With one day left before his September 30 deadline to act on bills sent to him by the Legislature, Governor Newsom has signed 738 bills into law this year. Among the bills he has signed more recently are two measures of interest to the title industry.

Urban Sunrise v. Vogt 
C103199 (Third Appellate District, September 4, 2026)

Stewart Information Services Corp. has acquired ProTitleUSA and DocSolutionUSA, two companies that together provide a comprehensive suite of title, mortgage related documents and due diligence services that support servicers, investors and capital markets clients throughout the real estate and mortgage lifecycle.

Fidelity National Financial announced that Shawn Fox has joined FNF Agency Operations as senior vice president of agency technology strategy.  ​In this role, Fox will work directly with the internal FNF agency operations and independent title agents across the FNF agency network to identify technology opportunities, strengthen cybersecurity, improve operational performance, and help agencies prepare for the future of AI-enabled title and settlement operations.

Sally French Tyler, president of First American Title Insurance Company, will retire at the end of 2026 after been with the company since 2005. Tyler became president of its National Commercial Services division where she more than doubled its operating revenue and helped build it into one of the nation’s largest commercial title and settlement operations. She was appointed as President of First American Title Insurance Company in 2025 where she had overall responsibility for the company’s direct, agency and commercial title operations.

​Last Thursday Freddie Mac released the results of its Primary Mortgage Market Survey® (PMMS®), showing the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) averaged 6.76%. The PMMS® is focused on conventional, conforming, fully amortizing home purchase loans for borrowers who put 20% down and have excellent credit. 

Data Trace Information Services LLC, released a new analysis “AI Title Search Tested in the Real World: What Accuracy, Risk, and Readiness Really Look Like,” examining whether public-record-only AI can deliver the completeness, confidence and insurability required to support insurable title decisions at scale. Data Trace framed the question as whether AI operating on public records alone can consistently produce the complete, validated information required to support insurable title decisions.

By John Briscoe, Briscoe Prows Kao Ivester & Bazel LLP

With no fanfare, no flourishes of trumpets, the State of California has laid title claims of “public trust” slicing through Tahoe shorefront properties – and through the homes that stand on them. Negotiations are underway between the owners and the State, and so the victims and their properties are not identified here.

Governor Gavin Newsom has hundreds of remaining bills on his desk to sign or veto before the constitutional deadline of September 30. 

The Governor signed Assembly Bill 2624 (Bonta) as Chapter 117 that, on October 1, 2027 (a delayed implementation), expands the Secretary of State’s Safe at Home program to include immigration support services providers.