California ordered to restore $331 million to fund for homeowners

[Swordsmyth]

When California received $410 million in 2012 as part of a nationwide settlement with major banks accused of abusive foreclosures, Gov. Jerry Brown used $331 million to pay state agencies in housing and other programs to cover their deficits.
Now a state appeals court has ordered the money be used for its original intent: to help homeowners who suffered foreclosures.
The money was “unlawfully diverted” from a settlement fund that was designated for programs directly assisting homeowners, the Third District Court of Appeal in Sacramento said Tuesday. (http://www.courts.ca.gov/opinions/documents/C079835.PDF) A Sacramento County judge had reached the same conclusion but found he lacked authority to order the state to redirect the money, a finding the appeals court rejected.
Neil Barofsky, a lawyer for the National Asian American Coalition and other groups that filed the suit, said the court had properly ordered the state to “immediately put the money back into a fund where it can be used to help struggling homeowners,” particularly in poor and minority communities.

More at: https://www.sfgate.com/business/article/California-ordered-to-restore-331-million-to-13067597.php?t=e879200481

[oyarde]

When California received $410 million in 2012 as part of a nationwide settlement with major banks accused of abusive foreclosures, Gov. Jerry Brown used $331 million to pay state agencies in housing and other programs to cover their deficits.
Now a state appeals court has ordered the money be used for its original intent: to help homeowners who suffered foreclosures.
The money was “unlawfully diverted” from a settlement fund that was designated for programs directly assisting homeowners, the Third District Court of Appeal in Sacramento said Tuesday. (http://www.courts.ca.gov/opinions/documents/C079835.PDF) A Sacramento County judge had reached the same conclusion but found he lacked authority to order the state to redirect the money, a finding the appeals court rejected.
Neil Barofsky, a lawyer for the National Asian American Coalition and other groups that filed the suit, said the court had properly ordered the state to “immediately put the money back into a fund where it can be used to help struggling homeowners,” particularly in poor and minority communities.

More at: https://www.sfgate.com/business/article/California-ordered-to-restore-331-million-to-13067597.php?t=e879200481

'Unlawfully diverted " means crimes for six years by the Gov who knew he was in violation . Someone needs to check where he hid the other 79 million.

[Pauls' Revere]

'Unlawfully diverted " means crimes for six years by the Gov who knew he was in violation . Someone needs to check where he hid the other 79 million.

Plus interest.

[jkr]

So loving, so caring
What a lovely human being

[Swordsmyth]

Democratic lawmakers in Sacramento are moving quickly on legislation to overturn a court ruling that would require the state to use $331 million to aid homeowners hit with foreclosures, money from a nationwide settlement with banks accused of abusive foreclosure practices.
A state appeals court in Sacramento ruled last month (https://www.sfchronicle.com/business/article/California-ordered-to-restore-331-million-to-13067597.php) that Gov. Jerry Brown had wrongly used the $331 million to pay off deficits of state agencies that handle state housing bonds and consumer programs. The money for Brown’s actions has been appropriated for three years, each time with legislative approval, but the court said the administration had violated a 2012 state law directing use of funds from the mortgage settlement. The ruling said the state must spend the funds on programs directly assisting foreclosed homeowners.


This week, however, legislative Democrats rewrote two budget-related bills and moved them through fiscal committees in both houses on party-line votes. Both bills declare that Brown had properly cleared his funding decisions with the Legislature and had complied with the 2012 state law by using the money to bail out state agencies overseeing housing and consumer services.


A lawyer for the organizations that challenged the state’s use of the funds, led by the National Asian American Coalition, promised another legal battle if the legislation passes.
Even if the Legislature “attempts to somehow retroactively endorse” the state’s past use of the funds, “those actions were still illegal, and the governor remains under an obligation to use the National Mortgage Settlement Funds as the appellate court found they were intended — to help struggling homeowners,” said attorney Neil Barofsky.

More at: https://www.sfgate.com/business/article/California-Democrats-move-quickly-to-change-law-13164214.php?t=b045a79236