BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION AND HOUSING
Senator Jim Beall, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular
Bill No: SB 1106 Hearing Date: 4/12/2016
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|Author: |Leyva |
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|Version: |2/17/2016 |
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|Urgency: |No |Fiscal: |Yes |
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|Consultant|Sarah Carvill |
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SUBJECT: Mobilehome parks
DIGEST: This bill authorizes the Department of Housing and
Community Development (HCD) to issue citations to mobilehome
park owners and residents who do not correct health and safety
violations.
ANALYSIS:
Existing law:
Directs the Department of Housing and Community Development
(HCD) to regulate mobilehome parks to protect the health,
safety, and general welfare of all mobilehome park residents.
HCD has adopted statewide regulations to this end, covering
both park owners and park residents. Local agencies have the
option of assuming enforcement authority within their
jurisdictions through agreement with HCD. One of the duties
of enforcement agencies is performing health and safety
inspections of mobilehome parks.
Further stipulates that when a mobilehome park owner or
resident is found to be out of compliance with
mobilehome-related Health and Safety Code provisions or HCD
regulations, the enforcement agency must issue a notice of
violation to the park owner or resident. If a violation by a
resident has not been corrected after 60 days, the enforcement
agency must notify the park owner. If a violation by a park
owner has not been corrected after 60 days, the owner must
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post the notice of violation conspicuously in the park. If
the enforcement agency determines that a violation constitutes
an imminent threat to health and safety, the violation must be
corrected within a reasonable time as determined by the
enforcement agency.
Allows an enforcement agency to revoke or suspend a mobilehome
park's operating permit if the holder violates either the
conditions of the permit or existing law related to mobilehome
parks.
Existing law establishes that willful violation of the portions
of the Health and Safety Code or HCD regulations related to
mobilehome parks is a misdemeanor, punishable by a $400 fine or
30 days in prison. Any person who willfully violates these
provisions and regulations is also liable for a civil penalty of
$500 for each day of violation.
This bill:
1)Gives HCD and local enforcement agencies the authority to
issue citations to mobilehome park owners or residents who
fail to correct violations for at least 30 days after the
expiration of a notice of violation.
2)Sets the amount of the penalty associated with the citation
to:
a) $100 per violation in cases where the violation presents
an unreasonable risk to life, health, or safety;
b) $250 for each subsequent violation of the same provision
within one year of the first violation;
c) $200 per violation when the violation represents an
imminent hazard requiring immediate correction due to the
risk to life, health, and safety; and
d) $500 for each subsequent violation of the same provision
representing an immediate hazard and within one year of the
first violation.
1)Requires that payment be made to the enforcement agency within
45 days, regardless of whether the violation is corrected.
2)Gives a park owner or resident who receives a citation 30 days
to petition the enforcement agency to dismiss or modify the
citation, and requires the enforcement agency to hold an
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informal hearing when it receives petitions showing good
cause.
3)Allows park owners and residents who have challenged a
citation in an informal hearing before a local enforcement
agency and received a final order to petition the outcome to
HCD.
COMMENTS:
1)Purpose. HCD currently has the authority to issue notices of
violation to mobilehome park owners and residents who are out
of compliance with health and safety code. According to the
author, however, many park owners and residents do not make
the necessary repairs, despite repeated notices and follow-up
inspections, resulting in unsafe conditions and parks that are
community blights. Under current law, noncompliance with an
order to repair a serious health and safety defect can only be
enforced by expensive civil or criminal court proceedings by
local or state public prosecutors, which the author contends
"makes enforcement of serious violations virtually impossible,
given other prosecutorial priorities." The purpose of this
bill is to provide HCD with the authority to issue citations
for health and safety violations.
2)Background regulation of mobilehomes and mobilehome parks.
Mobilehomes are unique among housing forms in that they can
move between jurisdictions. Historically, some local
governments have tried to discourage mobilehome parks within
their jurisdictions through burdensome regulations. These are
some of the reasons that, under the state Mobilehome Parks
Act, authority to regulate California's approximately 4,500
mobilehome parks and 400,000 mobilehome lots resides at the
state level with HCD. However, local agencies are allowed to
assume the authority to enforce statewide rules from HCD.
Currently, 63 cities and counties in California are acting as
local enforcement agencies under the act. The agency
conducting inspections and issuing notices to mobilehome park
owners and residents may therefore be either HCD or a local
government agency, depending on the jurisdiction.
3)Common violations. Violations of health and safety
requirements can be issued to both park operators and
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individual mobilehome residents, and range from relatively
benign maintenance failures to serious hazards. It is
important to note, however, that some of the most common
violations fall into the latter category. For example, at the
park level, "exposed live electrical parts" was the most
frequently cited violation in 2014 and the third most
frequently cited violation in 2015. Among residents, the most
common violations in both years were "accumulation of rubbish
[and] combustible material" and "extension cord used in lieu
of permanent wiring."
4)Inadequacy of current remedies. Under existing law, an
enforcement agency has several tools for addressing violations
at mobilehome parks. However, some of these tools are
difficult to use, and the consequences associated with other
measures tend to be either immaterial or severe. Because
notices of violation carry no penalty, a recipient has no
incentive to address the violation. Suspending a park's
operating permit prevents park owners from collecting rent.
While this provides a strong incentive to correct violations,
it also deprives park owners from the income that would in
many cases be necessary to do so. Additionally, suspending a
permit takes at least six months. Revoking park operating
permits outright is an even longer process, and would displace
residents who often have low incomes and may have difficulty
finding other housing. Finally, the author notes that health
and safety violations at mobilehome parks are a low priority
for the court system, so district attorneys rarely bring
misdemeanor charges or pursue civil penalties against
violators. Supporters of this bill argue that in the absence
of appropriate tools for addressing violations, unsafe
conditions may persist at mobilehome parks for months or even
years. Enforcement data from HCD's Mobilehome Park
Maintenance and Inspection Task Force support this claim. Of
the nearly 15,000 violations noticed to park owners and
residents in 2015, half had been corrected as of January 2016.
5)Amount of the fine. This bill will impose costs on mobilehome
park owners and residents. These costs may be burdensome to
low-income individuals. The bill specifies the amounts of the
penalties that HCD is authorized to impose. They range from
$100 to $500 and vary based on the seriousness of the
violation and the number of times the recipient has received a
notice for the same violation in the same year. To receive a
penalty at the high end of the scale, a park owner or resident
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would have to fail to correct a violation for 30 days after
the expiration of the notice, and then commit the same
violation again within one year and again fail to correct the
second violation for 30 days after the expiration of the
notice.
6)Double-referral. This bill has also been referred to the
Senate Judiciary Committee.
FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: Yes Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: No
POSITIONS: (Communicated to the committee before noon on
Wednesday,
April 6, 2016.)
SUPPORT:
City of Montclair
The Educational Community for Homeowners
OPPOSITION:
None received
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