There is a new bill coming out of the California State Assembly, AB 2204, which would require county recorders to review every deed or other related documents, including CC&Rs, and remove restrictions from historic title record before the transfer of property can be recorded. County recorders would then be authorized to charge a fee for the review and editing of these documents...around $500 - $1000 in costs to transactions without actually protecting anyone from discrimination. This fee will be added to buyers' costs at closing, when they can least afford it.
Existing law already invalidates any provision in a deed of real property that restricts the right of a person to sell, lease, rent, use, or occupy the property based on race, color, religion, sex, marital status, national origin, ancestry, familial status, disability, source of income, or sexual orientation.
Existing mechanisms (the latest of which was approved by the legislature only last year) can already deal with the issue effectively.
Besides, AB 2204 seeks to erase history. Unconstitutional covenants are powerless historical relics that are already unenforceable, but still in the historic record. Philosopher George Santayana said, "Those who cannot remember the past, are condemned to repeat it." Rather than to pretend that such discrimination never existed, isn't wiser to learn from our society's past mistakes?
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