California is a deep-blue state, with a Democratic Governor and a two-thirds super-majority in both houses of the legislature. It is the home to 15 million tenants in an overheated rental market, and ground-zero in the nation’s foreclosure crisis. Now is the time to get real change in the Golden State.
But when it comes to common-sense tenant rights laws, too many Democrats vote the wrong way. They take large donations from the real estate lobby, which wields undeserved clout in Sacramento. Even some “progressive” Democrats who represent deep-blue, urban districts are not our best allies.
In 2008, we founded Tenants Together – to organize the state’s 15 million renters to bring about real change. We have made serious strides to help tenants, particularly those living in foreclosed properties, and in the 2012 legislative session won a clean sweep of all four bills that we supported. Such bills included stopping unfair non-payment evictions after a change in ownership, requiring banks to give all tenants 90-days notice after foreclosure and banning landlords from imposing online-only rent payment rules.
Now, we are focused on our next fight: security deposit theft. Every year, California tenants put hundreds of millions of dollars into their landlords’ hands – money they are supposed to get back upon moving out. For many tenants, this deposit is their largest financial asset. But improper withholding by landlords has become so common, that most renters that tenants paying deposits don’t ever expect to see that money again. A Tenants Together survey found 60% of our members have had their deposits improperly withheld. Such blatant theft should not be tolerated.
SB 603 authored by State Senator Mark Leno (D-San Francisco) would address this problem by requiring landlords to keep tenant deposits in separate accounts, not comingled with their assets, and by imposing automatic penalties against landlords who fail to return deposits. The bill would also require landlords to pay tenants interest on security deposits, as is required in many other states.
We can pass SB 603, with help from the Daily Kos community and elsewhere. On Tuesday, May 7th, the same day that SB 603 will be heard in the State Senate Judiciary Committee, Tenants Together will have a Lobby Day in Sacramento – so that Senators can hear from tenants who have been directly affected.
The real estate industry has lobbyists every day in the State Capitol, many of whom are shameless about spreading misinformation and trying to intimidate Democratic legislators in voting against tenant protections. With your help, we can make sure that Sacramento listens to the state’s 15 million renters – by voting “yes” on SB 603.
