BILL ANALYSIS Ó ----------------------------------------------------------------- |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 253| |Office of Senate Floor Analyses | | |1020 N Street, Suite 524 | | |(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | | |327-4478 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- THIRD READING Bill No: AB 253 Author: Levine (D) Amended: 9/4/13 in Senate Vote: 21 SENATE GOVERNANCE & FINANCE COMMITTEE : 6-0, 6/19/13 AYES: Wolk, Knight, DeSaulnier, Emmerson, Hernandez, Liu NO VOTE RECORDED: Beall SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : Senate Rule 28.8 SENATE FLOOR : 39-0, 8/26/13 AYES: Anderson, Beall, Berryhill, Block, Calderon, Cannella, Corbett, Correa, De León, DeSaulnier, Emmerson, Evans, Fuller, Gaines, Galgiani, Hancock, Hernandez, Hill, Hueso, Huff, Jackson, Knight, Lara, Leno, Lieu, Liu, Monning, Nielsen, Padilla, Pavley, Roth, Steinberg, Torres, Vidak, Walters, Wolk, Wright, Wyland, Yee NO VOTE RECORDED: Vacancy ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 74-0, 5/23/13 (Consent) - See last page for vote SUBJECT : Floating home marinas: conversion: subdivision map requirement SOURCE : Sausalito Floating Homes Association DIGEST : This bill extends subdivision requirements to floating home marinas that apply to the conversion of mobilehome CONTINUED AB 253 Page 2 parks. Senate Floor Amendments of 9/4/13 place proposed provisions of law into a new section in the Business and Professions Code to address potential chaptering out issues, and make technical and conforming changes. ANALYSIS : Existing 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. Floating home marinas are generally privately owned and charge homeowners monthly berthage fees. The Legislature enacted the McAteer-Petris Act of 1965, which created the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission. 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. 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 existing law provides a process for marina residents to notify a marina owner of their intent to purchase the marina. 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, Chapter 817, Statutes of 2012). This bill extends to floating home marinas several requirements that apply to the conversion of mobilehome parks. Public report . Existing 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 CONTINUED AB 253 Page 3 following occur: 1.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. 2.All members of the corporation are residents of the mobilehome park. 3.A permit to issue securities is obtained from the Department of Corporations. 4.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. This bill exempts a floating home marina from the requirement for a public report, under the same specified conditions. Written notice and disclosure . Existing 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. This bill 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. Report on the impact of the conversion . Existing 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 CONTINUED AB 253 Page 4 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. This bill 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. Conversion of rental to resident ownership . Existing 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. This bill extends the same requirements to the conversion of a rental floating home marina to resident ownership. Petition . Existing 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. This bill 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. CONTINUED AB 253 Page 5 Existing 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. This bill provides that the mitigation must also not reduce the number or change the location of floating home marina berths. Comments 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. FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes Local: Yes SUPPORT : (Verified 9/5/13) Sausalito Floating Homes Association (source) County of Marin, Supervisor Kathrin Sears ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : According to the author's office, most floating home marinas in California are located in Marin County, with the exception of a small marina in Alameda County. Four marinas consisting of nearly 500 floating homes can be found in Richardson Bay in the City of Sausalito. Functionally, the ownership structure of a mobilehome is comparable to that of a floating home. While residents own the floating home, the marinas are generally privately owned and CONTINUED AB 253 Page 6 charge the homeowners monthly berthage fees. Should a marina owner want to sell the marina, AB 253 allows a homeowner group to purchase it. This bill will remove a significant financial barrier for the floating home tenants should the situation arise in the future. This legislation will also benefit marina owners who want to sell their marina by providing them with a potential buyer that has a vested interest in the marina. AB 253 simply allows owners of floating homes to come together to protect their residences. ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 74-0, 5/23/13 AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Allen, Ammiano, Atkins, Bigelow, Bloom, Blumenfield, Bocanegra, Bonilla, Bonta, Bradford, Brown, Buchanan, Ian Calderon, Campos, Chau, Chávez, Chesbro, Conway, Cooley, Dahle, Daly, Dickinson, Donnelly, Eggman, Fong, Fox, Frazier, Beth Gaines, Garcia, Gatto, Gomez, Gordon, Gorell, Gray, Hagman, Hall, Harkey, Roger Hernández, Jones-Sawyer, Levine, Linder, Logue, Lowenthal, Maienschein, Mansoor, Medina, Melendez, Mitchell, Morrell, Mullin, Muratsuchi, Nazarian, Nestande, Olsen, Pan, Patterson, Perea, V. Manuel Pérez, Quirk, Quirk-Silva, Rendon, Salas, Skinner, Stone, Ting, Wagner, Weber, Wieckowski, Wilk, Williams, Yamada, John A. Pérez NO VOTE RECORDED: Grove, Holden, Jones, Waldron, Vacancy, Vacancy AB:ej 9/5/13 Senate Floor Analyses SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE **** END **** CONTINUED