BILL ANALYSIS
AB 869
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Date of Hearing: April 15, 2009
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON HOUSING AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT
Norma Torres, Chair
AB 869 (Mendoza) - As Introduced: February 26, 2009
SUBJECT : Mobilehome parks: Certified Mobilehome Park Manager
SUMMARY : Creates the title of "Certified Mobilehome Park
Manager" and prescribes requirements for using the title.
Specifically, this bill :
1)Defines "park manager" for the purpose of the Mobilehome
Residency Law as a person who is primarily responsible for the
normal ongoing onsite management of a mobilehome park.
2)Defines "certified mobilehome park manager" as a park manager
who has met specified requirements.
3)Specifies that to use the title "certified mobilehome park
manager," a person must have, within the past two years,
completed a course of study that was developed and
administered in a manner consistent with the standards and
requirements set forth by the American Educational Research
Association's "Standards for Educational and Psychological
Testing."
4)Requires that the course of study include at least 10 hours of
instruction in, at a minimum, the following subjects:
a) At least six hours of instruction in the Mobilehome
Residency Law;
b) At least three hours of instruction on leases and rental
agreements, unlawful detainers, ethics, the adoption and
enforcement of the rules and regulations of a manufactured
housing community, fair housing law, and other general
issues related to property management; and
c) At least one hour of instruction on conflict resolution
that focuses on teaching participants skills to resolve
complaints and disputes with homeowners and residents.
5)Requires that the person receive a certificate of completion
from a manufactured housing trade organization or an
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accredited postsecondary educational institution that includes
the following information:
a) The name of the participant;
b) The subject matter;
c) The name of the instructor of the course;
d) The number of hours of instruction completed; and
e) The date the course was completed.
6)Defines "manufactured housing trade organization" as a
not-for-profit organization that has at least 200 members that
own or operate a mobilehome park or reside within mobilehome
parks in California and that has been in existence for at
least five years.
7)In cases where the mobilehome park has been issued a notice on
or after January 1, 2010, regarding a violation of the
Mobilehome Parks Act, requires the manager to become a
certified mobilehome park manager within 60 days.
8)For violations that have remained uncorrected for more than
120 days as of January 1, 2010, requires the manager to become
a certified mobilehome park manager by July 1, 2010.
9)Requires rental agreements offered to homeowners or
prospective homeowners in mobilehome parks to be accompanied
by a written notice in at least 12-point type stating whether
the park is managed by a certified manager.
10)Requires that a notice stating whether the park is managed by
a certified manager be posted in the clubhouse, or, if there
is no clubhouse, in a conspicuous public place in the park
accessible to homeowners and residents.
EXISTING LAW
1)Requires, in every mobilehome park, that a person be available
in person or by telephone, cellular phone, or similar means
who is responsible for and who shall respond in a timely
manner to emergencies concerning the operation and maintenance
of that park (Health and Safety Code 18603).
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2)Requires, in parks of 50 or more units, that the emergency
contact person reside in the park and have knowledge of the
emergency procedures relative to utility systems and common
facilities under the ownership and control of the owner of the
park (Health and Safety Code 18603).
3)For violations of the Mobilehome Parks Act (MPA) other than
imminent threats to health and safety, provides the owner or
operator of a mobilehome park 60 days from the postmarked date
or the date of personal delivery of a notice of violation to
eliminate the conditions constituting the alleged violation
(Health and Safety Code 18420).
4)Allows the enforcement agency to extend the time for
correction of a violation of the MPA, other than imminent
threats to health and safety, for 30 days or an additional
reasonable period of time after the initial 60-day period if
after reinspection the enforcement agency determines that
there is a valid reason why the violation has not been
corrected, including, but not limited to, weather conditions,
illness, availability of repair persons, or availability of
financial resources (Health and Safety Code 18420).
5)Requires violations of the MPA that constitute an imminent
threat to health and safety to be corrected within a
reasonable time as determined by the enforcement agency
(Health and Safety Code 18420).
6)Authorizes a person to use the title "Certified Common
Interest Development Manager" upon meeting specified training
requirements (Business and Professions Code 11502).
7)Requires anyone who provides or is contemplating providing the
services of common interest development (CID) manager to
disclose to the board of directors of the community
association whether or not her or she is certified (Business
and Professions Code 11504).
8)Requires, for apartment housing of 16 or more units, that a
manager, janitor, housekeeper or other responsible person
reside upon the premises if the owner of the property does not
reside upon the premises (State Housing Law Title 25).
9)Provides that for residential rental properties, an onsite
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manager is not required to have a license from the Department
of Real Estate (Business and Professions Code
10131-10131.1).
FISCAL EFFECT : None
COMMENTS :
Background:
In response to a steady increase in complaints from mobilehome
park residents about issues with park management, in 2004 the
Senate Select Committee on Mobile and Manufactured Homes held a
hearing entitled "Mobilehome Park Management Problems." The
committee's staff summary of testimony from the hearing details
a variety of concerns raised by witnesses, including
"allegations that managers unreasonably interfered with
residents' resale of their homes, managers made arbitrary rule
changes or made up rules as they went along, managers enforced
park rules unevenly, managers did not attend to maintenance
problems in the park, such as sewage leaks, or back-up or
electrical and lighting problems, managers retaliated against
homeowners who reported health and safety violations to code
enforcement agencies, managers violated or were ignorant of
various provisions of the Mobilehome Residency Law (MRL), etc."
