BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 585
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 27, 2011
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON HOUSING AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT
Norma Torres, Chair
AB 585 (Fong) - As Amended: April 25, 2011
SUBJECT : Property taxation: manufactured homes: Department of
Housing and Community Development: information to assessor.
SUMMARY : Requires the Department of Housing and Community
Development (HCD), by March 1, 2012, to provide a complete list
to each county assessor of all manufactured homes sited within
the county, including those manufactured homes not subject to
property tax that pay an in lieu fee to HCD, in a standard text
or comma delimited format.
EXISTING LAW
1)Makes all manufactured homes and mobilehomes sold new on or
after July 1, 1980, subject to property tax. In addition,
current law allows the owner of a manufactured home or
mobilehome sold new prior to July 1, 1980, to elect to be
subject to property tax. This election, once made, is
permanent. (Revenue and Taxation Code Section 5801).
2)Requires manufactured homes and mobilehomes not subject to
property tax to pay an annual license fee to HCD (Health and
Safety Code Section 18115 and 18116).
3)Requires all manufactured homes and mobilehomes subject to
property tax to pay registration fees to HCD at the time of
original registration and upon any subsequent sale, resale, or
transfer of title (Health and Safety Code Section 10875.5).
4)Requires all manufactured homes and mobilehomes not subject to
property tax to pay annual registration fees to HCD (Health
and Safety Code Section 10875.5).
5)Requires HCD, upon the original registration of a manufactured
home or mobilehome, to establish a permanent title record and
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issue a certificate of title to the legal owner and a
registration card to the registered owner (Health and Safety
Code Section 18090.5).
6)Requires HCD to furnish to the county assessor of the county
in which a manufactured home is sited, on or before the last
day of each calendar month, a listing of all new registrations
and titles to manufactured homes sited, or to be sited, in
that county (Revenue and Taxation Code Section 5841).
7)Requires HCD to report twice a year, on or after January 1 and
on or after July 1, to the auditor of each county the address
of each manufactured home and mobilehome within the county for
which license fees were paid to HCD during the preceding
six-month period and the amount paid.
8)Requires the Franchise Tax Board, the Department of Motor
Vehicles, the Department of Housing and Community Development,
and any county assessor to exchange or otherwise provide to
one another any information relevant to the regulations,
titling and taxation of manufactured homes (Revenue and
Taxation Code Section 5842).
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS :
Most mobilehomes in California are subject to property tax.
Those that are not pay a license fee in lieu of property tax to
HCD on an annual basis. Under current law, HCD is responsible
for titling and maintaining title records for all mobilehomes in
the state. All new mobilehomes are subject to initial
registration with HCD, and this registration must be renewed
upon changes in ownership. The registration on all mobilehomes
not subject to property tax must be renewed with HCD annually.
Because of its responsibilities relative to titling and
registration of mobilehomes, HCD is the only state entity with
access to information on all mobilehomes in the state.
Current law requires HCD to provide monthly lists to county
assessors of all new registrations and titles to mobilehomes
sited within the county. In practice, HCD provides this
information twice a month. The California Assessors' Association
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reports that in the past, HCD's bi-monthly reports were not
always accurate and may have omitted some new registrations or
titles. County assessors believe that HCD has addressed the
problems with its reporting and that the information they are
now receiving is accurate. However, because of the problems in
the past, assessors report that some mobilehomes that should be
on the local tax rolls are not.
AB 2526 (Fong) of 2010, sponsored by the Santa Clara County
Assessor, attempted to address the issue by stating the intent
of the Legislature to enact legislation to require owners and
operators of mobilehome parks to provide, upon the request of
the county assessors, a statement containing the decal number,
registered owner, situs address, and mailing address of all
mobilehomes located in the park. In pursuing the legislation,
the sponsor discovered that park owners do not necessarily have
this information, but HCD does. The sponsor approached HCD and
dropped the bill when HCD agreed to provide a one-time list to
each county assessor of all mobilehomes within the county, both
those that should be paying property tax and those that pay the
in lieu fee to HCD, that could be used to bring the local tax
roll up to date.
When HCD provided the information to county assessors in the
fall of 2010, it was in PDF format. Such a format cannot be
imported into assessors' databases. With the provided PDF,
assessors would have to manually go through the list in order to
check it against the local tax roll. For counties in which there
are thousands of mobilehomes, this process would be
time-consuming and cumbersome. The assessors went back to HCD
and asked for the data to be provided in Excel or some other
standard text or comma delimited format, similar to the format
in which HCD provides the bi-monthly updates to assessors on new
titles and registrations, but thus far HCD has been unwilling to
do so.
AB 585 would require HCD to provide each county assessor, by
March 1, 2012, with a list of all mobilehomes within the county,
both those subject to property tax and those that pay the in
lieu fee to HCD, in a standard text or comma delimited format
that can easily be imported into assessors' internal systems.
The list would allow assessors to cross-check the accuracy of
the local tax roll and make sure that all mobilehomes homes that
should be paying property tax are being billed.
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The California Assessors' Association, the sponsor of this bill,
argues that assessors need a full listing of mobilehomes that
should be on the county tax roll and that HCD is the only entity
that has the information. According to the assessors, erroneous
information has caused escape assessments resulting in undue
hardship to taxpayers who may have to pay several years of back
taxes once errors are discovered. In addition, if errors are
discovered after the statute of limitations has passed, revenue
that is critical to schools and local governments is lost.
Double referred : The Assembly Committee on Rules referred AB 585
to the Committee on Housing and Community Development and
Revenue and Taxation. If AB 585 passes this committee, the bill
must be referred to the Committee on Revenue and Taxation.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
California Assessors' Association (sponsor)
Santa Clara County Assessor
Western Manufactured Housing Communities Association
Opposition
None on file
Analysis Prepared by : Anya Lawler / H. & C.D. / (916)
319-2085