Removal of racially restrictive covenants from record title per n ew Calif bill

[Scarberry, Mark]

The Sacramento Bee has a story on a bill passed by the California
legislature (AB 394, sponsored by Assemblyman Roger Niello, R-Fair Oaks)
that would make it easier to have racially restrictive covenants removed
from record title. See
http://www.sacbee.com/content/politics/story/13553669p-14394400c.html.
Apparently, with approval of the relevant county counsel, a homeowner can
have the original document -- the one by which the developer placed such a
covenant on the entire subdivision -- replaced by a redacted document that
omits the covenant. The new document then will be the relevant document in
the chain of title for all properties in the subdivision, thus eliminating
the covenant from the chain of title. (The original document will still
remain, unredacted, in the records for historical purposes, including the
historical purpose of showing that such discrimination existed.)
 
The article discusses the substantial trouble and expense which previously
was required to remove such covenants from record title, one residential lot
at a time. The bill is designed to make the process much less expensive.

You can find information about the bill on the California legislative
information website at
http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/cgi-bin/postquery?bill_number=ab_394&sess=CUR&hous
e=B&author=niello.

Mark S. Scarberry
Pepperdine University School of Law