The company claimed that AB 459, which became law on January 1, created a "new real estate disclosure requirement" that "requires sellers and their agents to disclose to prospective buyers if the property is located in a 'Naturally Occurring Asbestos Hazard Zone.'"

That claim is patently false.

A quick call to the Sacramento office of the bill's author, Assemblymember Jenny Oropeza (55th District, near Long Beach), confirmed the law's only purpose: to mandate the Supplemental Tax Bill disclosure.

When told of the asbestos-disclosure claim, Capitol Director Dennis Hall, representing Oropeza, replied: "That's wrong! They didn't read the bill -- or they don't understand it!"

Coincidentally, the company making the false claim includes in its reports a naturally-occurring asbestos disclosure which is not required.

No official State maps -- No State-mandated disclosure

Last year, the State considered two bills related to naturally-occurring asbestos: AB 459, to mandate asbestos zone disclosure by certain sellers, and SB 655, to authorize an "Asbestos Hazard Mapping Act." The "disclosure" bill depended upon the "mapping" bill to create the official hazard maps that the disclosures would be made from.

The AB 459 law says, if the "mapping" bill fails to pass by January 1, 2006, then the requirement for asbestos zone disclosure is declared "inoperative" -- that is, it's not required.

The "mapping" bill failed to pass by January 1. Therefore, AB 459 does NOT require any real estate seller to disclose naturally-occurring asbestos zones.

Scare Off-target Residential re-sellers were not the target of the bill, in the first place. AB 459's proposed asbestos-disclosure section states that it is intended for "any person who intends to offer subdivided lands within this state for sale or lease" -- developers, generally. So, the scare was not only unwarranted, but misdirected as well.

The "mapping" bill still has not passed. On January 19, 2006, it was placed on the Assembly's inactive file. According to Dennis Hall, as of February 10, the author of the "mapping" bill, State Senator Deborah Ortiz of Sacramento, had not decided whether to continue to pursue passage of the bill. Hence, no official State maps of asbestos hazard zones exist for the purpose of real estate disclosure.

Honest, Accurate, Useful Disclosures

FANHD and JCP reports disclose zones where naturally-occurring asbestos may occur (also called "ultramafic" rock zones). We do so only in the few California counties where such zones are on locally-adopted General Plan maps or such disclosure is locally required (for example, El Dorado and Placer Counties, and the Town of Woodside).

The important requirement of AB 459 is the Supplemental Tax Bill Disclosure, which became effective on January 1. This tells the buyer to expect a separate bill from the county for additional property taxes during the first year of ownership. Our reports have included the Supplemental Tax Bill Disclosure since 2005.

As an added value, our reports include a unique "Tax Estimator" -- letting your buyer know the precise amount they should expect on the Supplemental Tax Bill. (See "2006 Laws" for further details.)

'Consider the Source'

When you hear frightening claims about "new" disclosure requirements, consider the source.

This same company that is now misleading the real estate industry about asbestos zone disclosure was harshly rebuked before by the California Association of Realtors® (CAR) for misinforming real estate agents. In 2005, the company falsely claimed that CAR-sponsored legislation creating a "safe harbor" for agents and sellers who use third-party disclosure reports actually increases the liability for agents.

If there really was a new law requiring asbestos zone disclosure, CAR certainly would have let you know in its summary of new laws for 2006.

We strongly recommend that you let CAR know your concerns about misinformation in the disclosure industry. Mark Giberson, CAR's Public Relations Director can be reached at (213) 739-8304, and markg@car.org

NOTE ADDED: Since this article was written, CAR has issued a new legal bulletin warning California Realtors® about the false asbestos-disclosure claim -- naming Property I.D. as the source of the misinformation. (See Realtor® Confusion for CAR's viewpoint.)

 
MORE INFO...

The actual text of the AB 459 law is at the following link (don't miss the last paragraph!): Text of AB 459 Law

Previous misinformation by the offending company is reported at the link below: You Can Relax About REALTOR®-friendly AB 920