The Homeowners Bill of Rights just passed out of the Joint Committee a few minutes ago!

As it stood Monday, the bill was good with many strong protections for homeowners facing down banks fraudulently foreclosing on their homes.

Staff member, Barry, at Mark Leno's office told me by phone there were some small "tweaks" today -- the bill will be available soon to read on the state legislature's website. There are two bill numbers with the same language Senate: SB 900, Assembly: AB 278.

Currently, both bills are scheduled for a vote by the full Assembly and Senate on Monday, July 2. So PICK UP THE PHONE and call your state representatives (find your representatives) -- especially in the Central Valley. Homeowners need a strong bill. YOU need this. If the levee isn't strong, the bank-made tsunami of foreclosures will swamp the whole economy.

UPDATE: Via Courage Campaign: Click here to see the key votes and contact these representatives: http://www.couragecampaign.org/page/content/HBORFINALVOTE

UPDATE: LATimes article: http://www.latimes.com/business/money/la-fi-mo-foreclosure-bill-20120627,0,5975376.story

UPDATE: From Todd Occupy Downing on fb:

They certainly got their pound of flesh and weakened quite substantially. Among the changes reported by CRL is a narrowed scope for both the loans and servicers covered by the bill. The only loans to which the bill will now apply are first mortgages on owner occupied one-to-four family houses and only servicers who process more than 175 foreclosures per year will be subject to many of its requirements.

Earlier versions of the bill required the lender or servicer to record and provide evidence of all assignments as part of the chain of title to foreclose. The current version requires that only evidence of the last assignment be available to the borrower. The current bill also includes an express and comprehensive right to cure until the notice of trustee sale is filed. A servicer can avoid liability by curing a violation before the foreclosure sale.

Originally the bill provided post-sale minimum statutory damages of the greater of actual damages or $10,000; the new version allows only actual damages with triple damages or a minimum of $50,000 available only in cases of intentional reckless violations or willful misconduct.