United States HR 5072: A Just Society: A Place to Prosper Act of 2019

Bill Text

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116TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION H. R. 5072
To create an equitable and stable rental housing market, and for other
purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
NOVEMBER 13, 2019
Ms. OCASIO-CORTEZ (for herself, Ms. MENG, Ms. TLAIB, Mr. GARCI ́A of Illi-
nois, and Ms. LEE of California) introduced the following bill; which was
referred to the Committee on Financial Services, and in addition to the
Committees on the Judiciary, and Transportation and Infrastructure, for
a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for
consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the com-
mittee concerned
A BILL
To create an equitable and stable rental housing market,
and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘A Just Society: A 4
Place to Prosper Act of 2019’’. 5
SEC. 2. OBLIGATIONS OF LANDLORDS. 6
(a) OBLIGATIONS.—A covered landlord— 7
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(1) may not, when a residential lease expires, 1
increase monthly rent by an amount greater than 2
the percentage increase, if any, over the preceding 3
12 months in the Consumer Price Index for All 4
Urban Consumers or 3 percent of the average 5
monthly amount paid for the same unit for each 6
month that the unit was occupied during the pre-7
vious 12-month period, whichever is greater; 8
(2) may not initiate eviction proceedings or 9
threaten a tenant with eviction, except in the case 10
that— 11
(A) the tenant has failed to pay rent for 2 12
or more consecutive months, caused substantial 13
destruction to the rental property, or violated 14
an explicit lease term; or 15
(B) the landlord seeks to occupy the unit, 16
or seeks the availability of the unit for occu-17
pancy by an immediate relative; and 18
(3) shall maintain each rental unit in good re-19
pair (as defined under applicable State and local 20
codes). 21
(b) ENFORCEMENT.— 22
(1) CIVIL ACTION AUTHORIZED.—A tenant may 23
file a civil action in the appropriate district court of 24
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the United States against a covered landlord who 1
violates subsection (a). 2
(2) LEASE PROVISION VOID.—Any lease provi-3
sion that waives the right of a tenant to file a civil 4
action under this subsection is void. 5
(3) ENFORCEMENT BY STATE ATTORNEY GEN-6
ERAL.—The attorney general of the State may file 7
a civil action in the appropriate district court of the 8
United States on behalf of a resident of the State 9
whose covered landlord violated subsection (a) to— 10
(A) enjoin further violations; 11
(B) obtain damages on behalf of such resi-12
dent in an amount that does not exceed ten 13
times the sum of the monthly rent amounts 14
specified on the most recent lease agreement for 15
each such resident; and 16
(C) in the case of a covered landlord 17
against whom a court has ruled in 2 or more 18
civil actions under this subsection, obtain addi-19
tional punitive damages in an amount not to ex-20
ceed three times the amount of actual damages 21
suffered by resident. 22
(4) GOOD FAITH EFFORTS CONSIDERED.—In 23
any civil action under this subsection, the court shall 24
consider, for purposes of awarding damages, a cov-25
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ered landlord’s good faith effort or attempt to com-1
ply with the subsection (a). 2
(c) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this sec-3
tion shall prevent a State or local government from impos-4
ing lower limits on rent increases or additional obligations 5
on landlords. 6
(d) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 7
(1) The term ‘‘covered landlord’’ means entity 8
that owns or holds a controlling interest in more 9
than 5 residential properties or more than 2 manu-10
factured housing parks. 11
(2) The term ‘‘rent’’ includes any payment 12
made by a tenant to a landlord, with respect to 13
which the failure to pay may authorize the landlord 14
to initiate eviction proceedings, except that such 15
term does not include any utility which is paid by 16
the landlord on behalf of the tenant. 17
SEC. 3. FUNDING FOR ACCESS TO COUNSEL. 18
(a) GRANT PROGRAM.—The Secretary of Housing 19
and Urban Development is authorized to make grants to 20
State and local governments to establish a right to counsel 21
for tenants in eviction proceedings. 22
(b) APPLICATION.—The chief executive officer of a 23
State or unit of local government seeking a grant under 24
this section shall submit an application to the Secretary 25
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