BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó






           SENATE TRANSPORTATION & HOUSING COMMITTEE       BILL NO: ab 585
          SENATOR MARK DESAULNIER, CHAIRMAN              AUTHOR:  fong
                                                         VERSION: 4/25/11
          Analysis by:  Carrie Cornwell                  FISCAL:  yes
          Hearing date:  June 14, 2011




          SUBJECT:

          Property taxation: mobilehomes

          DESCRIPTION:

          This bill requires that by March 1, 2012, the Department of 
          Housing and Community Development (HCD) provide each county 
          assessor a complete list of all mobilehomes within the county in 
          a specified format. 

          ANALYSIS:

          Existing law makes each new mobilehome sold on or after July 1, 
          1980 subject to property tax.  The owner of a mobilehome sold 
          new prior to July 1, 1980 may elect to be subject to property 
          tax.  This election, once made, is permanent.  Mobilehomes that 
          are not subject to the property tax pay instead a vehicle 
          license fee (VLF), which is an in lieu of a personal property 
          tax imposed at a rate based on the taxable value of the 
          mobilehome.  The taxable value of the mobilehome is established 
          by the purchase price of the vehicle, depreciated annually 
          according to a statutory schedule.  Historically, the VLF rate 
          was two percent of value but currently is one percent.  


          At the time of an original registration of a mobilehome, HCD 
          establishes a permanent title record and issues a certificate of 
          title to the legal owner and a registration card for the 
          registered owner.

          Those mobilehomes subject to property tax pay registration fees 
          to HCD at the time of original registration and upon any 
          subsequent sale, resale, or transfer of title, and those not 
          subject to property tax pay annual registration fees and VLF to 
          HCD.  





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          Existing law requires HCD to furnish to the county assessor of 
          the county in which a mobilehome is sited, on or before the last 
          day of each calendar month, a listing of all new registrations 
          and titles to manufactured homes sited, or to be sited, in that 
          county.  


          Existing law also requires HCD, the Franchise Tax Board, the 
          Department of Motor Vehicles, and any county assessor to 
          exchange or otherwise provide to one another any information 
          relevant to the regulations, titling, and taxation of 
          mobilehomes.


           This bill  requires HCD, by March 1, 2012, to provide each county 
          assessor in the state a complete list of all mobilehomes sited 
          within that county, including those that pay VLF rather than 
          property tax.  Further, the bill requires that HCD provide this 
          information in "standard text or comma delimited format that can 
          be imported into internal applications."
          
          COMMENTS:

           1.Purpose  .  According to the proponents, mobilehomes exist that 
            should be on local tax rolls, but HCD has not reported to the 
            county or has reported them to the wrong county.  Such mishaps 
            in reporting can cause some assessments to be unreported, 
            which can result in undue financial hardship to taxpayers as 
            they may have to pay several years of back taxes.  

            The author notes specifically that when HCD fails to report a 
            change of ownership to a local assessor, the mobilehome owner 
            is responsible for paying up to four years of back taxes.  If 
            a homeowner neglects to update change of ownership information 
            with HCD, then the homeowner is responsible for up to eight 
            years of back taxes, even though the homeowner could have 
            missed paying for more years than that.  In this situation, 
            the sponsor notes that local revenue due to the schools and 
            other local entities is lost. 

            To remedy these types of errors, the sponsor argues that 
            assessors need a full listing of mobilehomes that should be on 
            the county tax roll and that HCD is the only entity that has 
            the information.  This bill requires HCD to provide this 
            information once by March of next year in a specified format 




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            that the assessors can easily import and work with in their 
            systems.

           2.Necessary  ?  This bill arose when the author on behalf of the 
            Santa Clara County Assessor asked HCD to provide a complete 
            list of mobilehomes in Santa Clara County to that county's 
            assessor.  HCD did so for Santa Clara and for the other 57 
            counties but provided the information in a PDF format, which 
            the assessors found difficult and intensely time consuming to 
            import and work with in their computer software systems.  Last 
            year the author then asked HCD to provide the information in a 
            different format, and HCD declined to do so.  In response, the 
            author introduced this bill to require HCD to provide the 
            information in a specified format.  In the meantime, HCD has 
            provided the information in a comma delimited format (i.e., 
            Excel) for Santa Clara County and reports that it will do so 
            for all 58 counties.  It is unclear, therefore, why this bill 
            is needed as HCD will already have met its requirement long 
            before the bill becomes law.

           3.Double referral  .  The Rules Committee referred this bill to 
            both the Transportation and Housing Committee and to the 
            Governance and Finance Committee.  Therefore, should this bill 
            pass this committee, it will be referred to the Senate 
            Governance and Finance Committee.
          
          Assembly Votes:
               Floor:    78-0
               Appr: 16-0
               R&T:    9-0
               HCD:    7-0

          POSITIONS:  (Communicated to the Committee before noon on 
          Wednesday, June 8, 2011)

               SUPPORT:  California Assessors' Association (sponsor)
                         California Association of County Treasurers and 
          Tax Collectors
                         Santa Clara County Assessor
                         Western Manufactured Housing Communities
          
               OPPOSED:  None received.








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