A rental housing association is likely to face an uphill battle in its lawsuit against the state of California concerning Assembly Bill (AB) 832, according to an Orange County attorney and legal commentator.
The California Rental Housing Association (CalRHA) is objecting to AB 832 extending the state’s moratorium on evictions for nonpayment of rent for the third time.
“It’s a difficult, difficult road for CalRHA to pursue because the state has an awful lot of power and flexibility with respect to the health, safety, and welfare of their citizens and also because they went through the California state legislature,” said legal observer and attorney John Shu. “This wasn't something that Governor Newsom did as an abuse of executive power.”
CalRHA sued in the Eastern District of California federal district court alleging that AB 832 is unconstitutional in extending the statewide moratorium because it violates rental housing owners’ basic property rights, such as the ability to repossess units for nonpayment of rent.
“What they're saying is that AB 832 violates the civil rights of the landlords because landlords also have civil rights to a certain degree,” Shu told the Southern California Record.
A federal judge could invalidate AB 832 on constitutional and civil rights grounds, but Shu believes it's unlikely.
“Federalism is limited by the federal constitution,” he said. “While it's true that we have a Federalist system and that those individual states have a lot of flexibility, you can't pass laws that go against the Constitution or the federal Civil Rights laws.”
The California Rental Housing Association, which represents more than 19,000 rental housing providers that own or manage some 537,000 rental units, is seeking a declaratory judgment and an injunction prohibiting AB 832’s enforcement.
“We tried working with our legislators and the governor to reach an agreement that would recognize the financial burdens faced by both rental housing providers and renters,” said Christine Kevane LaMarca, CalRHA President, in a statement online. “They chose to ignore the financial burdens of small and medium rental property providers. The courts are our last resort.”
Although replacing Gov. Newsom during the Sept. 14 recall vote could provide landlords and property owners with some hope, Shu foresees that electing a Republican governor to serve the remainder of Gov. Newsom’s term is no guarantee moratoriums will end.
“The Democrats have a supermajority in the Assembly and the state Senate so if Gov. Newsom is voted out and Larry Elder is elected in, for example, the Assembly and the state Senate could pass another statute extending the moratorium from September 30th to December 31,” Shu said. “Gov. Elder could veto the bill but then because the Democrats have a supermajority, they could override his veto. It depends on how much lobbying juice CalRHA has and then it becomes a political process rather than a legal process.”