California 2013-2014 Regular Session Status: Enacted

SB 233 — Debt buying.

Last action — Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 64, Statutes of 2013.

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  1. ✓
    Introduced
  2. ✓
    In Committee
  3. ✓
    Passed Senate
  4. ✓
    Passed Assembly
  5. ✓
    To Executive
  6. 6
    Enacted

This bill has been enacted into law. Introduced February 11, 2013. Enacted.

Prognosis

Likely to advance 76% · moderate confidence

Where this bill stands today.

Odds of enactment

High

How often bills like it became law.

  • Enacted

    Current position in the legislative process.

  • 4 sponsors

    1 primary, 3 co-sponsors signed on.

  • Cleared a recorded vote

    Passed 6 recorded votes so far.

Prognosis reads this bill's own signals — stage, sponsorship breadth, committee status, recorded votes and cross-state momentum. Odds come from a model trained on which bills have become law.

Summary

(1) Existing state and federal law regulate the practice of debt collection. Existing state law prohibits a debt collector from engaging in specified conduct, including the use of threats or causing a telephone to ring repeatedly to annoy the person called. Existing law prohibits a debt collector from obtaining an affirmation from a debtor of a consumer debt that has been discharged in bankruptcy, without clearly and conspicuously disclosing to the debtor, in writing, the fact that the debtor is not legally obligated to make such affirmation. This bill would enact the Fair Debt Buying Practices Act, which would regulate the activities of a person or entity that has bought charged-off consumer debt, as defined, for collection purposes and the circumstances pursuant to which the person may bring suit. The bill would apply to consumer debt sold or resold on or after January 1, 2014. The bill would prohibit a debt buyer, as defined, from making any written statement in an attempt to collect a consumer debt unless the debt buyer possesses information that the debt buyer is the sole owner or is authorized to assert the rights of all owners of the specific debt at issue, the debt balance, as specified, and the name and address of the creditor at the time the debt was charged off, among other things. The bill would require the debt buyer to make certain documents available to the debtor, without charge, upon receipt of a request, within 15 days. The bill would require that a specified notice be included with the debt buyer's first written communication with the debtor. The bill would require all settlement agreements between a debt buyer and a debtor to be documented in open court or otherwise in writing and would require a debt buyer who receives a payment on a debt to provide a receipt or statement containing certain information. The bill would prohibit a debt buyer from initiating a suit to collect a debt if the statute of limitations on the cause of action has expired. The bill would prescribe penalties for each violation of the act and would provide that its provisions may not be waived. The bill would require a debt buyer bringing an action on consumer debt to include certain information in his or her complaint. The bill would prohibit an entry of judgment in favor of a plaintiff debt buyer unless business records authenticated through a sworn declaration and relating to the debt and ownership of it, among other things, are submitted by the debt buyer to the court, and would permit a court to dismiss a debt buyer's action to collect with prejudice if this information is not provided or if the debt buyer fails to appear or is not prepared on the date scheduled for trial. (2) Existing law establishes a process for the enforcement of money judgments and requires a levying officer to provide certain documents and information to a judgment debtor and to a designated employer in connection with wage garnishment. Existing law permits a process server also to serve an earnings withholding order on an employer and requires that the process server also serve certain documents at this time. Existing law requires an employer who is served with an earnings withholding order to provide certain documents to an employee who is a judgment debtor. This bill would require, in the circumstances described above, that a copy of the form that the judgment debtor may use to make a claim of exemption and a copy of the form used to provide a financial statement also be provided.

Bill Text

Action History

  1. Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 64, Statutes of 2013.

  2. Approved by the Governor.

  3. Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 3 p.m.

  4. In Senate. Ordered to engrossing and enrolling.

  5. Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 72. Noes 0. Page 2248.) Ordered to the Senate.

  6. Read second time. Ordered to third reading.

  7. From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 10. Noes 0.) (June 24).

  8. From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on B. & F. (Ayes 9. Noes 0.) (June 18). Re-referred to Com. on B. & F.

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

  10. In Assembly. Read first time. Held at Desk.

  11. Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 36. Noes 0. Page 1041.) Ordered to the Assembly.

  12. Read second time. Ordered to third reading.

  13. Ordered to second reading.

  14. Read third time and amended.

  15. Read second time. Ordered to third reading.

  16. From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 6. Noes 0. Page 852.) (May 7).

  17. Set for hearing May 7.

  18. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on JUD.

