18 out of 25

Eighteen out of twenty-five is a good record. Pitchers, hitters, and quarterbacks are smokin’ when they have a record like that. California got a smokin’ 18 out of 25 billion dollars when Attorney General Kamala D. Harris stepped up to the plate and hit a home run at the National Mortgage Settlement negotiations.

The settlement is a $25 billion fine paid to the states by banks for their rampant robo-signing and massive mortgage misconduct.

Attorney General Harris and California walked out of the multistate negotiations last September when the estimated relief to California was $4 billion. Harris held out for more. She also demanded the right to enforcement if the banks don’t live up to the agreement, and the right for California and other states to continue investigations into the banks’ misconduct for possible prosecution.

“California families will finally see substantial relief after experiencing so much pain from the mortgage crisis. Hundreds of thousands of homeowners will directly benefit from this California commitment,” she said. “This outcome is the result of an insistence that California receive a fair deal commensurate with the harm done here. We insisted on homeowner relief for Californians and demanded enforceability so homeowners actually see a benefit that will allow them to stay in their homes, and preserved our ability to investigate banker crime and predatory lending.”

As part of the separate California guarantee, banks must spend a minimum of $12 billion on principal reductions and short sales for an estimated 250,000 homeowners within the first year of the agreement. Failure to achieve this will result in cash payments of up to $800 million to the state. Unlike the larger multistate agreement, which is enforceable in a federal court in Washington, D.C., this payment provision empowers the Attorney General to summon the banks to California state court.

The Attorney General said other financial benefits for California include $849 million for refinancing 28,000 borrowers who are underwater but current on their payments; $279 million restitution for 140,000 homeowners who were foreclosed upon between 2008 and 2011; $1.1 billion for unemployed homeowners, transitional assistance, and repairing blight; $3.5 billion to extinguish unpaid loans that remain after foreclosure for 32,000 homeowners; and $430 million to the state attorney general’s office for costs and fees. To speed investigations and strengthen prosecutions of these mortgage cases, California will expand its. Mortgage Fraud Strike Force, and will look to collaborate with other states focused on law enforcement response to the wave of mortgage fraud.

Harris says she will propose a comprehensive legislative agenda to protect homeowners in the mortgage market, and build on the three-year reforms agreed to as part of the California settlement. “This is an historic amount of relief for California homeowners,” said Harris, “but it is one piece of a broader focus. We will continue our crackdown on mortgage fraud and quickly move to pass legislation that will simplify and upgrade our broken mortgage system.”

Californians are cheering on their big hitter, Attorney General Kamala D. Harris. “The banks threw a bunch of curveballs and sliders, but Harris has a good eye.” said one Californian. “She waited ‘em out, and when they tried to sneak a fastball past her, she knocked it out of the park.”

18 out of 25 so far; keep swingin’, Harris.