Laserfiche WebLink
Kristine Ridge, City Manager <br />Sonia Carvahlo, City Attorney <br />City of Santa Ana <br />April22, 2020 <br />Page 3 of 4 <br />ATTORNEY -CLIENT COMMUNICATION <br />PRIVILEGED & CONFIDENTIAL <br />ability to enforce those rents by eviction during the emergency period. <br />Consistent with that fact, the Governor's Order expressly identified "Civil <br />Code sections 1940 et seq.' (regulating certain aspects of with residential <br />rentals) and "1954.25 et seq" (dealing with commercial rent control) as <br />being waived, but conspicuously omitted any reference to Civil Code section <br />1954.50 etseq.—i.e., Costa -Hawkins. <br />Finally, though Penal Code § 396(k) provides that "This section <br />does not preempt any local ordinance prohibiting the same or similar <br />conduct or imposing a more severe penalty for the same conduct prohibited <br />by this section," that provision does not justify the City's complete <br />prohibition on rent increases. <br />For one thing, it contains no exception to Costa -Hawkins, which <br />has not been waived and therefore remains applicable; which does <br />expressly preempt local action with respect to rental rates for many units; <br />and which was the statute adopted later in time.' <br />Moreover, by disclaiming preemption of "any local ordinance <br />prohibiting the same or similar conduct," Penal Code § 396 implicitly <br />reflects an intention to preempt ordinances that do go beyond "prohibiting <br />the same or similar conduct," such as Section 3 of Executive Order No. 2- <br />2020. A local policy that prohibits rent increases altogether during an <br />emergency can hardly be said to be "prohibiting the same or similar <br />conduct" as one that permits a 10 percent increase in such circumstances, <br />and more in some cases. That is especially clear when Penal Code § 396(e), <br />authorizing the 10 percent increase, is contrasted with Penal Code § 396(f), <br />which does freeze temporarily freeze rents on units that become vacant <br />pursuant to an eviction during the emergency. Penal Code § 396(e) is clearly <br />meant to permit reasonable rent increases otherwise, in accordance with <br />applicable law (Le., Costa -Hawkins and AB 1482). <br />' The provision that is now Penal Code § 396(k) was originally adopted in <br />1994. See Stats. 1st Ex. Sess. 1993-94, ch 52, § 2 (AB 36 X). Costa -Hawkins was <br />adopted the following year. <br />[CE32221.030] <br />9� <br />