Building Homes and Jobs Act: recording fee: hardship refund.

Existing law authorizes a fee for recording and indexing every instrument, paper, or notice required or permitted by law to be recorded, not to exceed $10 for the first page and $3 for each additional page, to reimburse a county for the costs of specified services relating to recording those documents. Existing law authorizes various additional recording fees for specified purposes. This bill would authorize a property owner to request a refund based on hardship of a fee, proposed to be imposed by SB 2, if he or she files a claim with the county recorder, in the county in which the fee was collected, that certifies under penalty of perjury that he or she meets specified criteria related to household income and the fee was levied and collected as part of a transaction to a refinance of the property that was the subject of the recording. By authorizing county recorders to issue a refund of this fee, this bill would make an appropriation. The bill would require the county recorder to deduct any amount issued for a refund from the amount to be remitted to the Department of Housing and Community Development and to annually report to the department on the number of hardship refunds granted pursuant to these provisions. By imposing new duties on local government officials with respect to the collection of the recording fee, and by expanding the scope of the crime of perjury, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that with regard to certain mandates no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason. With regard to any other mandates, this bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs so mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.