BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Senator Ricardo Lara, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular Session
AB 999 (Daly) - Mobilehomes: disposal
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|Version: July 15, 2015 |Policy Vote: T. & H. 8 - 0, |
| | JUD. 6 - 0 |
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|Urgency: No |Mandate: Yes |
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|Hearing Date: August 17, 2015 |Consultant: Mark McKenzie |
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This bill does not meet the criteria for referral to the
Suspense File.
Bill
Summary: AB 999 would modify the due process requirements for
mobilehome park owners (park management) seeking to dispose of
abandoned mobilehomes and those obtained by management through
enforcement of a warehouse lien. Under these revised
procedures, park management would not be required to pay
outstanding taxes and any unpaid vehicle license fees before
disposing of the mobilehome.
Fiscal
Impact:
Minor costs to the Department of Housing and Community
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Development (HCD) to process notices of mobilehome disposal
and other specified information, offset by fee revenues.
(Mobilehome Revolving Fund)
Minor annual losses of delinquent mobilehome property tax
revenues, likely in the low tens of thousands annually, by
relieving management from paying back taxes and fees prior to
taking possession of a mobilehome for disposal. Property tax
revenues that would otherwise have accrued to schools must be
backfilled by the General Fund, pursuant to Proposition 98
minimum funding guarantees.
Minor annual fee revenue gains, likely in the low tens of
thousands annually, related to the new fee of up to $45 that
must be paid to HCD with a notice of disposal. (Mobilehome
Revolving Fund)
Non-reimbursable mandate costs related to the creation of a
new crime of perjury. The bill requires specified information
for completing the disposal process to be submitted to HCD
under penalty of perjury.
Background: Existing law, the Mobilehome Residency Law (MRL), governs the
relationship between mobilehome park owners or managers and the
residents of the more than 4,500 mobilehome parks in California.
In most of these parks, residents own their home but lease the
land on which their home is installed. Whenever transfer of
ownership of a mobilehome takes place, the seller must obtain a
tax clearance certificate that indicates all property taxes and
fees are up to date, and file specified information with HCD,
who maintains property ownership records for mobilehomes.
The MRL contains two sets of procedures that authorize the
management of mobilehome parks to remove mobilehomes under
specified circumstances. The first set involves mobilehomes
occupied by residents who have had their tenancies terminated,
such as for the non-payment of rent. Under this set of
procedures, if the mobilehome of the evicted tenant is not
timely removed or otherwise disposed of, the management of the
park can secure a warehouse lien against the mobilehome for
unpaid obligations and sell the mobilehome and its contents to
satisfy the lien. The second set of procedures involves
disposing of "abandoned" mobilehomes. When a resident abandons
their mobilehome, the MRL authorizes park management to petition
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for a judicial declaration of abandonment, which permits
management to sell the home and its contents, and offset its bid
on the home by the amount owed by the former resident.
Proposed Law:
AB 999 would specify procedures for management of a mobilehome
park to dispose of an abandoned mobilehome or a mobilehome
acquired after the enforcement of a warehouse lien, and would
relieve management from the obligation to pay past or current
taxes or vehicle license fees prior to disposal. "Dispose" or
"disposal" is defined as the removal and destruction of an
abandoned mobilehome from a mobilehome park, thus making it
unusable for any purpose and ineligible for use in the future as
a mobilehome.
For a mobilehome acquired by park management after enforcing a
warehouse lien, this bill would require park management to do
the following:
Notify the county tax collector of the intent to apply to have
the mobilehome designated for disposal after a warehouse lien
sale, as specified.
File a notice of disposal with HCD within 10 days of the lien
sale date, and obtain specified information required by
applicable laws.
Submit the following information required for completing the
disposal process to HCD under penalty of perjury within 30
days of the disposal date: (1) photographs demonstrating that
the mobilehome was uninhabitable, as specified; (2) a
statement of facts of the condition of the home when moved,
the date it was moved, and the anticipated site of dismantling
or disposal; and (3) the name, address, and license number of
the person or entity removing the mobilehome from the park.
This bill would specify that an abandoned mobilehome is one that
is not permanently affixed to the land, in addition to existing
requirements. In order to dispose of an abandoned mobilehome,
park management must do the following:
Declare in a petition for judicial determination of
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abandonment that management will dispose of the mobilehome and
not seek a tax clearance certificate, as specified.
Declare in the petition whether the management intends to sell
the contents of the abandoned mobilehome prior to disposal.
Send a copy of the petition to the county tax collector as
notification of the intent to apply to have the mobilehome
designated for disposal.
Declare in the petition that management intends to file a
notice of disposal with HCD and complete the disposal process,
as specified.
Complete an inventory of the contents of the abandoned
mobilehome within 10 days of a judgment of abandonment, and
submit the inventory to the court.
Post and mail a notice of intent to dispose of the mobilehome
and its contents, as specified, and send a notice to the
county tax collector.
File a notice of disposal with HCD and notify the county tax
collector of the intent to apply to have the mobilehome
designated for disposal.
If a person with a right to possess the abandoned mobilehome
recovers and removes it from the park upon payment of all rent
and charges prior to the disposal of the mobilehome,
management must file acknowledgment of satisfaction of
judgment and cancel the notice of disposal with HCD.
Following the judgment of abandonment, and no sooner than 10
days after submitting the notice of disposal with HCD,
management may dispose of the home.
Submit the specified information required for completing the
disposal process to HCD under penalty of perjury within 30
days of the disposal date.
Submit the following to the court and county tax collector
within 30 days of the disposal date: a statement that the
abandoned mobilehome and its contents were disposed, with
supporting documentation; and an accounting of the moneys
received from the sale and the disposition of the money and
items contained in the inventory submitted to the court.
Finally, this bill would require HCD to charge a fee of up to
$45 for processing the notice of disposal and any information
required for completing the disposal, as specified.
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Staff
Comments: This bill relieves park management of the obligation
to pay outstanding taxes and vehicle license fees when disposing
of a mobilehome due to the premise that the home is no longer
habitable and has little to no resale value. HCD indicates that
approximately $20,000 to $30,000 in delinquent property taxes
are collected each year when applications for salvaging
abandoned mobilehomes are filed. This bill would relieve the
obligation of park management to pay all back taxes on an
abandoned mobilehome prior to disposal, but the obligation to
pay those taxes would remain as a collectible obligation of the
delinquent taxpayer, which could be enforced by the county tax
collector by garnishing wages or income tax refunds.
HCD indicates that any costs to process disposal notices and
related information would be minor, and notes the bill would
likely result in improved record-keeping for mobilehome
ownership and titling documentation. AB 999 requires HCD to
charge a fee of up to $45 fee for processing a notice of
disposal and any information regarding the disposal process. In
2014, 932 applications for mobilehome salvage were filed. If
the maximum fee were collected for each of these disposal
applications, the bill would generate approximately $42,000 in
new fee revenues for deposit into the Mobilehome Revolving Fund.
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