Judicial Council voting this week on rescinding foreclosure and eviction bans

Members of the Judicial Council are voting this week on whether to rescind temporary bans on evictions and foreclosures, phasing it out by Sept. 1, according to a news release.

Voting must take place by Thursday, after the chief justice cautioned the judiciary should not legislate and Democratic legislators asked the ban to remain in effect as they need more time to reach a solution to the choice of a potential wave of evictions or mortgage foreclosures following the state's economic shutdown.

Two bills that would limit evictions, AB 1436 and SB 1410, are scheduled to be heard by legislative committees this week. AB 1436 would also place limits on foreclosures.

"The judicial branch cannot usurp the responsibility of the other two branches on a longterm basis to deal with the myriad impacts of the pandemic," Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye said in the press release. "The duty of the judicial branch is to resolve disputes under the law and not to legislate."

Emergency Rule 1 on unlawful detainers, and Emergency Rule 2 covering judicial foreclosures, were put in place in April as the coronavirus pandemic hit and the governor shut down most businesses. The rules prevented courts from processing these cases. But several landlord groups have filed suit to block the eviction ban, claiming the Judicial Council has usurped the Legislature's authority by closing the courthouse doors to unlawful detainer cases.

Cantil-Sakauye has prodded the Legislature and Gov. Gavin Newsom to pass their own protections, repeatedly stating the policies were put in place in part due to the difficulty the Legislature had in meeting during the early days of the pandemic. In June she suspended a vote on the rules in order to allow them more time. But she said at a Judicial Council meeting last month she was considering a vote to rescind the policies as soon as the end of this week.

-- Malcolm Maclachlan