Tenants Together, a California Renters’ Rights Organization today said California State Senator Lou Correa’s committee stopped the nation’s first anti “Predatory Equity” bill at the request of the California Association of Realtors and landlord groups.
Senator Correa is the Democratic state senator from Orange County. The bill, AB 2337, authored by Assemblymember Tom Ammiano (D-San Francisco), sought to ban the state’s public employee pension funds from investing in “predatory equity” schemes. The issue gained significant attention when thousands of rent-controlled tenants were displaced after real estate investments by CalPERS and CalSTRS in East Palo Alto and New York City. The investments lost hundreds of millions of dollars.
Tenants Together says Correa received significant campaign donations from landlord and realtor interests, and it was their influence that caused Correa’s committee to stop the bill yesterday.
The Executive Director of Tenants Together, Dean Preston said “Only someone in the pocket of landlords and realtors could possibly oppose this bill.”
Tenants Together and the East Palo Alto Fair Rent Coalition co-sponsored the bill to prevent workers’ retirement funds being invested in schemes to evict working people.
More than 20 nonprofit housing organizations, labor groups and government entities supported the bill. Opponents to the bill were several landlord groups and the California Association of Realtors.
The California Bankers’ Association originally opposed the bill, but reversed that position after substantial amendments that narrowed it’s scope. CalPERS and CalSTRS took a neutral stance after amendments were incorporated into the language of the bill.
The California Assembly approved the bill 43-30 before it was sent to the Public Employment and Retirement Committee yesterday. According to Preston, Senator Correa did not pose a single question at the hearing to the author or witnesses about the bill’s merits, instead derailing the bill without explanation.
Preston says although the bill has been killed, it started a discussion about predatory equity investment practices, and both CalPERS and CalSTRS adopted new internal policies banning future predatory real estate investments.
Tenants Together is the California Statewide Organization for Renters’ Rights.
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July 1st, 2010 at 6:33 pm
I am SO SICK of the corruption of money in politics to BUY a politician’s vote!! If Correa had the guts and the moral character, he wouldn’t have been able to be bought like that. SHAME ON HIM. Correa needs to take a look at one of the only politicians who can’t be bought — Dennis Kucinich. Too bad Dennis is in Ohio.
August 2nd, 2010 at 12:33 am
In the UK and in most common law systems, jointly owned property will go to the other joint owner in the event of the death of one of the owners…it may not be that simple, it depends on exactly how the property is held…you’d need to talk to a lawyer who could view the title to the property before you’d get a 100% answer
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