Housing reform laws: enforcement actions: fines and penalties.

Assembly Member Wicks frames AB 712 as creating a targeted enforcement framework for housing reform laws, pairing a clear remedy structure with penalties for local agencies when a housing development project applicant prevails in litigation to enforce compliance. The measure foregrounds two aims: establishing uniform, transparent remedies for agencies found to violate housing reform laws and preventing the use of indemnification or reimbursement agreements that could shield agencies from accountability.

The core change adds a new enforcement pathway in which a prevailing housing development project applicant is entitled to reasonable attorney’s fees and costs. In cases where a local agency had prior written advisement from the Attorney General or the Department of Housing and Community Development that its actions would violate a housing reform law, the court would impose a minimum fine per violation, with a $50,000 floor for projects four units or smaller. A written notice to the local agency identifying the factual and legal bases must precede filing by at least 60 days, and the action extends the period for bringing the claim by 60 days. If the same local agency has previously been found in violation within the same planning period, the court must impose a fine at least five times the minimum. The measure specifies that the action to obtain these fines need not proceed under a private-attorney-general mechanism, while not precluding the availability of attorney’s fees under other provisions.

In addition, the bill prohibits a public agency from requiring an applicant to indemnify, defend, or hold harmless the agency in any action alleging a rights-based violation or the protections provided by housing reform law; such indemnification provisions are void and unenforceable. For construction, the bill defines terms such as “housing development project,” “housing reform law,” “planning period,” “local agency,” and “public agency” consistent with existing housing and planning statutes, and anchors the remedies to the planning-period framework and the broader housing-element cycle.

AB 712 interacts with existing law by adding a distinct enforcement mechanism rather than modifying current provisions, tying fines to an established housing-enforcement fines framework and planning-period concepts. It relies on pre-action advisories from state authorities to trigger penalties and uses 60-day notice and extension of limitations as procedural levers, while preserving the availability of other fee-shifting avenues. The measure implicates stakeholders across applicants, local agencies, and state agencies (Attorney General and Department of Housing and Community Development), and it signals potential changes in litigation dynamics, compliance planning, and administrative processes without specifying an explicit funding source or an effective date in the text provided.