BILL NUMBER: AB 317 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 25, 2011
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Charles Calderon
FEBRUARY 9, 2011
An act to amend Section 739.5 of the Public Utilities
Code, relating to energy. An act to amend Section
798.21 of the Civil Code, relating to mobilehomes.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 317, as amended, Charles Calderon. Energy:
master-meter customers. Mobilehomes.
Existing law, the Mobilehome Residency Law, governs tenancies in
mobilehome parks, and imposes various duties on the owners of
mobilehome parks and the agents and representatives authorized to act
on behalf of the owners. Existing law exempts a rental agreement
from any local ordinance, rule, regulation, or initiative that
establishes a maximum amount that a landlord may charge a tenant for
rent if a mobilehome space within a mobilehome park is not the
principal residence, as defined, of the mobilehome owner. Existing
law further makes those exemptions inapplicable under certain
circumstances.
This bill would revise the conditions under which a tenancy is
exempt from a local rent control ordinance, rule, regulation, or
initiative, to, among other things, make the exemptions applicable
when the mobilehome space is not the sole residence of the mobilehome
owner. The bill would specify the evidence upon which management of
a mobilehome park may rely to determine whether a residence is the
mobilehome owner's sole residence, including, among others factors,
evidence that a mobilehome owner rents, leases, occupies, or has a
present ownership interest in another place of residence.
Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission has regulatory
authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations
and gas corporations, as defined. Existing law requires, when gas or
electric service is provided by a master-meter customer to users who
are tenants of a mobilehome park, apartment building, or similar
residential complex, that the master-meter customer charge each user
at the same rate that would be applicable if the user were receiving
gas or electricity directly from the gas or electrical corporation.
Existing law requires every master-meter customer receiving any
rebate from a gas or electrical corporation to distribute to, or
credit to the account of, each current user served by the
master-meter customer that portion of the rebate that the amount of
gas or electricity, or both, consumed by the user during the last
billing period bears to the total amount furnished by the corporation
to the master-meter customer during that period.
This bill would provide that rebates do not include ratepayer
funded incentives received by the master-meter customer as a result
of investments in energy generation or efficiency, including the
self-generation incentive program, the California Solar Initiative,
and the Solar Water Heating and Efficiency Act of 2007.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no.
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 798.21 of the Civil
Code is amended to read:
798.21. (a) Notwithstanding Section 798.17, if a mobilehome space
within a mobilehome park is not the principal
sole residence of the homeowner and the homeowner
has not rented owner of the mobilehome
to another party , it shall be exempt from any ordinance,
rule, regulation, or initiative measure adopted by any city, county,
or city and county, which that
establishes a maximum amount that the landlord may charge a tenant
for rent.
(b) Nothing in this section is intended to require any
homeowner to disclose information concerning his or her personal
finances. Nothing in this section shall be construed to
authorize management to gain access to any records which would
otherwise be confidential or privileged.
(c) For purposes of this section, a mobilehome shall be deemed to
be the principal residence of the homeowner, unless a review of state
or county records demonstrates that the homeowner is receiving a
homeowner's exemption for another property or mobilehome in this
state, or unless a review of public records reasonably demonstrates
that the principal residence of the homeowner is out of state.
(d)
(c) Before modifying the rent or other terms of tenancy
as a result of a review of records, as described in
subdivision (c) evidence that a mobilehome is not the
sole residence of the mobilehome owner , the management shall
notify the homeowner mobilehome owner ,
in writing, of the proposed changes and provide the
homeowner with a copy of the documents upon which
management relied.
(d) Evidence that a mobilehome is not the sole residence of the
mobilehome owner may include, but is not limited to, the following:
(1) The mobilehome owner rents, leases, occupies, or has a present
ownership interest in another place of residence.
(2) Another place of residence appears as a matter of public
record or in other evidence obtained by management.
(3) Monthly statements are mailed to, or payments are made from, a
different place of residence.
(4) The mobilehome owner is regularly absent from the mobilehome
space for extended periods of a week or more at a time.
(5) The mobilehome is used primarily for vacationing, storage, or
business.
(6) The mobilehome has been subleased or possession of the
mobilehome has been transferred without management's approval, as
provided in Sections 798.74 and 798.75.
(e) The homeowner mobilehome owner
shall have 90 days from the date the notice described in subdivision
(d) is mailed to review and respond to the notice. Management may not
modify the rent or other terms of tenancy prior to the expiration of
the 90-day period or prior to responding, in writing, to information
provided by the homeowner. Management may not modify the rent or
other terms of tenancy if the homeowner
mobilehome owner provides documentation reasonably establishing
that the information provided by management is incorrect or that the
homeowner mobilehome owner is not the
same person identified in the documents. However, nothing in
this subdivision shall be construed to authorize the homeowner to
change the homeowner's exemption status of the other property or
mobilehome owned by the homeowner.
(f) This section does not apply under any of the following
conditions:
(1) The homeowner is unable to rent or lease the mobilehome
because the owner or management of the mobilehome park in which the
mobilehome is located does not permit, or the rental agreement limits
or prohibits, the assignment of the mobilehome or the subletting of
the park space.
