BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE GOVERNANCE & FINANCE COMMITTEE
Senator Lois Wolk, Chair
BILL NO: AB 253 HEARING: 6/19/13
AUTHOR: Levine FISCAL: Yes
VERSION: 5/2/13 TAX LEVY: No
CONSULTANT: Lui
SUBDIVISION MAP ACT
Extends subdivision requirements to floating home marinas
that apply to the conversion of mobilehome parks.
Background
During World War II, the Marinship shipyard in Sausalito
was built to construct "Liberty Ships" for the U.S. Navy.
After the war, the shipyard was decommissioned, and
military vessels, like landing crafts, were abandoned. In
the 1950s and 1960s, individuals began living in and around
the former shipyard in Richardson's Bay (Marin County).
Many former barges, tugboats, and ferries have been
converted to residences. Today, most of these houseboats
resemble traditional single-family homes.
State law defines a floating home as a stationary structure
that has no mode of power on its own, is dependent on
utilities, and has a permanent continuous hookup to
shoreside sewage. They are subject to the property tax (AB
2409, Filante, 1985). Floating home marinas are generally
privately owned and charge homeowners monthly berthage
fees. Approximately 500 home berths are permitted in six
designated residential marinas -- five in Marin County, and
one in Alameda County.
In response to haphazard and uncoordinated filling of San
Francisco Bay, the Legislature enacted the McAteer-Petris
Act of 1965, which created the San Francisco Bay
Conservation and Development Commission (SB 309, McAteer).
Floating homes in the San Francisco Bay must comply with
the San Francisco Bay Plan, which limits the construction
and modification of floating homes. Floating homes must
also comply with local regulations regarding design,
safety, and location.
AB 253 -- 5/2/13 -- Page 2
Owners of floating homes generally stay in the same place
for decades, affixed to a berth, and have created
communities and associations for governance. Currently,
marina residents can form cooperatives or condominiums to
purchase a marina, and state law provides a process for
marina residents to notify a marina owner of their intent
to purchase the marina (AB 929, Filante, 1990). Last year,
at the request of residents of floating home marinas, the
Legislature deemed transfers of a floating home marina to
an entity formed by tenants purchasing the marina not be a
change of ownership for property tax purposes (AB 2046,
Allen, 2012). Residents of floating home marinas are
asking lawmakers for similar protections as those granted
to mobile home park residents when parks are converted to
resident ownership.
Proposed Law
Assembly Bill 253 extends to floating home marinas several
requirements that apply to the conversion of mobilehome
parks.
I. Public report . Current law requires that anyone who
plans to sell subdivided lands must file with the
Department of Real Estate an application for a public
report, which includes a description of the land,
provisions made for public utilities, any liens, and an
estimate of existing or proposed assessment. The purchase
of a mobilehome park by a nonprofit corporation is exempt
from the requirement to file an application for a public
report if it purchases a mobilehome park, if all of the
following occur:
A majority of the shareholders or members of the
nonprofit corporation constitute a majority of the
homeowners of the mobilehome park, and a majority of
the nonprofit corporations' board directors are
homeowners of the mobilehome park.
All members of the corporation are residents of the
mobilehome park.
A permit to issue securities is obtained from the
Department of Corporations.
All tenants' funds for the purchase of the
mobilehome park are deposited in escrow until the
document transferring title of the mobilehome park to
the nonprofit corporation is recorded.
AB 253 -- 5/2/13 -- Page 3
Assembly Bill 253 exempts a floating home marina from the
requirement for a public report, under the same specified
conditions.
II. Written notice and disclosure . Current law requires a
subdivider of a mobilehome park that is proposed to be
converted to resident ownership, prior to filing a notice
of intention, to disclose to homeowners and park residents,
by written notice, the tentative price of the subdivided
interest proposed to be sold. The disclosure notice must
include a statement that the tentative price is
non-binding, and the provider of the information is not
liable. The notice must not be construed to authorize the
subdivider of a mobilehome park to offer to sell or lease
or accept money for the sale or lease of subdivided
interests in the park, or to engage in other prohibited
activities, with regard to subdividing the park into
ownership interests, before to the issuance of a public
report.
Assembly Bill 253 requires a subdivider of a floating home
marina, before filing a notice of intention, to disclose to
specified information in writing to homeowners and
residents of the marina.
III. Report on the impact of the conversion . Current law
requires a subdivider, when filing a tentative or parcel
map for a subdivision that converts a mobilehome park to
another use, to file a report on the impact of the
conversion on displaced residents of the mobilehome park.
