CLTA Focuses on Legislative Holdover Issues in 2026

Privacy Bills Impacting Title Insurance; Limitations on Corporate Ownership of Housing

• ​Privacy Bills Impacting Title Insurance
  
  Senate Bill 354 (Limon), the Insurance Consumer Privacy Protection Act of 2025 (ICPPA) passed the State Senate in 2025 but did not have a hearing in the Assembly Insurance Committee before end-of-session deadlines. However, the bill remains active and is eligible for a committee hearing in 2026.  The California Department of Insurance is the sponsor of SB 354. 
  
  The legislation, which would cover title insurance licensees and their third-party service providers, is ostensibly intended to establish a modern privacy rights framework for insurance licensees. The bill does not repeal the existing insurance privacy law enacted in 1980 as the Insurance Information and Privacy Protection Act (IIPPA), which exempts title insurance.
  
  The CLTA has opposed the measure on the basis that it fails to properly account for the specific way in which title companies collect and use consumers’ personal and public information to facilitate real estate and title insurance transactions.
  
  Assembly Bill 1337 (Ward) seeks to expand the state’s Information Privacy Act (IPA) by applying it to local agencies instead of just state agencies. The bill expands the state’s Information Privacy Act, which prohibits state agencies from disclosing individuals’ personal information without first obtaining consent of the individual whose information is being disclosed, to local agencies, including assessors and county recorders. The bill failed to pass the Senate Insurance Committee but was granted reconsideration and the bill can have another hearing in 2026. 
  
  The CLTA has engaged in discussions with the author’s office and sponsor over the measure’s potential to disrupt real estate transactions unless it is amended to exempt information contained in public documents that are intended for public disclosure.
  
  
• Limitations on Corporate Ownership of Housing
  
  Assembly Bill 1240 (Lee) passed the Assembly this year and remains pending in the Senate Judiciary Committee where it can be heard in 2026. The bill would prohibit a business entity that has an interest in more than 1,000 single-family residential properties from purchasing, acquiring, or otherwise obtaining an ownership interest in another single-family residential property for leasing purposes.