(a) The tax collector may commence an action for recovery of taxes on property on the unsecured roll prior to the date such taxes become delinquent if, in the tax collector’s opinion, it is necessary to do so in order to insure payment of such taxes because of the financial condition of the assessee or for other appropriate reasons. The tax collector shall file a declaration under penalty of perjury, as part of the complaint, setting forth the grounds and necessity for the action prior to the delinquency date. The tax collector shall also be entitled, upon application, to an ex parte writ of attachment of so much of the assessee’s property as is necessary to satisfy the taxes on the basis of the tax collector’s declaration.

(b) An assessee named in an action under subdivision (a) may file with the court a bond sufficient to pay the taxes alleged due in the complaint and petition the court to release the attached property.

(c) If the court determines that the action and writ of attachment prior to the delinquency date are unnecessary, the court shall require the county to pay all costs of suit, including attorney’s fees, incurred by the assessee, and the sureties shall be released from liability on the bond. The court may, in its discretion, require payment of the taxes in question as a condition of releasing the sureties. In that case, however, the assessee shall be entitled to interest from the county at the rate of 7 percent per annum from the date the taxes are paid until the date the taxes would have become delinquent.

(d) In any case where an action by the tax collector under this section is dismissed and the assessee is not required by the court to pay the taxes as a condition of dismissal and subsequent to the delinquency date the taxes remain unpaid, the county shall be entitled to recover, in addition to the taxes and all penalties and costs accruing thereon, all costs ordered by the court to be paid by the county to the assessee in the first action and all costs incurred by the county in any subsequent actions of the county in collecting the taxes.

(e) In all actions and proceedings brought under this section, all courts in which the actions and proceedings are pending shall, upon the request of any party thereto, give the actions and proceedings precedence over all other civil actions and proceedings, except actions and proceedings to which special precedence is otherwise given by law, in the matter of setting them for hearing or trial, and in their hearing or trial, to the end that all the actions and proceedings shall be quickly heard and determined.

(Amended by Stats. 1982, Ch. 517, Sec. 363.)