County recorders: fees.

Existing law establishes the office of county recorder and requires the county recorder to accept for recordation any instrument, paper, or notice that is authorized or required to be recorded, subject to the collection of specified fees. Existing law prohibits the fee for recording and indexing an instrument, paper, or notice from exceeding $10 for recording the first page and $3 for each additional page, which charges are to reimburse the county for the costs of services rendered. Existing law requires $1 of each $3 fee for each additional page to be deposited in the county general fund. This bill would set the fee for recording and indexing at $15 for recording the first page and $4 for each additional page, but would prohibit the fees from exceeding the reasonable costs of the county recorder's office for providing these services. The bill would provide that these funds are to be dedicated to, and solely utilized for, the county recorder's office, as specified. The bill would delete the provision requiring $1 of each $3 fee for each additional page to be deposited in the county general fund. Existing law specifies that $1 for recording the first page and $1 for each additional page shall be available solely to support, maintain, improve, and provide for the full operation for modernized creation, retention, and retrieval of information in each county's system of recorded documents. This bill would increase the $1 amount for each additional page to $3. Existing law authorizes the county board of supervisors to provide for an additional fee of $1 for each instrument, paper, or notice of record to order to defray the cost of converting the county recorder's document storage system to micrographics. Existing law, until January 1, 2026, authorizes the $1 fee to also be used for restoration and preservation of the county recorder's permanent archival microfilm, to implement and fund a county recorder archive program, or to implement and maintain or utilize a trusted system for the permanent preservation of recorded document images. This bill would delete the January 1, 2026, repeal date, thereby making these provisions operative indefinitely. The bill would replace a reference to "archival microfilm" with "archival mediums" and would repeal related provisions. The bill would include related legislative findings concerning county recorder fees. By imposing new duties on counties relative to recording fees, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.