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“I'm taking this action to further protect California homeowners on the brink of foreclosure,” Brown said, “JP Morgan Chase, like GMAC/Ally Financial, has admitted that its review of key foreclosure documents was a ruse.”
“I'm directing Chase to prove it is following the law before it continues foreclosures in California,” Brown added.
California law prohibits lenders from recording notices of default on mortgages made between Jan. 1, 2003, and Dec. 31, 2007, unless, subject to limited exceptions, the lender contacts or tries diligently to contact the borrower to determine eligibility for a loan modification.
A notice of default must include a declaration of compliance with California law.
JP Morgan Chase, the nation's third largest loan servicer, has admitted that employees signed affidavits in 56,000 foreclosure cases nationwide without first personally reviewing the contents of the borrowers' loan files. As a result, those borrowers lost their homes based on affidavits the bank never confirmed were accurate.
This practice strongly suggests that any purported verification by JP Morgan Chase that it complied with California law before beginning foreclosures here is also questionable.
JP Morgan has suspended foreclosures in 23 other states that, unlike California, require a court order for foreclosures.
The company did not issue a statement on Brown's demand.
On Sept. 24, Brown sent a similar letter to Ally Financial Inc., formerly known as GMAC, directing it to prove it is complying with California law or cease foreclosures in California until it can.
The Attorney General's Office reported that is in contact with Ally.
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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
LAKEPORT, Calif. – The Lakeport Main Street Association (LMSA) has named Carol Hays as its new executive director.
She succeeds Jan Bruns, who has retired but remains active with the organization as a board member.
Hays takes up residence at new LMSA headquarters in the Lakeport City Hall.
She's be at her desk on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. She can be reached at 707-263-8843 or
Hays recently moved to Lake County from Mount Vernon, Wash., where she was the director of a nonprofit, historic, performing arts and film theater.
While at the theatre she sat on the board of the downtown merchants association and was a key contributor in the effort to initiate a Main Street program there.
“I spent months researching Northern California before I decided to move to Lakeport,” she said. “This is a unique place full of natural beauty and warm, genuine people. I’m looking forward to working with the entire community toward making it an even better place to live, work and visit.”
Hays grew up in Los Angeles, graduated from UCLA and lived in Washington State for 20 years before coming to Lake County.
She is now enjoying the area’s excellent wineries, great produce at farmers' markets and kayaking on the lake.
The Lakeport Main Street Association was formed to unite businesses in the downtown Lakeport corridor with a common goal.
This goal, ultimately, is to improve and maintain a thriving downtown, thereby attracting diners as well as shoppers to our city.
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“Taxable sales in California last year continued an unprecedented decline as retail sales mirrored the nationwide recession,” said Chairwoman Betty T. Yee of the California Board of Equalization. “Consumer spending fell as Californians experienced a crisis in jobs and housing.”
Taxable sales in California totaled $115.5 billion during the third quarter of 2009, a drop of $20.4 billion (or 15 percent) from the third quarter of 2008. The year-over-year decline in quarterly taxable sales continued for the ninth consecutive quarter. However, the decline was not as steep as the previous quarter, when taxable sales dropped 19 percent on a year-over-year basis.
In the nine-county San Francisco Bay Area, third quarter 2009 taxable sales dropped 14.5 percent, slightly better than the 15 percent statewide drop for the third quarter, and not as steep as the 18.9 percent decline in the Bay Area in the second quarter last year.
Taxable sales in most counties in the First Equalization District declined in the third quarter 2009 on a year-over-year basis: Napa (-17.2%), Yolo (-17%), Mendocino (-15.6%), San Luis Obispo (-16.6%), San Francisco (-16.5), Sonoma (-16.2%), Alameda (-15.6%), Santa Clara (-14.6%), Santa Barbara (-14.6%), San Mateo (-14.4%), San Benito (-13.8%), Monterey (-13.6%), Santa Cruz (-13.6%), Del Norte (-12.5%), Marin (-11.8%), Solano (-11.2%), Contra Costa (-10.6%), Humboldt (-8.6%), and Trinity (-5.5%). Conversely, taxable sales in Colusa County increased 31.3 percent.
Taxable sales declined in the Bay Area’s major cities last year in the third quarter: Oakland declined 20.4 percent, San Francisco declined 16.5 percent, and San Jose declined 16.0 percent. Conversely, the cities of San Juan Bautista and Blue Lake posted increases of more than 30 percent.
In constant dollar terms, taxable sales decreased by 11.7 percent over the same quarter a year ago. The California Taxable Sales Deflator declined by 3.8 percent for the third quarter of 2009. In comparison, the California Consumer Price Index (CPI) declined 1.0 percent.
View all Taxable Sales in California for the Third Quarter of 2009 here: www.boe.ca.gov/news/tsalescont09.htm .
Taxable Sales in California is a quarterly report on retail sales activity in California, as measured by transactions subject to sales and use tax.
It includes data about statewide taxable sales by type of business, as well as data about taxable sales in all California cities and counties from the first quarter of 2000 through the third quarter of 2009, and can be viewed on the BOE Web site at www.boe.ca.gov/news/tsalescont.htm.
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The bill would move California beyond the current 50 percent waste reduction standard toward a new 75 percent recycling goal.
“Recycling is a powerful fuel additive that helps propel California’s engine,” Chesbro said. “California’s commitment to recycling has already created 125,000 new jobs over the past two decades. The industry generates $4 billion a year in salaries and produces $10 billion worth of goods and services annually.
“My bill expands on the law passed 21 years ago that made California the nation’s leader in recycling. Not only do we create more green jobs, we protect the environment and reduce energy consumption by reducing the amount of waste that ends up in landfills.”
Chesbro’s AB 737 seeks to expand on AB 939, the California Integrated Waste Management Act passed in 1989 – ground-breaking legislation that set recycling standards for California that other states have since copied.
AB 939 made it possible for California to lead the nation in the amount of waste diverted from landfills, currently 58 percent, and to create those 125,000 jobs.
The bill will require local governments to implement local commercial recycling programs if not already in place. AB 737 also pushes the state toward meeting a goal of increasing the diversion rate to 75 percent by 2010.
“Recycling’s a proven job creator”, said Mark Murray, executive director of Californians Against Waste. “Assembly Member Chesbro’s AB 737 will bring local governments and the private sector together to divert recyclables from the 30 million tons of waste that the commercial sector and apartments still send to landfills every year. By cutting this waste in half, AB 737 has the potential to create more than 30,000 jobs in collection and processing and 75,000 jobs in manufacturing.”
The governor has until Sept. 30 to take action on the bill.
“In addition to the thousands of green jobs that diverting waste away from landfills creates, recycling saves natural resources, it saves energy and it reduces the amount of water and electricity needed in the manufacturing process,” Chesbro said. “By one estimate, the amount of energy saved last year alone across the United States from recycling beverage containers, newsprint and cardboard was equal to the annual electrical needs of nearly 18 million Americans.”