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Written by: Lake County News reports

Published: 29 February 2012

California Attorney General Kamala D. Harris on Wednesday announced the California Homeowner Bill of Rights designed to protect homeowners from unfair practices by banks and mortgage companies and to help consumers and communities cope with the state's urgent mortgage and foreclosure crisis.

Joined by Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg and Assembly Speaker John A. Pérez, Attorney General Harris announced her sponsorship of six bills designed to guarantee:

• Basic standards of fairness in the mortgage process, including an end to dual-track foreclosures.
• Transparency in the mortgage process, including a single point of contact for homeowners.
• Community tools to prevent blight after banks foreclose upon homes.
• Tenant protections after foreclosures.
• Enhanced law enforcement to defend homeowner rights – paid for by fees imposed on banks.
• A special grand jury to investigate financial and foreclosure crime.

"California communities and families are being devastated by the mortgage and foreclosure crisis. We must ensure the deceptive practices that caused it never happen again," said Attorney General Harris. "The California Homeowner Bill of Rights will provide basic fairness and transparency for homeowners, and improve the mortgage process for everyone."

The legislation builds on the California commitment announced by Attorney General Harris earlier this month, which is expected to result in $18 billion of benefits for California homeowners.

That agreement included reforms for mortgages owned by the five banks that were signing parties. The California Homeowner Bill of Rights will strengthen those protections, make them permanent, and apply them to all mortgages in the state.

"When I secured the California commitment, I made clear it was only one of many steps I am taking to comprehensively address the mortgage and foreclosure crisis," Harris said. "I want to thank Senate President Pro Tem Steinberg, Assembly Speaker Pérez and all the other lawmakers who are supporting this urgent package of legislation for homeowners."

"I want to congratulate the Attorney General on the victory she won on behalf of the people of California," said Speaker John A. Pérez. "Our state has suffered greatly as the result of bad actors in the banking and financial industries, and this settlement holds them accountable as we continue the difficult work of recovering the housing market and stemming the tide of foreclosures, evictions and auctions."

"Millions of Californians have already lost their homes to foreclosure and the mortgage crisis is far from over," said Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg. "This landmark settlement negotiated by Attorney General Harris helps thousands of Californians but thousands more need the same help. We need to put these protections into law so that more people can save their homes."

CALIFORNIA HOMEOWNER BILL OF RIGHTS LEGISLATIVE PACKAGE

ASSEMBLY BILL 1602 / SENATE BILL 1470- THE FORECLOSURE REDUCTION ACT OF 2012

Authors: Assemblymen Mike Eng and Mike Feuer; Senators Mark Leno, Fran Pavley and Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg.

• Requires creditors to provide documentation to a borrower that establishes the creditor's right to foreclose on real property prior to recording a notice of default.
• Requires creditors to provide documentary evidence of ownership, the chain of title to real property, and the right to foreclose, at the time of the filing of a notice of default.
• Prohibits creditors from recording a notice of default when a timely-filed application for a loan modification or other loss mitigation measure is pending.
• Prohibits creditors from recording a notice of sale when a timely-filed application for a loan modification or other loss mitigation measure is pending.
• Prohibits creditors from recording a notice of sale while a borrower is in compliance with the terms of a trial loan modification or after another loss mitigation measure has been approved.
• Requires creditors to disclose why an application for a loan modification or other loss mitigation measure has been denied.
• Requires that notices of foreclosure sales be personally served, including notices of foreclosure sale postponement.
• Provides homeowners with a private right of action in instances in which the requirements set forth in the legislation are not followed

ASSEMBLY BILL 2425 / SENATE BILL 1471 - DUE PROCESS REFORM LEGISLATION

Authors: Assemblywoman Holly Mitchell; Senators Mark DeSaulnier and Fran Pavley.

