deposit in the post office.
(e) Where real property is involved, the notice shall be served on the owner of the property, either by personal delivery or via regular mail, at the address listed on the latest equalized County assessment. Within five (5) days of the date of mailing the notice, the owner shall provide a copy of the notice to all other responsible parties.
SECTION 14. Section 13.06.095 of the Santa Monica Municipal Code is hereby added to read as follows:
Section 13.06.095 Responsibility for Enforcement
The Director shall have the primary responsibility to administer and enforce the provisions of this Chapter. The Director shall have the authority to designate employees as enforcement officers to assist in the enforcement responsibilities, including the issuance of administrative citations pursuant to Chapter 1.09 of this Code. This provision shall in no way be construed as limiting the authority of the City Attorney to investigate, prosecute, enjoin, or use any other remedy to enforce this Chapter.
SECTION 15. Section 13.06.110 of the Santa Monica Municipal Code is hereby added to read as follows:
Section 13.06.110 Severability
If any section, sentence, clause, or phrase of this article is for any reason held to be invalid or unconstitutional by a decision of any court of competent jurisdiction, such 22 decision shall not affect the validity of the remaining portion of this article. The Council hereby declares that it would have passed this ordinance and adopted this article and each section, sentence, clause, or phrase thereof, irrespective of the fact that any one or more sections, subsections, sentences, clauses, or phrases be declared invalid or unconstitutional.
SECTION 16. Any provision of the Santa Monica Municipal Code or appendices thereto inconsistent with the provisions of this Ordinance, to the extent of such inconsistencies and no further, is hereby repealed or modified to the extent necessary to effect the provisions of this Ordinance.
SECTION 17. If any section, subsection, sentence, clause, or phrase of this Ordinance is for any reason held to be invalid or unconstitutional by a decision of any court of competent jurisdiction, such decision shall not affect the validity of the remaining portions of this Ordinance. The City Council hereby declares that it would have passed this Ordinance and each and every section, subsection, sentence, clause, or phrase not declared invalid or unconstitutional without regard to whether any portion of the ordinance would be subsequently declared invalid or unconstitutional.
SECTION 18. The Mayor shall sign and the City Clerk shall attest to the passage of this Ordinance. The City Clerk shall cause the same to be published once in the official newspaper within 15 days after its adoption. This Ordinance shall become effective 30 days from its adoption.
APPROVED AS TO FORM:
________________________
Douglas Sloan, City Attorney