  19. From committee: Do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on JUD. (Ayes 8. Noes 0. Page 590.) (April 17).

  20. Set for hearing April 17.

  21. Re-referred to Coms. on B. & F.I. and JUD.

  22. From committee with author's amendments. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on RLS.

  23. Referred to Com. on RLS.

  24. From printer. May be acted upon on or after March 14.

  25. Introduced. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. To print.

Sponsors

  • Calderon · Cosponsor
  • Correa · Cosponsor
  • Hueso · Cosponsor
  • Leno · Primary

Sponsorship breakdown

Export CSV (upgrade) →

1 sponsors · 3 co-sponsors · 118 not signed on

Sponsors (1)

  • Leno

Co-sponsors (3)

  • Calderon
  • Correa
  • Hueso

Not signed on (118)

118 members have not signed on to this bill.

Show all 118 →

"Not signed on" means a member has not sponsored or co-sponsored this bill — it does not imply opposition. Members flagged Voted No have a recorded No vote on this bill.

Whip count is in markup. Polling the chamber and every recorded vote this session. Only the first open is slow. It’s instant for you after this. Calling the roll · Tallying · Engrossing

Votes

SB 233 Leno Senate Third Reading By GORELL

Passed 72 Yea · 0 Nay · 6 Other
Party YeaNayPresentNot Voting
Unaffiliated 62005
Democratic 7000
Republican 3001
Total 72006
% of votes cast 92%0%0%8%
How each member voted (78)
Member Party Vote
Achadjian — Yea
Alejo — Yea
Ammiano — Yea
Bloom — Yea
Bradford — Yea
Brown — Yea
Buchanan — Yea
Jones-Sawyer — Yea
Linder — Yea
Logue — Not Voting
Maienschein — Not Voting
Morrell — Yea
Mullin — Yea
Nazarian — Yea
Nestande — Yea
Ting — Yea
Waldron — Yea
Weber — Yea
Williams — Yea
Chesbro — Yea
Gorell — Yea
Hagman — Yea
Skinner — Yea
Stone — Yea
Lowenthal — Yea
Gatto — Yea
Levine — Yea
Melendez — Yea
Campos — Yea
Eggman — Yea
Pan — Yea
Perea — Yea
Salas — Yea
Rendon — Yea
Wagner — Yea
Chau — Yea
Chávez — Yea
Conway — Yea
Gray — Yea
Atkins — Yea
Gordon — Yea
Mitchell — Yea
Harkey — Yea
Holden — Yea
Bonilla — Yea
Bigelow — Yea
Mansoor — Yea
Medina — Yea
Olsen — Yea
Quirk — Yea
Wilk — Yea
Bocanegra — Yea
John A. Pérez — Yea
Cooley — Yea
Donnelly — Yea
Wieckowski — Not Voting
Daly — Yea
Dickinson — Yea
Fox — Yea
Frazier — Not Voting
Yamada — Yea
Gomez — Yea
Gonzalez — Yea
Hall — Not Voting
Beth Gaines — Yea
Roger Hernández — Yea
V. Manuel Pérez — Yea
Allen, Benjamin Democratic Yea
Bonta, Mia Democratic Yea
Calderon, Lisa Democratic Yea
Fong, Mike Democratic Yea
Garcia, Robert Democratic Yea
Muratsuchi, Al Democratic Yea
Quirk-Silva, Sharon Democratic Yea
Dahle, Megan Republican Yea
Grove, Shannon Republican Yea
Jones, Brian W. Republican Yea
Patterson, Joe Republican Not Voting

Official roll call →

Do pass.

Passed 10 Yea · 0 Nay · 1 Other
Party YeaNayPresentNot Voting
Unaffiliated 9001
Democratic 1000
Total 10001
% of votes cast 91%0%0%9%
How each member voted (11)
Member Party Vote
Achadjian — Yea
Blumenfield — Yea
Linder — Yea
Weber — Yea
Dickinson — Yea
Morrell — Yea
Harkey — Not Voting
Chau — Yea
Perea — Yea
Gatto — Yea
Bonta, Mia Democratic Yea