• Requires creditors to provide a single point of contact to borrowers in the foreclosure process who will be responsible for providing accurate account and other information related to the foreclosure process and loss mitigation efforts.
• Requires creditors to provide a dedicated electronic mail address, facsimile number and mailing address for borrowers to submit information requested as part of a loan modification, short sale or other loss mitigation option.
• Authorizes borrowers to challenge the unlawful commencement of a foreclosure process in court.
• Imposes a $10,000 civil penalty on the recordation or filing of "robosigned" documents, defined as documents that contain information that was not verified for accuracy by the person or persons signing or swearing to the accuracy of the document or statement.
• Requires that certain documents be recorded in a county recorder's office.

ASSEMBLY BILL 2314 / SENATE BILL 1472 - BLIGHT PREVENTION LEGISLATION

Authors: Assemblywoman Wilmer Carter; Senator Fran Pavley.

• Prevents blight enforcement actions from being taken against new purchasers of blighted property for 60 days, provided that repairs are being made to the property.
• Requires banks that release liens on foreclosed property to inform local code enforcement agencies of the release so that demolition of blighted property can proceed.
• Increases fines against owners of blighted property from $1,000 per day to $5,000 per day, and allow the imposition of the costs of a receivership over blighted property to be imposed directly against the owner of blighted property.

ASSEMBLY BILL 2610/ SENATE BILL 1473 - TENANT PROTECTION LEGISLATION

Authors: Assemblywoman Nancy Skinner; Senator Loni Hancock.

• Requires purchasers of foreclosed homes to honor the terms of existing leases and give tenants at least 90 days notice before commencing eviction proceedings.

ASSEMBLY BILL 1950 - ENHANCEMENT OF ATTORNEY GENERAL ENFORCEMENT

Author: Assemblyman Mike Davis.

• Imposes a new $25 fee to be paid by servicers upon the recording of a notice of default. The fee would be deposited into a real estate fraud prosecution trust fund that would support the Attorney General's efforts to deter, investigate and prosecute real estate fraud crimes, including the work of the Mortgage Fraud Strike Force.
• Extends the statute of limitations from one year to four years from the date of discovery for violations of law commonly occurring in connection with foreclosure-related scams, including acting as a real-estate agent without a license and charging up-front fees for loan modification services.

SENATE BILL 1474 / ASSEMBLY BILL 1763 - ATTORNEY GENERAL SPECIAL GRAND JURY

Authors: Assemblyman Mike Davis; Senator Loni Hancock.

• Authorizes the attorney general to impanel a special grand jury for the purposes of investigating and indicting multi-jurisdictional financial crimes against the state.

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Written by: Elizabeth Larson

Published: 29 February 2012

LAKEPORT, Calif. – A man whose travel trailer burned last week has been arrested for allegedly setting it on fire.

John Austin Mitchell, 48, was arrested Friday, Feb. 24, by Lake County Sheriff’s Deputy Jay Vanoven on suspicion of arson.

Lakeport and Kelseyville firefighters responded early last Friday evening to the report of a burning travel trailer on Mission Rancheria Road outside of Lakeport, as Lake County News has reported.

Lakeport Fire Chief Ken Wells said the travel trailer was destroyed and the occupant was gone by the time firefighters arrived.

Shortly after 6 p.m. Friday sheriff’s deputies responded to the scene based on a report that it may have been arson, according to a report from Capt. Chris Macedo.

Macedo reported that the deputies met with Wells, who informed them that a bystander had told him the fire had been intentionally set.

When the deputies met with Mitchell to interview him, Mitchell allegedly told them that he recently had been despondent and wanted to get rid of “some of the bad things” in his life, according to Macedo.

Based on the interview with Mitchell, deputies learned that he allegedly started the fire by igniting a blanket in the dwelling, Macedo said.

Mitchell also is alleged to have told deputies that he used no accelerants in starting the fire, and that he had no intention of harming anyone.

Mitchell was arrested and booked into the Hill Road Correctional Facility for maliciously setting fire to an inhabited structure, Macedo said.

Jail records showed that Mitchell remained in custody on Tuesday, with bail set at $100,000.

Chief Deputy District Attorney Richard Hinchcliff said the case against Mitchell has been submitted to the District Attorney’s Office, and that he charged Mitchell with arson of an inhabited dwelling.