(2) The mobilehome is being actively held available for sale by
the homeowner, or pursuant to a listing agreement with a real estate
broker licensed pursuant to Chapter 3 (commencing with Section 10130)
of Part 1 of Division 4 of the Business and Professions Code, or a
mobilehome dealer, as defined in Section 18002.6 of the Health and
Safety Code. A homeowner, real estate broker, or mobilehome dealer
attempting to sell a mobilehome shall actively market and advertise
the mobilehome for sale in good faith to bona fide purchasers for
value in order to remain exempt pursuant to this subdivision.
(3) The legal owner has taken possession or ownership, or both, of
the mobilehome from a registered owner through either a surrender of
ownership interest by the registered owner or a foreclosure
proceeding.
(f) This section shall not apply under any of the following
circumstances:
(1) The mobilehome is the sole residence of the mobilehome owner.
(2) The space is subleased by the owner for a medical hardship
pursuant to Section 798.23.5.
(3) Ownership of the mobilehome is transferred to an heir, joint
tenant, or personal representative pursuant to Section 798.78.
(4) Management elects to apply an exemption or right set forth in
the ordinance, rule, regulation, or initiative measure that
establishes a maximum amount that a landlord may charge a tenant for
rent.
(g) If management authorizes the subleasing of mobilehomes in the
park, management shall allow the mobilehome owner to sublease the
mobilehome, or restrict the amount of rent that the mobilehome owner
may charge. For the term of the sublease, the space shall be exempt
from any ordinance, rule, regulation, or initiative measure adopted
by a city, county, or city and county, that establishes a maximum
amount of rent that a landlord may charge a tenant. Upon reoccupation
of the space by the mobilehome owner after the term of the sublease
has expired, the last rental rate charged to the mobilehome owner
shall be the base rental rate for purposes of the ordinance, rule,
regulation, or initiative measure.
SECTION 1. Section 739.5 of the Public
Utilities Code is amended to read:
739.5. (a) The commission shall require that, whenever gas or
electric service, or both, is provided by a master-meter customer to
users who are tenants of a mobilehome park, apartment building, or
similar residential complex, the master-meter customer shall charge
each user of the service at the same rate that would be applicable if
the user were receiving gas or electricity, or both, directly from
the gas or electrical corporation. The commission shall require the
corporation furnishing service to the master-meter customer to
establish uniform rates for master-meter service at a level that will
provide a sufficient differential to cover the reasonable average
costs to master-meter customers of providing submeter service, except
that these costs shall not exceed the average cost that the
corporation would have incurred in providing comparable services
directly to the users of the service.
(b) Every master-meter customer of a gas or electrical corporation
subject to subdivision (a) who, on or after January 1, 1978,
receives any rebate from the corporation shall distribute to, or
credit to the account of, each current user served by the
master-meter customer that portion of the rebate that the amount of
gas or electricity, or both, consumed by the user during the last
billing period bears to the total amount furnished by the corporation
to the master-meter customer during that period. For purposes of
this subdivision, "rebates" do not include ratepayer funded
incentives received by the master-meter customer as a result of
investments in energy generation or efficiency, including incentives
received pursuant to the self-generation incentive program
administered pursuant to Section 379.6, the California Solar
Initiative as defined in Section 2852, and the Solar Water Heating
and Efficiency Act of 2007 (Article 2 (commencing with Section 2860)
of Part 2).
(c) An electrical or gas corporation furnishing service to a
master-meter customer shall furnish to each user of the service
within a submetered system every public safety customer service which
it provides beyond the meter to its other residential customers. The
corporation shall furnish a list of those services to the
master-meter customer who shall post the list in a conspicuous place
accessible to all users. Every corporation shall provide these public
safety customer services to each user of electrical or gas service
under a submetered system without additional charge unless the
corporation has included the average cost of these services in the
rate differential provided to the master-meter customer on January 1,
1984, in which case the commission shall deduct the average cost of
providing these public safety customer services when approving rate
differentials for master-meter customers.
(d) Every master-meter customer is responsible for maintenance and
repair of its submeter facilities beyond the master-meter, and
nothing in this section requires an electrical or gas corporation to
make repairs to or perform maintenance on the submeter system.
(e) Every master-meter customer shall provide an itemized billing
of charges for electricity or gas, or both, to each individual user
generally in accordance with the form and content of bills of the
corporation to its residential customers, including, but not limited
to, the opening and closing readings for the meter, and the
identification of all rates and quantities attributable to each block
in the applicable rate structure. The master-meter customer shall
also post, in a conspicuous place, the applicable prevailing
residential gas or electrical rate schedule, as published by the
corporation.
(f) The commission shall require that every electrical and gas
corporation shall notify each master-meter customer of its
responsibilities to its users under this section.
(g) The commission shall accept and respond to complaints
concerning the requirements of this section through the consumer
affairs branch, in addition to any other staff that the commission
deems necessary to assist the complainant. In responding to the
complaint, the commission shall consider the role that the office of
the county sealer in the complainant's county of residence may have
in helping to resolve the complaint and, where appropriate,
coordinate with that office.
(h) Notwithstanding any other provision of law or decision of the
commission, the commission shall not deny eligibility for the
California Alternative Rates for Energy (CARE) program, created
pursuant to Section 739.1, for a residential user of gas or electric
service who is a submetered resident or tenant served by a
master-meter customer on the basis that some residential units in the
master-meter customer's mobilehome park, apartment building, or
similar residential complex do not receive gas or electric service
through a submetered system.