AB 2782: Judiciary omnibus.

(1)The Automobile Sales Finance Act generally regulates motor vehicle conditional sale contracts. The act defines various terms for these purposes, including cash price to mean the amount for which the seller would sell and transfer to the buyer unqualified title to the motor vehicle described in the conditional sale contract, if the property were sold for cash at the sellers place of business on the date the contract is executed, and taxes to the extent imposed on the cash sale and the cash price of accessories or services related to the sale, including, among other things, a vehicle contract cancellation option agreement. The act requires a conditional sale contract to contain certain disclosures, including the amount charged for a contract cancellation option agreement. The act requires a seller to provide specified information to a buyer prior to the execution of a conditional sale contract, as specified, including a description and the price of a vehicle contract cancellation option agreement.

This bill would remove a vehicle contract cancellation option agreement from the definition of cash price. The bill would remove the requirement that a conditional sale contract disclose the amount charged for a contract cancellation option agreement. The bill would remove the requirement that the seller provide to a buyer prior to the execution of a conditional sale contract a description and the price of a vehicle contract cancellation option agreement.

(2)Existing law defines homestead to mean a principal dwelling in which a judgment debtor or their spouse resided on the date the judgment creditors lien attached to the dwelling and in which the judgment debtor or their spouse resided continuously thereafter until the date of a court determination that the dwelling is a homestead. Under existing law, a homestead is exempt from a sale to enforce a money judgment, except pursuant to a court order for sale if certain conditions are met. Existing law provides that the amount of a homestead exemption is the greater of (A) the countywide median price for a single-family home in the calendar year prior to the calendar year in which the judgment debtor claims the exemption, not to exceed $600,000, or (B) $300,000. Beginning on January 1, 2022, existing law requires the amount of a homestead exemption to be adjusted annually for inflation, as specified.

This bill would set the amount of a homestead exemption in the 2026 calendar year as the greater of (A) the ceiling amount of $746,350, or (B) the floor amount of $373,175. The bill would require those ceiling and floor amounts to be adjusted annually for inflation, beginning on January 1, 2027, by applying a multiplier produced by the change in the annual California Consumer Price Index (CPI) for All Urban Consumers, published by the Department of Industrial Relations, during the prior fiscal year. The bill would provide that the multiplier is calculated by dividing the CPI for the June ending the prior fiscal year by the CPI for the June immediately preceding the prior fiscal year. The bill would require each ceiling and floor amount that has been adjusted annually for inflation to be rounded to the nearest $25.