BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 1106|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: SB 1106
Author: Leyva (D)
Introduced:2/17/16
Vote: 27
SENATE TRANS. & HOUSING COMMITTEE: 11-0, 4/12/16
AYES: Beall, Cannella, Allen, Bates, Gaines, Galgiani, Leyva,
McGuire, Mendoza, Roth, Wieckowski
SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE: 7-0, 4/19/16
AYES: Jackson, Moorlach, Anderson, Hertzberg, Leno, Monning,
Wieckowski
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE: 7-0, 5/2/16
AYES: Lara, Bates, Beall, Hill, McGuire, Mendoza, Nielsen
SUBJECT: Mobilehome parks
SOURCE: Author
DIGEST: This bill authorizes the Department of Housing and
Community Development (HCD) to issue citations that assess civil
penalties to mobilehome park owners and residents who do not
correct health and safety violations.
ANALYSIS:
Existing law:
1)Directs HCD to regulate mobilehome parks to protect the
health, safety, and general welfare of all mobilehome park
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residents. HCD has adopted statewide regulations to this end,
covering both park owners and park residents.
2)Authorizes local agencies to assume enforcement authority
within their jurisdictions through agreement with HCD.
3)Authorizes enforcement agencies to perform health and safety
inspections of mobilehome parks.
4)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. Additionally:
a) If a violation by a resident has not been corrected
after 60 days, the enforcement agency must notify the park
owner.
b) If a violation by a park owner has not been corrected
after 60 days, the owner must post the notice of violation
conspicuously in the park.
c) 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.
1)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.
2)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
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or 30 days in prison, and that 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 that assess civil penalties 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 civil 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
informal hearing when it receives petitions showing good
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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)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.
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3)Common violations. Violations of health and safety
requirements can be issued to both park operators and
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,
enforcement agencies have 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
little incentive to address the violation. Enforcement
agencies have been reluctant to revoke park operating permits
outright because doing so would displace residents, who often
have low incomes and may have difficulty finding other
housing. Merely suspending a park's operating permit prevents
park owners from collecting rent. While this provides a
strong incentive to correct violations, the suspension process
can take six months, which may be one reason enforcement
agencies rarely use it. Finally, the author notes that health
and safety violations at mobilehome parks are often a low
priority for the court system, so when an enforcement agency
appeals to the district attorney to bring a misdemeanor charge
or pursue civil penalties against a violator, action is rarely
taken.
5)Impact on low-income communities. This bill will impose costs
on mobilehome park owners and residents, and these costs may
be burdensome to low income individuals. It is unclear what
percentage of health and safety violations identified by HCD
during its compliance inspections result from deferred
maintenance or repairs not undertaken because of a lack of
resources. Should the civil penalties authorized in this bill
be levied against mobilehome residents who already lack the
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resources needed to maintain their properties to the
appropriate standard, this additional cost may actually
increase noncompliance by diverting funds away from needed
repairs.
6)Amount of the fine. This 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. Thus, in
order to receive a penalty at the high end of the scale, a
park owner or resident 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.
7)Due process. This bill provides certain basic due process
rights to parties who receive citations. Under existing law,
notices of violation must be in writing and describe the
nature of the violation in as clear language as the
technicality of the violation will allow. Individuals are
provided with an opportunity to contest alleged violations
following HCD's informal conference procedures, and can also
challenge enforcement actions of local jurisdictions through
direct petitions to HCD. This bill offers similar informal
conference procedures for individuals to use when contesting
citations, and limits the time during which penalties may be
assessed to within seven months of the underlying notice of
violation. This bill also suspends enforcement of penalties
while an alleged violator is contesting the citation. Just as
with existing law, individuals would be able to challenge
assessments levied by local jurisdictions through a direct
petition to HCD.
FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: Yes Fiscal
Com.:YesLocal: No
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According to the Senate Appropriations Committee:
HCD staffing costs of approximately $240,000 for two
additional staff for an anticipated increase in administrative
workload associated with informal conferences, hearings, and
appeals proceedings related to the new citation authority.
(Mobilehome-Manufactured Home Revolving Fund)
Estimated HCD staff cost savings of approximately $20,000 to
$40,000 annually associated with a reduction in second
reinspections associated with health and safety violations, to
the extent the new fines act as an incentive for owners and
operators to correct violations. (Mobilehome-Manufactured
Home Revolving Fund)
Estimated HCD fine and fee revenue gains, potentially in
excess of $300,000 initially, due to new citation authority.
These revenue gains would likely decrease in future years as
compliance increases. (Mobilehome-Manufactured Home Revolving
Fund)
SUPPORT: (Verified5/4/16)
City of Grand Terrace
City of Montclair
The Educational Community for Homeowners
OPPOSITION: (Verified5/4/16)
Western Manufactured Housing Communities Association
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT: 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,
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half had been corrected as of January 2016.
ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION: The Western Manufactured Housing
Communities Association (WMA), writing in opposition, expresses
concern that the management of a mobilehome park may ultimately
be held responsible for correcting a resident's health and
safety violations, or that it may be held financially
responsible for civil penalties accumulated by a resident. WMA
also expresses concern over the possibility that penalties may
be assessed by an enforcement agency while a park owner or
operator's "permit to operate" (PTO) the park is suspended.
They write, "[w]hen the PTO is suspended the management cannot
collect rent, which is a pretty big hammer for the enforcement
agency" and could "place the community in double-jeopardy."
Prepared by:Sarah Carvill / T. & H. / (916) 651-4121
5/4/16 15:04:18
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