(SACRAMENTO, CA) - Assembly Bill 976 by Assemblymember Charles Calderon (D-Montebello) was signed by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.  The new law will prevent cities and counties from enacting any ordinances that would force residential landlords from inquiring about the immigration or citizenship status of any tenant or prospective tenant.

“Cities do not have the authority to form their own foreign policy.  Only the federal government can determine the legal status of any citizen,” Calderon stated.  “Local ordinances like the one adopted by the City of Escondido place landlords under serious liability whether they comply with the ordinance or fail to comply with the ordinance.  Landlords do not want to be immigration officers; they simply want to make a living.”
 
Assemblymember Calderon’s measure came in the wake of ordinances passed by cities in California and around the Untied States.  The ordinances would have forced landlords to determine the citizenship status of their tenants and evict any tenant who is not a legal resident, or face fines and possible revocation of their business license.  Such laws placed landlords in an impossible dilemma: comply with the city ordinance, while violating state and federal law or uphold state and federal law, facing sanctions from the cities. In every instance, however, Federal Judges issued restraining orders against the ordinances on the grounds that they violated constitutional due process and supremacy clauses.

The most recent instance of a court making a finding against these types of ordinances was on July 26th when a U.S. District Court Judge in Pennsylvania issued a decision finding Hazleton, Pennsylvania’s ordinance unconstitutional.

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Assembly Member Charles Calderon, Chair of the Revenue and Taxation Committee represents the cities of Downey, Industry, Montebello, Pico Rivera, Whittier and the communities of East Los Angeles, Hacienda Heights, South San Jose Hills and Valinda.