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