republic-os/legislation/us/states/ca/20112012/ab-278.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Mortgages and deeds of trust: foreclosure."
description: "(1) Existing law, until January 1, 2013, requires a mortgagee, trustee, beneficiary, or authorized agent to contact the borrower prior to filing a notice of default to explore options for the borrower to avoid foreclosure, as specified. Existing law requires a notice of default or, in certain circumstances, a notice of sale, to include a declaration stating that the mortgagee, trustee, beneficiary, or authorized agent has contacted the borrower, or has tried with due diligence to contact the borrower, or that no contact was required for a specified reason."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20112012"
identifier: "AB 278"
citation: "California AB 278 (20112012)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Mortgages and deeds of trust: foreclosure."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Eng"]
version_count: 6
action_count: 38
vote_count: 8
first_action: "2011-02-08"
last_action: "2012-07-11"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/35b3cc39-8403-412a-8a1d-dc43f7a1de6d"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB278"
source_hash: "6c935aaf7838aa586ca8624e45747c5d3df8cbed546e27d3e37bb1a4a30e5601"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-ca"]
---

# California AB 278 (20112012) — Mortgages and deeds of trust: foreclosure.

(1) Existing law, until January 1, 2013, requires a mortgagee, trustee, beneficiary, or authorized agent to contact the borrower prior to filing a notice of default to explore options for the borrower to avoid foreclosure, as specified. Existing law requires a notice of default or, in certain circumstances, a notice of sale, to include a declaration stating that the mortgagee, trustee, beneficiary, or authorized agent has contacted the borrower, or has tried with due diligence to contact the borrower, or that no contact was required for a specified reason.

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **02/08/11 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB278&version=20110AB27899INT)
2. **06/23/11 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB278&version=20110AB27898AMD)
3. **07/11/12 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB278&version=20110AB27894CHP)
4. **09/01/11 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB278&version=20110AB27897AMD)
5. **AB278** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB278)
6. **07/05/12 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB278&version=20110AB27895ENR)

## Votes

- 3rd Reading AB278 Hill By Vargas — **23–13** (pass) · upper
- AB 278 HILL Assembly Third Reading — **78–0** (pass) · lower
- AB 278 HILL Concurrence in Senate Amendments — **5–57** (fail) · lower
- Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on Appropriations. — **9–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass as amended, and re-refer to the Committee on Appropriations. — **9–0** (pass) · upper
- AB 278 ENG Conference Report — **54–26** (pass) · lower
- Conference Reports AB278 Eng By Leno — **25–13** (pass) · upper
- Do pass. — **17–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Eng — primary (person)
- Calderon — principal coauthor (person)
- Carter — principal coauthor (person)
- Corbett — principal coauthor (person)
- Davis — principal coauthor (person)
- DeSaulnier — principal coauthor (person)
- Evans — principal coauthor (person)
- Feuer — author (person)
- Hancock — principal coauthor (person)
- John A. Pérez — author (person)
- Leno — principal coauthor (person)
- Mitchell — author (person)
- Pavley — principal coauthor (person)
- Skinner — principal coauthor (person)
- Steinberg — principal coauthor (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2011-02-08** Read first time. To print. `reading-1`
- **2011-02-09** From printer. May be heard in committee March 11.
- **2011-02-24** Referred to Com. on B., P. & C.P. `referral-committee`
- **2011-04-05** In committee: Hearing postponed by committee.
- **2011-05-04** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 9. Noes 0.) (May 3). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `referral-committee, committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2011-05-18** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 17. Noes 0.) (May 18). `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2011-05-19** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2011-05-23** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 78. Noes 0. Page 1505.) `reading-3, reading-1, passage`
- **2011-05-23** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2011-06-02** Referred to Com. on B., P. & E.D. `referral-committee`
- **2011-06-22** From committee: Do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 9. Noes 0.) (June 21). `amendment-passage, committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2011-06-23** Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `reading-2, reading-1, amendment-passage, referral-committee`
- **2011-07-11** From committee: Be placed on second reading file pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8. `committee-passage`
- **2011-07-12** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2011-09-01** Read third time and amended. Ordered to second reading. `reading-3, reading-1, amendment-passage`
- **2011-09-02** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2011-09-09** Ordered to inactive file at the request of Senator Price.
- **2012-04-16** From inactive file.
- **2012-04-16** Ordered to second reading.
- **2012-04-17** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2012-04-19** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 23. Noes 13. Page 3219.). `reading-3, reading-1, passage`
- **2012-04-19** In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending. May be considered on or after April 21 pursuant to Assembly Rule 77.
- **2012-04-23** Assembly refused to concur in Senate amendments. To Conference Committee. (Ayes 5. Noes 57. Page 4482.) `committee-failure`
- **2012-04-23** Assembly Members Eng, Feuer, and Wagner appointed to Conference Committee.
- **2012-04-24** Senators Evans, Vargas, and Blakeslee appointed to Conference Committee.
- **2012-05-02** Senators Evans, Calderon, and Blakeslee appointed to Conference Committee.
- **2012-05-14** In Assembly:
- **2012-05-14** Joint Rule 29.5(a) suspended. (Ayes 72. Noes 0. Page 4808.)
- **2012-05-14** In Senate:
- **2012-05-14** Joint Rule 29.5(a) suspended. (Ayes 37. Noes 0. Page 3498.)
- **2012-06-27** From Conference Committee: Be adopted. Assembly (Ayes 2 (Eng and Feuer). Noes 1 (Wagner)). Senate (Ayes 2 (Evans and Calderon). Noes 0.)). To print.
- **2012-06-28** From printer.
- **2012-07-02** Assembly adopts Conference Committee report. (Ayes 54. Noes 26. Page 5549.). `committee-passage`
- **2012-07-02** Senate adopted Conference Committee report. (Ayes 25. Noes 13. Page 4221.) `committee-passage`
- **2012-07-02** Ordered to Engrossing and Enrolling. `committee-passage`
- **2012-07-06** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 2:15 p.m.
- **2012-07-11** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2012-07-11** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 86, Statutes of 2012.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/35b3cc39-8403-412a-8a1d-dc43f7a1de6d`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).