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Committee Hears Support for Raising Deed Recording Surcharge to Fund Mortgage-Fraud Prosecutions

Appropriations Committee · February 18, 2026
AI-Generated Content: All content on this page was generated by AI to highlight key points from the meeting. For complete details and context, we recommend watching the full video. so we can fix them.

Summary

The Appropriations Committee heard testimony supporting SB 5,109 to raise the deed-of-trust recording surcharge from $1 to $5, remove its sunset, and direct most new revenue to a mortgage-lending fraud prosecution account; prosecutors argued the change restores investigative capacity eroded since 2003.

The Appropriations Committee heard public testimony Tuesday on Senate Bill 5,109, which would increase the surcharge collected when a deed of trust is recorded from $1 to $5 and remove the existing sunset on that surcharge and the associated mortgage-lending fraud prosecution account.

Jessica Van Horn, staff to the committee, told members the change would allow county auditors to retain up to 5% for administrative costs and that the fiscal note anticipates $1.1 million in new revenue…

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