Lawmakers kill bill to halt commercial evictions in state
The California Senate declined on Thursday to advance a bill that would have banned commercial evictions statewide and allowed some retail tenants to break leases during the coronavirus crisis.
The real estate industry strongly opposed SB939, sponsored by state Sens. Scott Wiener, DSan Francisco, and Lena Gonzalez, DLong Beach. The sponsors said it was a critical move to save small restaurants and other small businesses that have seen revenue collapse.
Small businesses including restaurants, cafes and entertainment venues would have been able to renegotiate leases if they lost over 40% of their revenue or had to operate at 75% capacity or less due to coronavirus changes. Tenants would have been able to break leases if negotiations to modify them weren’t successful, a major change to real estate law.
“Today, the Senate missed a major opportunity to throw a lifeline to small businesses and nonprofits by helping them survive the COVID19 economic collapse. California faces the very real prospect of a mass extinction event for small businesses and nonprofits — a result that will undermine our economic recovery and inflict countless boarded up storefronts on our neighborhoods,” Wiener and Gonzalez said in a statement. They vowed to seek alternative legislation to save small businesses.
Real estate groups said the bill was unconstitutional and too sweeping, and they had threatened to sue if it passed.
On Monday, the Legislature voted down AB2501, a temporary moratorium on mortgage foreclosures in apartment buildings during the coronavirus crisis, which was sponsored by Assemblywoman Monique Limón, DSanta Barbara.