Eviction: education, outreach, and legal services: short-term rental assistance.

Existing law specifies certain rights and limitations for landlords and tenants subject to eviction and certain procedures for civil actions involving evictions. Existing law, the State Bar Act, provides for the licensure and regulation of attorneys by the State Bar of California, a public corporation, governed by a board of trustees. Existing law requires an attorney to maintain short-term deposits of client funds in an Interest On Lawyers' Trust Account (IOLTA) , and requires the interest and dividends earned on the account to be paid to the State Bar for the funding of certain programs that provide civil legal services without charge to indigent persons. Existing law requires the board of trustees to adopt regulations and procedures necessary to implement provisions, referred to as the Legal Services Trust Fund Program, that govern the funding of those programs. Existing administrative law establishes a Legal Services Trust Fund Commission to administer revenue from IOLTA and other funds remitted to the Legal Services Trust Fund Program. This bill would establish the Stable Communities Fund within the Legal Services Trust Fund Program, to be funded upon appropriation by the Legislature, and would require the State Bar, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to distribute moneys in the fund in the form of grants awarded on a competitive basis to certain nonprofit organizations, local governments, or local governmental agencies to provide specified education, outreach, and legal services related to eviction prevention, as specified. The bill would also require that short-term rental assistance be funded, upon appropriation by the Legislature, from the General Fund. The bill would require the State Bar to award the grants according to various criteria, including, among others, prohibiting an applicant from receiving funding from the Stable Communities Fund solely to provide rental assistance and requiring services to be provided at no cost to recipients. The bill would require a grantee to report annually to the State Bar on certain activities, services, and assistance funded by the grant, and would prohibit a grantee from using more than 10% of the allocation received from the Stable Communities Fund for administrative costs.