The report must address the availability of adequate
replacement space in mobilehome parks. The subdivider must
make a copy of the report available to each mobilehome park
resident at least 15 days before an advisory agency or
legislative body hears the map. The legislative body that
is authorized to approve, conditionally approve, or
disapprove the map, can require the subdivider to take any
steps to mitigate any adverse impact of the conversion.
Any local agency may enact more stringent measures
regarding local regulation of conversions of mobilehome
parks. A subdivision that is created from the conversion
of rental to resident ownership is not required to file a
report on the impact of the conversion on displaced
residents of the mobilehome park.
AB 253 -- 5/2/13 -- Page 4
Assembly Bill 253 requires a subdivider, at the time of
filing a tentative or parcel map for a subdivision that
converts a floating home marina to another use, to file a
report, as specified, on the impact of the conversion on
displaced residents of the floating home marina, subject to
the same conditions that apply to mobilehome parks.
IV. Conversion of rental to resident ownership . Current
law requires a subdivider, when filing a tentative or
parcel map for a subdivision to be created from the
conversion of a rental mobilehome park to resident
ownership, to avoid the economic displacement of all
nonpurchasing residents in a specified manner.
Assembly Bill 253 extends the same requirements to the
conversion of a rental floating home marina to resident
ownership.
V. Petition . Current law waives the requirement for a
parcel map or a tentative and final map when at least
two-thirds of the mobilehome owners, who are tenants in the
mobilehome park, sign a petition indicating their intent to
purchase the park for conversion to resident ownership, and
a field survey is performed, except if any of the four
specified conditions exist.
Assembly Bill 253 waives the requirement for a parcel map
or a tentative and final map, when at least two-thirds of
the owners of floating homes who are tenants in the
floating home marina sign a petition indicating their
intent to purchase the marina to convert it to resident
ownership, and if other conditions are met. The bill also
specifies the form and content of the floating home marina
petition and disclosure statement.
Current law prohibits a local agency, if a tentative or
parcel map is required, from imposing any offsite design or
improvement requirements unless they are necessary to
mitigate an existing health or safety condition. The
mitigation of a health or safety concern must not reduce
the number or change the location of mobilehome spaces.
Assembly Bill 253 provides that the mitigation must also
not reduce the number or change the location of floating
home marina berths.
AB 253 -- 5/2/13 -- Page 5
State Revenue Impact
No estimate.
Comments
1. Purpose of the bill . The Subdivision Map Act allows
mobile home tenants to purchase their park and distribute
the ownership through a common interest development, like a
condominium, where individual owners use common property
and facilities, and are governed through a homeowners
association. If residents are interested in purchasing the
floating home marina, they have two options: a condominium
or a cooperative. In a common interest development, a
resident would own the floating home's berth, whereas in a
cooperative, a resident buys a share of the marina.
Although existing law authorizes the formation of a
cooperative or condominium, AB 253 facilitates the creation
of a condominium association, in the event that tenants
want to purchase their marina as a group. Further, the
floating home resident group may face difficulty in
securing a loan and insurance, because financing a home
marina is rare and a cooperative is a relatively uncommon
form of ownership. According to the author, the bill
"removes a significant financial barrier and will benefit
marina owners by providing them with a buyer with an
interest in the marina." AB 253 extends to floating home
marinas the same statutory provisions that allow mobilehome
parks to convert to residential ownership.
2. Mandate . The California Constitution requires the
State to reimburse local governments' costs for a new or
higher level of service. Legislative Counsel says that AB
253 creates a new state mandated local program by
increasing the level of service provided by local agencies.
AB 253 declares that no reimbursement is necessary because
a local agency can levy service charges, fees, or
assessments to offset the costs of the bill's requirements.
3. Technical . AB 253 conflicts with AB 1317 (Frazier),
which enacts conforming statutory and name changes to
reflect the Governor's Reorganization Proposal Number 2
(2012). Effective July 1, 2013, the Department of
Corporations will become a division in the new Department
AB 253 -- 5/2/13 -- Page 6
of Business Oversight. The Committee may wish to consider
amending the bill to conform to the name changes set forth
in GRP 2:
On page 4, line 16, after "of" insert "Business
Oversight, Division of"
Assembly Actions
Assembly Local Government: 9-0
Assembly Housing and Community Development:7-0
Assembly Appropriations: 17-0
Assembly Floor: 74-0
Support and Opposition (6/13/13)
Support : Sausalito Floating Homes Association; Supervisor
Kathrin Sears, Marin County.
Opposition : Unknown.