Hinchcliff said Mitchell will be in court next Monday for appearance of counsel.

E-mail Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow Lake County News on Twitter at http://twitter.com/LakeCoNews, on Tumblr at www.lakeconews.tumblr.com, on Google+, on Facebook at www.facebook.com/pages/Lake-County-News/143156775604?ref=mf and on YouTube at www.youtube.com/user/LakeCoNews .

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Written by: Lake County News reports

Published: 29 February 2012

The problem of drugged driving continues to rise, according to figures released Tuesday by the California Office of Traffic Safety (OTS).  

Based on data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 30 percent of all drivers who were killed in motor vehicle crashes in California in 2010 tested positive for legal and/or illegal drugs, a percentage that has been increasing since 2006.

Drugged driving is a problem not widely recognized by the public, but increases in crashes, fatalities and injuries point out that society must acknowledge this serious problem and work to curb it, the agency reported. The problem of drugged driving is growing, even while DUI fatalities have been in decline.  

Drugs which can impair driving are not only illegal narcotics and stimulants, but can be prescription and over-the-counter drugs as well as marijuana and its synthetic substitutes.  Many, when combined with alcohol, heighten the effect of both, the report noted.

“You can be as deadly behind the wheel with marijuana or prescription drugs as you can with over-the-limit alcohol,” said Christopher J. Murphy, director of the Office of Traffic Safety.  “The bottom line is drugs and driving do not mix.”

Drug-impaired driving is often under-reported and under-recognized and toxicology testing is expensive, the agency said. Additionally, because there is no established impairment level for drugs, prosecuting drug impaired driving cases can be difficult.

With the increased awareness of this growing problem, the Office of Traffic Safety and the California Highway Patrol are working together to provide officers statewide with specialized training to detect and apprehend drug-impaired drivers.

The federally funded program, new to California and developed by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, is called Advanced Roadside Impaired Driving Enforcement (ARIDE).

In the past five months alone, more than 700 officers from police departments across the state have attended ARIDE training.

Police departments also are being encouraged to send officers to the most advanced drug recognition program to become Drug Recognition Experts (DRE).

CHP manages the statewide program that currently has over 1000 officers as active DRE’s – the most in the nation.

Drug detection experts will be in place more often at DUI checkpoints and federally funded grant support will be used to fund operations to detect and apprehend drug-impaired drivers, OTS reported.

“This invaluable ARIDE and DRE training for law enforcement is the key to successfully removing drug-impaired drivers from the road, ultimately reducing the number of people killed and injured by irresponsible behavior and making our communities a safer place,” said CHP Commissioner Joe Farrow. “It’s also imperative that the public realize the synergistic effect of combining alcohol with prescription or over-the-counter drugs, and the danger this presents while driving.”

OTS announced last month that Sacramento and Orange counties were awarded federal funding to purchase state-of-the-art drug testing equipment.

In addition, district attorney offices in eight counties are being funded to create special “vertical prosecution” teams that will follow drug-impaired driving cases from arrest through trial.  

Regional traffic safety resource prosecutors are providing training to district attorney offices on how to successfully prosecute drug impaired driving cases.

“Drug impaired driving is the new challenge for not only law enforcement and the judicial system, but for DUI prevention efforts as well,” said Ventura County District Attorney Greg Totten, president of the California District Attorneys Association. “We need to make sure that drivers displaying objective signs of drug impairment either through bad driving or failed standardized field sobriety testing are arrested and prosecuted.”

Research shows drugs have an adverse effect on judgment, reaction time, motor skills and memory – critical skills for safe and responsible driving.

Recently, experts at the Dalhousie University in Canada released the results of a study that found that drivers who had used marijuana within three hours of driving had nearly double the risk of causing a crash as those not under the influence of alcohol or drugs. The Canadian research reviewed nine studies of more than 49,000 people involved in crashes.

In fall 2010, six cities in California conducted nighttime weekend “voluntary” roadside surveys and found that the percentage of drivers who tested positive for marijuana (8.4%) was greater than the percentage that were using alcohol (7.6%).  

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