AB 1427 California Assembly · 2025-2026 Regular Session

Consumer credit report: sale of property: natural disasters.

Summary

Existing law, the Consumer Credit Reporting Agencies Act, defines and regulates consumer credit reports and consumer credit reporting agencies. The act prohibits a consumer credit reporting agency from making any consumer credit report containing specified items of information, including information about medical debt, as defined. Existing law prohibits a person who uses a consumer credit report in connection with a credit transaction from using medical debt listed on the report as a negative factor when making a credit decision. This bill would prohibit a consumer credit reporting agency from making a consumer credit report containing information about the sale of property that is located in an area where the Governor has proclaimed a state of emergency due to a natural disaster and the property is rendered uninhabitable as a result of the natural disaster. The bill would prohibit a person who uses a consumer credit report in connection with a credit transaction from using the sale of an aforementioned property listed on the report as a negative factor when making a credit decision.

Issues: ✓ Healthcare

Bill status passed 3 of 5 stages cleared

Introduction

Feb 2025

Committee Review

Jun 2025

Assembly Passage

Jun 2025

Senate Passage

Governor

Introduced Feb 21, 2025 Last action Jun 18, 2025

Maddy AI version diff · 3 comparisons

What changed between versions

05/07/25 - Amended Assembly → AB1427 · 2 edits

MINOR

AB 1427 was amended to expand the scope of the consumer credit report protection from wildfires specifically to all natural disasters, and to add 'rendered uninhabitable' as an additional condition alongside 'damaged beyond repair.' This broadens the bill's applicability to protect homeowners who lose property to floods, earthquakes, or other natural disasters, not just wildfires, while also clarifying the severity threshold for the protection to apply.

SCOPE

The term 'wildfire' is replaced with 'natural disaster' throughout the bill, expanding the credit report protection from only wildfire-related property sales to any property sale resulting from a natural disaster (floods, earthquakes, etc.) where the Governor has proclaimed a state of emergency.

ELIGIBILITY

The condition for protected property sales is changed from 'damaged beyond repair' to 'damaged beyond repair rendered uninhabitable,' adding an explicit uninhabitability requirement that may narrow or clarify which properties qualify for the credit report exclusion.

02/21/25 - Introduced → 03/28/25 - Amended Assembly · 4 edits · Mar 28, 2025

MODERATE

AB 1427 was dramatically expanded from a minor technical fix to emergency communications provisions into a substantive consumer credit protection bill. The amended version adds two new sections that prohibit consumer credit reporting agencies from including information about the sale of wildfire-damaged property in credit reports, and prohibit lenders from using such sales as negative factors in credit decisions. This protects homeowners who lost property to wildfires (specifically those in areas where the Governor proclaimed a state of emergency on or after January 7, 2025) from having their forced property sales harm their credit scores.

Scope change

The bill's scope expanded significantly from a narrow technical amendment to emergency communications provisions for deaf and hard-of-hearing persons to a broad consumer credit protection measure that specifically shields wildfire victims from credit damage caused by forced property sales due to wildfire destruction.

SCOPE

The bill now amends Sections 1785.13 and 1785.20.6 of the Civil Code in addition to the original Government Code Section 8593, expanding its scope from emergency communications to consumer credit reporting.

The original nonsubstantive changes to Government Code Section 8593 (regarding communication with deaf and hard-of-hearing persons during emergencies) were retained but renumbered from Section 1 to Section 3 of the bill.

REQUIREMENT

New Civil Code Section 1785.13(a)(8) prohibits consumer credit reporting agencies from including information about the sale of a property in their reports if the property is located in an area where the Governor proclaimed a state of emergency due to a wildfire on or after January 7, 2025, and the property was damaged beyond repair as a result of that wildfire.

New Civil Code Section 1785.20.6(b) prohibits any person using a consumer credit report in connection with a credit transaction from using the sale of such wildfire-damaged property as a negative factor when making a credit decision.

Floor votes · Assembly Jun 3, 2025

How they voted

76–0

Passed · 3 other

Total votes 79

Jun 3, 2025

D Democratic60

60 Yea

100% Yea

R Republican19

16 Yea 3

84% Yea

Vote distribution

All Yea All Nay Mixed No data

Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Amendments

Jun 18, 2025

Committee

Referred to Coms. on JUD. and B. & F.I.

upper

Jun 3, 2025

Lower · Passed

Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 76. Noes 0. Page 1996.)

lower

May 23, 2025

Lower · Passed

From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 12. Noes 0.) (May 23).

lower

May 14, 2025

Committee

In committee: Set, first hearing. Referred to APPR. suspense file.

lower

May 8, 2025

Committee

Re-referred to Com. on APPR.

lower

May 7, 2025

Lower · Passed

Read second time and amended.

lower

May 6, 2025

Introduced

From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 11. Noes 0.) (May 6).

lower

Apr 1, 2025

Committee

Re-referred to Com. on JUD.

lower

Mar 28, 2025

Introduced

From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on JUD. Read second time and amended.

lower

Mar 28, 2025

Committee

Referred to Com. on JUD.

lower

Feb 22, 2025

Lower · Passed

From printer. May be heard in committee March 24.

lower

Feb 21, 2025

Introduced

Introduced. To print.

lower

1 primary · 0 co-sponsors