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AB 192

Relating to: fatality review teams and granting rule-making authority. (FE)

2025-2026 Regular Session Introduced by Calvin Callahan and 4 co-sponsors

Enacts UERA and UMMA: allows court relocation of certain easements with protections for holders, and safe-harbor mortgage mods that preserve lien priority.

Report correctly enrolled on 3-26-2026
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Bill Summary · AB 192

AB 192 — Summary (Chapter 112, 2025)

Status: Approved by the Governor (Chapter 112) — May 29, 2025.
Introduced: January 8, 2025. Sponsor: Assemblymember Backus.

Purpose

AB 192 enacts two model uniform laws adopted by the Uniform Law Commission:
- the Uniform Easement Relocation Act (UERA) (sections 2–32), and
- the Uniform Mortgage Modification Act (UMMA) (sections 34–50).

The goals are to (1) provide a clear judicial procedure for relocating certain easements without unduly harming easement holders or benefitted property, and (2) create “safe-harbor” rules for common mortgage modifications that preserve mortgage priority and reduce legal uncertainty.

Key provisions — Uniform Easement Relocation Act (UERA)

  • Authorizes the owner of a servient estate (burdened parcel) to petition a court to relocate an easement so long as the relocation does not materially lessen the easement’s utility or impair the physical condition, use, or value of the dominant estate.
  • Defines terms (e.g., easement, appurtenant easement, easement in gross, conservation easement, public-utility easement, public entity, public-entity easement, public road).
  • Exclusions: UERA may not be used to relocate public-utility easements, public-entity easements, conservation easements, negative easements (restrictive covenants), easements tied to public roads, or easements created by a common‑interest community declaration.
  • Procedure: servient owner must commence a civil action, serve easement holder and interested parties (recorded security-interest holders, lessees, other affected owners), and include specified information in the complaint (current/proposed locations, proposed improvements, timeline, legal basis).
  • Court order requirements: detailed description of former and new easement locations, required mitigation, plans/specifications for improvements, expense and good‑faith provisions.
  • Recording and effect: certified court order (and required map amendments, certificates) must be recorded; relocation becomes effective upon recording; servient owner must record an affidavit when relocation is substantially complete and notify parties.
  • Costs/liability: servient owner must pay reasonable relocation expenses, expanded to include demolition, environmental remediation, liabilities or damages to easement holders, and cleanup/restoration required by public entities.
  • Applicability: UERA applies to easements created before, on, or after October 1, 2025 (as provided in bill materials).

Key provisions — Uniform Mortgage Modification Act (UMMA)

  • Establishes safe-harbor categories of mortgage modifications that do not impair a mortgage’s priority or constitute a novation, including (among others):
    • extension of maturity dates;
    • decreases in interest rates;
    • certain non-increasing changes to interest-calculation methods;
    • capitalization of unpaid interest or charges;
    • forgiveness, forbearance, or reductions of secured debt;
    • changes to escrow, insurance, advance conditions, or financial covenants;
    • adjustments to payment amounts/schedules resulting from other covered modifications.
  • For covered modifications: the mortgage continues to secure the modified obligation; priority is unaffected — even if the modification is not recorded.
  • Preserves existing law outside the Act’s scope (content/formation of mortgages, statutes of limitation, recording laws, priority of certain liens, statute of frauds, and future-advance rules except where explicitly modified).
  • Exclusions: certain modifications (e.g., releases of property or obligors) remain governed by existing law and are not covered by UMMA.
  • Applicability: UMMA applies to mortgage modifications made on or after October 1, 2025, regardless of when the mortgage or obligation was created.

Who is affected

  • UERA: servient and dominant estate owners, easement holders, lenders with recorded security interests, lessees, municipal/public entities and utilities (protected by exclusion), developers, and owners in common‑interest communities (exclusions apply).
  • UMMA: mortgagees, mortgagors/borrowers, junior lienholders, mortgage servicers and trustees, and real‑estate lenders.

Significant procedural/timeline aspects

  • AB 192 progressed through Judiciary committees with amendments (including proposed and committee edits to add/clarify definitions, exclusions, recording procedures, and expense liability).
  • Enacted as Chapter 112 upon Governor’s signature May 29, 2025.
  • Effective/operative provisions in the bill materials reference October 1, 2025 as the applicability date for UERA/UMMA (UERA applied to easements created before/on/after, UMMA applied to modifications on or after that date). Parties should consult the enrolled/enacted text for precise effective-date language.

Practical impact

  • UERA creates a statutory, court‑managed path to relocate many easements while protecting easement holders and public interests; it centralizes process, notice, cost allocation, and recording steps.
  • UMMA reduces legal uncertainty for routine mortgage workouts by enumerating modifications that preserve lien priority and avoid novation, potentially lowering costs and facilitating loan modifications as alternatives to foreclosure.

Compiled from official sources — confirm details with the bill’s official record.

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