Official roll call →

3rd Reading

Passed 36 Yea · 0 Nay · 3 Other
Party YeaNayPresentNot Voting
Unaffiliated 33003
Democratic 3000
Total 36003
% of votes cast 92%0%0%8%
How each member voted (39)
Member Party Vote
Beall — Yea
Lieu — Yea
Price — Yea
Steinberg — Yea
Wolk — Yea
Emmerson — Yea
Correa — Yea
Wright — Yea
Wyland — Yea
Cannella — Yea
Evans — Not Voting
De León — Yea
Galgiani — Yea
Hernandez — Yea
Corbett — Yea
Hill — Yea
Anderson — Yea
Block — Yea
Hueso — Yea
Huff — Yea
Knight — Yea
Lara — Yea
Leno — Yea
Liu — Not Voting
Monning — Yea
Nielsen — Yea
Pavley — Yea
Roth — Yea
Torres — Yea
Walters — Yea
DeSaulnier — Yea
Fuller — Yea
Yee — Yea
Hancock — Yea
Beth Gaines — Yea
Bill Berryhill — Not Voting
Calderon, Lisa Democratic Yea
Jackson, Corey A. Democratic Yea
Padilla, Stephen C. Democratic Yea

Official roll call →

Do pass.

Passed 6 Yea · 0 Nay · 1 Other
Party YeaNayPresentNot Voting
Unaffiliated 5001
Democratic 1000
Total 6001
% of votes cast 86%0%0%14%
How each member voted (7)
Member Party Vote
Evans — Yea
Corbett — Yea
Leno — Yea
Monning — Yea
Walters — Not Voting
Anderson — Yea
Jackson, Corey A. Democratic Yea

Official roll call →

Subjects

finance
Cross-referencing the record. Reading this bill against every other bill in the corpus by meaning, not keywords. Only the first open is slow. It’s instant for you after this. Matching · Ranking · Engrossing

Frequently asked questions

What does SB 233 do?
(1) Existing state and federal law regulate the practice of debt collection. Existing state law prohibits a debt collector from engaging in specified conduct, including the use of threats or causing a telephone to ring repeatedly to annoy the person called. Existing law prohibits a debt collector from obtaining an affirmation from a debtor of a consumer debt that has been discharged in bankruptcy, without clearly and conspicuously disclosing to the debtor, in writing, the fact that the debtor is not legally obligated to make such affirmation. This bill would enact the Fair Debt Buying Practices Act, which would regulate the activities of a person or entity that has bought charged-off consumer debt, as defined, for collection purposes and the circumstances pursuant to which the person may bring suit. The bill would apply to consumer debt sold or resold on or after January 1, 2014. The bill would prohibit a debt buyer, as defined, from making any written statement in an attempt to collect a consumer debt unless the debt buyer possesses information that the debt buyer is the sole owner or is authorized to assert the rights of all owners of the specific debt at issue, the debt balance, as specified, and the name and address of the creditor at the time the debt was charged off, among other things. The bill would require the debt buyer to make certain documents available to the debtor, without charge, upon receipt of a request, within 15 days. The bill would require that a specified notice be included with the debt buyer's first written communication with the debtor. The bill would require all settlement agreements between a debt buyer and a debtor to be documented in open court or otherwise in writing and would require a debt buyer who receives a payment on a debt to provide a receipt or statement containing certain information. The bill would prohibit a debt buyer from initiating a suit to collect a debt if the statute of limitations on the cause of action has expired. The bill would prescribe penalties for each violation of the act and would provide that its provisions may not be waived. The bill would require a debt buyer bringing an action on consumer debt to include certain information in his or her complaint. The bill would prohibit an entry of judgment in favor of a plaintiff debt buyer unless business records authenticated through a sworn declaration and relating to the debt and ownership of it, among other things, are submitted by the debt buyer to the court, and would permit a court to dismiss a debt buyer's action to collect with prejudice if this information is not provided or if the debt buyer fails to appear or is not prepared on the date scheduled for trial. (2) Existing law establishes a process for the enforcement of money judgments and requires a levying officer to provide certain documents and information to a judgment debtor and to a designated employer in connection with wage garnishment. Existing law permits a process server also to serve an earnings withholding order on an employer and requires that the process server also serve certain documents at this time. Existing law requires an employer who is served with an earnings withholding order to provide certain documents to an employee who is a judgment debtor. This bill would require, in the circumstances described above, that a copy of the form that the judgment debtor may use to make a claim of exemption and a copy of the form used to provide a financial statement also be provided.
Who sponsors SB 233?
SB 233 is sponsored by Calderon, Correa, Hueso, and Leno.
What is the current status of SB 233?
This bill has been enacted into law. Introduced February 11, 2013. Enacted.
Where can I track SB 233?
Track SB 233 free on One Click Politics — get push/email alerts when it moves.

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