Committee hears sharply divided testimony on bill allowing money-judgment liens for unpaid enforcement fines

The Senate Committee on Local Government took up AB 632, a measure by Assemblymember Hart that would give cities and counties an additional enforcement tool: after a completed administrative process and required notices, local governments could obtain a court order for a money judgment to collect unpaid administrative fines for serious code violations. Supporters framed the bill as a narrowly tailored remedy to address illegal cannabis grows, unsafe housing and fire hazards that evade existing enforcement tools; opponents argued it risks foreclosures and disproportionate harm to low-income people.

Rural-county and code-enforcement witnesses described recurring sites with unlicensed cannabis operations and severe health and safety violations. "Communities throughout California, particularly rural areas in the North Coast, have been inundated with unlicensed and unregulated cannabis activity," said a representative of the Rural County Representatives of California, who described illegal greenhouses, unpermitted water tanks, unauthorized grading on hillsides and hazardous pesticide use that created emergencies for first responders.

Ted Ware, a former Sacramento County code enforcement officer and co-sponsor, said the bill helps jurisdictions address repeated noncompliance when violators ignore fines and continue hazardous operations. "This bill is needed to support that work," he told the committee.

Civil-rights and legal-aid advocates urged opposition. Benjamin Henderson of the Western Center on Law and Poverty described cases where disabled and low-income property owners faced tens of thousands of dollars in fines that, if enforced as liens, could lead to foreclosure. Henderson told the committee of an Oakland senior who accumulated more than $53,000 in citations and faced possible foreclosure without legal…