BILL ANALYSIS �
SENATE TRANSPORTATION & HOUSING COMMITTEE BILL NO: ab 585
SENATOR MARK DESAULNIER, CHAIRMAN AUTHOR: fong
VERSION: 4/25/11
Analysis by: Carrie Cornwell FISCAL: yes
Hearing date: June 14, 2011
SUBJECT:
Property taxation: mobilehomes
DESCRIPTION:
This bill requires that by March 1, 2012, the Department of
Housing and Community Development (HCD) provide each county
assessor a complete list of all mobilehomes within the county in
a specified format.
ANALYSIS:
Existing law makes each new mobilehome sold on or after July 1,
1980 subject to property tax. The owner of a mobilehome sold
new prior to July 1, 1980 may elect to be subject to property
tax. This election, once made, is permanent. Mobilehomes that
are not subject to the property tax pay instead a vehicle
license fee (VLF), which is an in lieu of a personal property
tax imposed at a rate based on the taxable value of the
mobilehome. The taxable value of the mobilehome is established
by the purchase price of the vehicle, depreciated annually
according to a statutory schedule. Historically, the VLF rate
was two percent of value but currently is one percent.
At the time of an original registration of a mobilehome, HCD
establishes a permanent title record and issues a certificate of
title to the legal owner and a registration card for the
registered owner.
Those mobilehomes subject to property tax pay registration fees
to HCD at the time of original registration and upon any
subsequent sale, resale, or transfer of title, and those not
subject to property tax pay annual registration fees and VLF to
HCD.
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Existing law requires HCD to furnish to the county assessor of
the county in which a mobilehome 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.
Existing law also requires HCD, the Franchise Tax Board, the
Department of Motor Vehicles, and any county assessor to
exchange or otherwise provide to one another any information
relevant to the regulations, titling, and taxation of
mobilehomes.
This bill requires HCD, by March 1, 2012, to provide each county
assessor in the state a complete list of all mobilehomes sited
within that county, including those that pay VLF rather than
property tax. Further, the bill requires that HCD provide this
information in "standard text or comma delimited format that can
be imported into internal applications."
COMMENTS:
1.Purpose . According to the proponents, mobilehomes exist that
should be on local tax rolls, but HCD has not reported to the
county or has reported them to the wrong county. Such mishaps
in reporting can cause some assessments to be unreported,
which can result in undue financial hardship to taxpayers as
they may have to pay several years of back taxes.
The author notes specifically that when HCD fails to report a
change of ownership to a local assessor, the mobilehome owner
is responsible for paying up to four years of back taxes. If
a homeowner neglects to update change of ownership information
with HCD, then the homeowner is responsible for up to eight
years of back taxes, even though the homeowner could have
missed paying for more years than that. In this situation,
the sponsor notes that local revenue due to the schools and
other local entities is lost.
To remedy these types of errors, the sponsor 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. This bill requires HCD to provide this
information once by March of next year in a specified format
AB 585 (FONG) Page 3
that the assessors can easily import and work with in their
systems.
2.Necessary ? This bill arose when the author on behalf of the
Santa Clara County Assessor asked HCD to provide a complete
list of mobilehomes in Santa Clara County to that county's
assessor. HCD did so for Santa Clara and for the other 57
counties but provided the information in a PDF format, which
the assessors found difficult and intensely time consuming to
import and work with in their computer software systems. Last
year the author then asked HCD to provide the information in a
different format, and HCD declined to do so. In response, the
author introduced this bill to require HCD to provide the
information in a specified format. In the meantime, HCD has
provided the information in a comma delimited format (i.e.,
Excel) for Santa Clara County and reports that it will do so
for all 58 counties. It is unclear, therefore, why this bill
is needed as HCD will already have met its requirement long
before the bill becomes law.
3.Double referral . The Rules Committee referred this bill to
both the Transportation and Housing Committee and to the
Governance and Finance Committee. Therefore, should this bill
pass this committee, it will be referred to the Senate
Governance and Finance Committee.
Assembly Votes:
Floor: 78-0
Appr: 16-0
R&T: 9-0
HCD: 7-0
POSITIONS: (Communicated to the Committee before noon on
Wednesday, June 8, 2011)
SUPPORT: California Assessors' Association (sponsor)
California Association of County Treasurers and
Tax Collectors
Santa Clara County Assessor
Western Manufactured Housing Communities
OPPOSED: None received.
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