REPORT/RECOMMENDATION TO THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS
OF SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY
AND RECORD OF ACTION
June 9, 2026
FROM
JOSIE GONZALES, Assessor-Recorder-County Clerk
SUBJECT
Title
Resolution Recognizing Compliance with Senate Bill 255
End
RECOMMENDATION(S)
Recommendation
Adopt Resolution acknowledging the County Recorder’s and District Attorney’s compliance with established Real Estate Informational Letter Program, which is now required by Senate Bill 255 and to take administrative actions necessary for program enhancements.
(Presenter: Josie Gonzales, Assessor-Recorder-County Clerk, 382-3204)
Body
COUNTY AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER GOALS & OBJECTIVES
Operate in a Fiscally-Responsible and Business-Like Manner.
FINANCIAL IMPACT
Approval of this item will not result in the use of Discretionary General Funding (Net County Cost). California Government Code section 27297.7(f), allows the County Recorder to collect an additional recording fee on deeds, quitclaim deeds, mortgages, and deeds of trust to recover the costs of implementing the notification program. The fee shall not exceed the reasonable costs of service of the County to provide for the Real Estate Informational Letter Program. The fee may not be charged until at least 120 days following the establishment of the fee and public notification of the fee and the effective date. At this time, the County Recorder will not be requesting an additional fee. In the event that it is determined that a fee needs to be established to cover costs of service, the department will return to the Board of Supervisors (Board) to request approval of said fee.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Senate Bill (SB) 255 requires each county in California to establish a recorder notification program on or before January 1, 2027. The County Recorder is required by SB 255 to notify parties executing property documents such as deeds, quitclaim deeds, mortgages, and deeds of trust by mail within 30 days of recordation. The notification shall be mailed to the address designated for the delivery of property tax bills as it existed prior to the recording of the document. The bill also authorizes the County Recorder to establish an optional electronic notification program in addition to the mailed notice. The bill creates an exemption from these requirements for the recordation of certain documents where a state or local government is the grantee.
The desired outcome from this recorder notification program, is to give property owners protection from real estate fraud by notifying them when there is a transfer of property ownership or modification of a property title.
Approval of this Resolution will formally acknowledge the Real Estate Informational Letter Program in San Bernardino County and authorize the County Recorder to take the administrative actions necessary to enhance this program. These administrative actions include, developing and configuring system enhancements to support automated notification functionality, establishing secure data-exchange processes, creating new workflow procedures for staff, coordinating with the County’s information technology support teams and external vendors, and preparing public-facing materials to inform property owners about the program.
This action builds upon the prior joint-efforts of the Board, District Attorney (DA), and Assessor-Recorder-County Clerk (ARC), to strengthen real property fraud prevention, investigation, and prosecution of real estate fraud cases. This includes the adoption of Resolution No. 2014-164, approved by the Board on July 22, 2014 (Item No. 60), which approved a recording fee increase from $3 to $10 to support the DA’s Real Estate Fraud Prosecution Unit. This fee is collected by ARC at the time of recording of each real estate instrument authorized by Government Code section 27388. With the enactment of SB 255, this notification function will no longer operate as a discretionary courtesy program but will instead become a state-mandated requirement. Although SB 255 designates the electronic notification component as optional, ARC intends to implement this enhancement to further strengthen the County’s real property fraud-prevention framework and improve the timely identification of potentially fraudulent transactions.
PROCUREMENT
There is no procurement associated with this item, however, if in the course of establishing this recorder notification program, the County Recorder determines a vendor’s services are needed to perform the processing or mailing of the notice, a competitive solicitation will be announced as required by California Government Code section 27297.7(e), and in compliance with County Purchasing Policy 11-04 Procurement of Goods, Supplies, Equipment, and Services.
REVIEW BY OTHERS
This item has been reviewed by County Counsel (Kenneth Brown, Deputy County Counsel, 387-5455) on April 29, 2026; Purchasing (Jessica Barajas, Supervising Buyer, 387-2065) on April 29, 2026; and County Finance and Administration (Garrett Baker, Administrative Analyst, 387-3077) on May 19, 2026.