At the 2004 hearing, the chair of the Select Committee asked
that those testifying make constructive suggestions to remedy
complaints about managers. According to the summary of the
hearing, "The most frequently mentioned recommendation was that
the state set up a process for licensing-or at least
certification-of park managers that includes an education and
testing component, arguing that this kind of process is
necessary to raise the overall quality of managers over time."
AB 869 creates a certification process for mobilehome park
managers. Managers would have to undergo 10 hours of training
every two years in order to use the designation "certified."
Training would include instruction in the MRL, leases and rental
agreements, fair housing law, property management, and conflict
resolution. The training could be provided by trade
organizations meeting certain criteria, or by any accredited
postsecondary educational institution.
Any park manager could voluntarily complete the training in
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order to use the title "certified mobilehome park manager."
Managers would be required to become certified in parks that
have code violations that have gone uncorrected for 120 days.
In such cases, the manager would have 60 days to become
certified. The bill additionally requires that rental
agreements be accompanied by a written notice stating whether
the park manager is certified, and requires a similar notice to
be posted in the clubhouse or some other conspicuous place.
Arguments in Support
The bill's sponsor, the Golden State Manufactured-Home Owners
League, writes that "AB 869 responds to a long-term and
widespread problem that some mobilehome park managers are
ignorant of the Mobilehome Residency Law (MRL) and create a
hostile environment in parks. AB 869 would take the first step
by establishing an incentive-based manager-training requirement
for mobilehome park managers, modeled on a similar approach for
condominium managers?. By encouraging managers to seek
appropriate training, AB 869 hopes to foster better
relationships between management and residents and ensure more
consistent application of the MRL."
Arguments in Opposition
Writing in opposition, the California Mobilehome Parkowners
Alliance argues that "AB 869 fails to recognize that homeowners
have a role in maintaining the overall health and safety of a
mobilehome park by properly maintaining their homes. If the
goal of AB 869 is to improve the overall health and safety of
mobilehome parks, then the bill should impose training or
education standards on park residents who fail to meet their
obligations. Furthermore, AB 869 unfairly imposes training
standards on mobilehome park managers while ignoring apartment
or common interest development managers. Far more Californians
live in apartments and condominiums than in mobilehome parks.
Conflicts are just as common in these landlord tenant
situations, yet AB 869 singles out only mobilehome parks."
Prior Legislation
AB 1469 (Negrete McCleod, 2006) would have established mandatory
education requirements for all mobilehome park managers,
including five hours of training upon being hired and three
hours of continuing training every year. The bill was vetoed
by the Governor. The veto message read:
"This bill, which would create a new continuing education
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requirement for mobilehome park managers, is unnecessary.
There is no similar training requirement for onsite managers
of traditional rental housing, and the proponents of this
measure have not presented a compelling reason to subject
managers of mobilehome parks to a higher standard. As
several voluntary educational programs are already available,
I see no reason to impose a costly statutory mandate on park
owners at this time."
Staff Comments
AB 869 is modeled on a voluntary certification program for
common interest development (CID) managers. A CID manager can
become certified by meeting certain educational requirements,
and when offering his or her services to a community association
must disclose to the board of directors whether or not he or she
is a certified manager. AB 869 goes a step further for
mobilehome parks by requiring managers to become certified in
cases where a code violation are not corrected in a timely
manner as required by law.
The only two trade organizations that meet the requirements in
AB 869 to offer training appear to be the Western Manufactured
Housing Communities Association (WMA) and the Golden State
Manufactured Home Owners League (GSMOL). Of these, only WMA
currently offers training for park managers. WMA points out
that their existing training program, while extensive, is not
set up to provide training in an expedited manner. They state
that they cannot cost-effectively provide the training within
the 60 days required by this bill in cases where a park has
violations that have not been resolved in a timely manner.
While WMA's current program may not be able to provide training
for managers who need it within 60 days, GSMOL could develop its
own training program to meet the needs of both those managers
who choose to become certified and those who are required to get
training as a result of unresolved code violations. Any
accredited post-secondary educational institution could also
offer training. Additionally, parks can entirely avoid having
to send a manager through training by ensuring that code
violations are corrected.
Proposed Amendments :
1)Clarify that the mandatory certification requirement is only
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triggered for unresolved violations that are the
responsibility of the park owner or operator to correct.
2)Require mandatory certification if violations have remained
uncorrected either for 120 days or after the expiration of the
time period within which the enforcement agency has ordered
compliance if longer than 120 days.
3)For purposes of the notice to be included with rental
agreements and posted in the clubhouse, require notice only in
cases where the park employs a certified manager.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
Golden State Manufactured Home Owners League (sponsor)
Opposition
California Mobilehome Parkowners Alliance
Western Manufactured Housing Communities Association
Analysis Prepared by : Anya Lawler / H. & C.D. / (916)
319-2085