BILL ANALYSIS
AB 1964
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 14, 2010
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON HOUSING AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT
Norma Torres, Chair
AB 1964 (Torres) - As Introduced: February 17, 2010
SUBJECT : Mobilehome Parks Act.
SUMMARY : Extends the sunset on the Mobilehome Park Maintenance
inspection program and its related fees until January 1, 2019.
EXISTING LAW
1)Requires the Department of Housing and Community Development
(HCD) to regulate the construction, installation, use,
maintenance, and occupancy of mobilehomes and mobilehome parks
(Health and Safety Code Section 18200, et seq.).
2)Gives local agencies the option of assuming enforcement
authority of the state's mobilehome codes and regulations
within their jurisdictions through agreement with HCD (Health
and Safety Code Section 18300).
3)Under the Mobilehome Park Maintenance (MPM) inspection
program, requires HCD or a local enforcement agency, until
January 1, 2012, to inspect mobilehome parks proactively with
a goal of inspecting at least five percent of parks per year
and a focus on those parks for which the enforcement agency
has received complaints about serious health and safety
violations (Health and Safety Code Section 18400.1).
4)Provides for HCD or a local enforcement agency, until January
1, 2012, to collect annually a per space fee of $4 to fund the
MPM inspection program, $2 of which the mobilehome park owner
may charge to individual homeowners (Health and Safety Code
18502).
5)Requires HCD to convene a task force every six months to
provide input to HCD on the conduct and operation of the MPM
inspection program. The task force includes mobilehome park
owners, mobilehome owners, local enforcement agencies, and
legislative representatives. HCD must report to the task
force information on the number of parks and spaces that were
inspected, the fees collected, the most common violations
discovered, and the number of violations identified plus
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progress on correcting those violations (Health and Safety
Code Section 18400.3).
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS :
AB 925 (O'Connell), Chapter 1125, Statutes of 1990, first
created the MPM inspection program, and required HCD or a local
enforcement agency to inspect every mobilehome and every
mobilehome park in the state once every five years. Because of
delays created by the Northridge Earthquake and other factors,
HCD was not able to complete the inspection of all mobilehome
parks in the first five years. The Legislature twice extended
the program to require that all inspections be completed in
eight years, or by 1999. By 1999, HCD and local agencies had
completed the inspection of all mobilehome parks.
In 1999, SB 700 (O'Connell), Chapter 520, Statutes of 1999,
extended the MPM inspection program until January 1, 2007, and
made some changes to the program. In particular, SB 700 limited
the inspection program to mobilehome parks that had a history of
serious health and safety code violations and required these
inspections at least once every seven years. SB 700 limited the
inspections in part because of the limited funding provided by
the $4 fee that supports the MPM program. About one-third of
mobilehome parks in the state were inspected under the MPM
program between 2000 and SB 700's sunset date of January 1,
2007. SB 700 also created the MPM inspection task force and
required it to meet once a year.
SB 106 (Dunn) of 2005 would have deleted the 2007 sunset date on
the MPM inspection program and increased the existing $4 fee to
$6 to for the inspections. The Governor vetoed SB 106 because
of the fee increase, so in 2006, SB 1231 (Dunn), Chapter 644,
Statutes of 2006, extended the sunset date on the MPM inspection
program until January, 1, 2012, and increased the frequency of
the MPM task force meetings to every six months, but did not
increase the fee. Also in 2006, AB 2250 (Coto), Chapter 858,
Statutes of 2006, set the goal that five percent of parks would
be inspected under the MPM program each year.
The MPM program provides a complete, scheduled inspection of
mobilehome parks, as contrasted with the complaint-driven
inspections that otherwise occur. The program came about in
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1990 because of concerns that the complaint inspection process
by itself did not adequately address deteriorating health and
safety conditions in some parks. As a result of the MPM
program, HCD and local enforcement agencies since 1991 have
cited both park owners and homeowners for tens of thousands of
health and safety violations, which as a result have been
remedied. Without the MPM program, many of these would not
otherwise have been addressed. With the impending January 1,
2012, sunset date, the author reports interest from homeowners,
HCD, and the park industry in extending the program. AB 1964
would extend the sunset on the MPM program and its associated
fees through January 1, 2019.
Amendment Request
The Western Manufactured Housing Communities Association (WMA)
supports this bill if it is amended to allow mobilehome park
owners to pass through to residents fees they pay to operate.
This bill does not currently relate to permit-to-operate (PTO)
fees. Last year a budget trailer bill (SB 73 [Budget and Fiscal
Review], Chapter 341) increased the annual PTO fee for each park
from $25 plus $2 per lot to $140 plus $7 per lot. No policy
committee heard SB 73, so no discussion of the fee increase or
whether it could be passed on to mobilehome park residents
occurred. WMA would like that discussion to occur during
consideration of this bill.
WMA argues that because PTO fees fund the administrative and
complaint investigation costs of the Codes and Standards
Division of HCD, they benefit both park owners and homeowners.
WMA asserts that the state last raised the PTO fees in 1975
prior to mobilehome park rent control being adopted in any
California communities. Since then, over 100 jurisdictions have
established rent control on their mobilehome parks with
different standards and conditions for park owners to pass
through additional costs to mobilehome owners. For this reason,
WMA seeks authorization to pass through last year's increase in
the PTO fee.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation
Golden State Manufactured-Home Owners League
AB 1964
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Western Center on Law and Poverty
Western Manufactured Housing Communities Association (if
amended)
Opposition
None on file
Analysis Prepared by : Anya Lawler / H. & C.D. / (916)
319-2085