NO on Prop. 98 -The Hidden Agendas Scheme
Deceptive Measure Would Abolish Rent Control, Stop Water Infrastructure Projects, and Destroy Land-Use Planning
Wealthy apartment and mobile home park owners are spending millions on a deceptive campaign to pass Prop. 98 for their own financial gain.
These landlords want voters to believe that Prop. 98 - dubbed the Hidden Agendas Scheme - is about eminent domain. But their hidden agenda is to eliminate rent control so they can make hundreds of millions of dollars by raising rents on seniors and working families.
To make matters worse, the measure also contains poorly drafted provisions that could stop future water projects, destroy local land-use planning and erode environmental protections.
If passed, Proposition 98 would:
* Eliminate rent control and other renter protection laws. The true purpose of Prop. 98 is to abolish rent control in California - making it extremely difficult for thousands of seniors and widows on fixed incomes, single mothers and working families to find adequate housing they can afford. The measure would also gut renter protection laws, such as laws requiring the fair return of rental deposits and laws requiring 60-day notice before forcing tenants out of their housing.
* Threaten water quality and supply. Drafting errors in Proposition 98 would be locked into the Constitution and could prohibit the acquisition of land and water through eminent domain to develop public water projects - threatening many future water projects intended to preserve clean drinking water, protect existing water resources, and secure additional water supply. The Association of California Water Agencies says Prop. 98 "could derail needed groundwater and surface water storage projects around the state" and calls this flaw in the measure "cause for alarm."
* Hurt the environment and stop regulations that protect our neighborhoods. In the definitions section is a clause that would prohibit laws and regulations that "transfer economic benefit to one or more private persons at the expense of the private owner." Because the courts have ruled that virtually all land-use decisions and environmental laws transfer economic benefit from one party to another, Prop. 98 would prohibit countless laws that protect our land, air, water and laws that protect our neighborhoods and home values.
Please see: http://no98yes99.com/ for more info.
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*** CMRAA has joined with GSMOL and several coalition members, in SUPPORT of SB900 ****
BILL NUMBER: SB 900 INTRODUCED
BILL TEXT
INTRODUCED BY Senator Corbett
(Coauthor: Assembly Member Evans)
FEBRUARY 23, 2007
An act to amend Section 66427.4 of, and to repeal Section 66427.5
of, the Government Code, and to amend Section 50786 of the Health and
Safety Code, relating to mobilehome parks.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 900, as introduced, Corbett. Mobilehome parks: conversion.
(1) The Subdivision Map Act requires a subdivider, at the time of
filing a tentative or parcel map for a subdivision to be created from
the conversion of a rental mobilehome park to resident ownership, to
also file a report on the impact of the conversion upon the
displaced residents of the mobilehome park to be converted, including
the availability of adequate replacement space in mobilehome parks.
The act exempts from these requirements a subdivision that is created
from the conversion of a rental mobilehome park to resident
ownership. A violation of the act is a crime, punishable as a felony
or misdemeanor.
This bill would delete that exemption. Because the bill would
expand the scope of an existing crime, it would impose a
state-mandated local program.
(2) The act requires the legislative body, or an advisory agency
that is authorized by local ordinance to approve, conditionally
approve, or disapprove the map, to require the subdivider to take
steps to mitigate any adverse impact of the conversion on the ability
of displaced mobilehome park residents to find adequate space in a
mobilehome park.
This bill would delete these requirements, and would make a
conforming change.
(3) The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse
local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the
state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that
reimbursement.
This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this
act for a specified reason.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: yes.
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* Updated 12/21/2007 *
New Analysis from Western Center on Law & Poverty Underscores Hidden Agendas Scheme's "Devastating Impact" on California Renters, Seniors and Working Families
Measure Could "Undo Centenaries of Real Property Law and Consumer/Tenant Protections"
Yesterday the Western Center on Law & Poverty, California's leading public interest and low-income advocacy organization, released a detailed analysis on the Hidden Agendas Scheme and confirmed our coalition's fears about the dangerous socio-economic consequences of enacting this bait and switch measure. The analysis found the Hidden Agendas Scheme - which proponents claim to be about eminent domain reform - would actually abolish rent control and severely threaten other affordable housing laws designed to protect renters, mobile home owners, low-income home buyers, seniors, the disabled, and working families.
The scope of the measure's impacts is wide. According to the analysis, the Hidden Agendas Scheme would eliminate rent control on dwellings and mobile home park spaces for more than one million California families.
"Rent control and renter protections help ensure that seniors, working families and the disabled find safe, affordable housing," explained Christine Minnehan of the Western Center on Law & Poverty. "Mobilehomes are not mobile. A senior in a park who receives a huge rent increase has few options."
The analysis also outlined other harmful aspects of the Hidden Agendas Scheme, specifically a far-reaching provision which could prohibit almost all forms of government regulation of private property. Because of this single provision, all affordable housing zoning decisions, homebuyer protections, laws requiring the fair return of rental deposits, requirements for 60 days notice before a no-fault eviction, and other similar protections, could be outlawed. The bottom line: the Hidden Agendas Scheme would devastate our communities and erode our ability to make them affordable and pleasant places to live.
"Whether by oversight or design, the initiative could turn back hundreds of years of property law and consumer protections," said Minnehan. "Home buyers and renters would have to negotiate every detail of a sale or lease. Our clients, the lowest income Californians, don't have the bargaining power to get the protections now in law," she added.
A full version of the report is available at http://www.wclp.org/files/housing-effects-cpofpa-19dec07.pdf
Get a copy of our Renters Rights fact sheet by clicking www.eminentdomainreform.com.
Educate your community members on the dangers of Hidden Agendas Scheme and urge them to support the Homeowners Protection Act - the only true eminent domain reform on the June 08 ballot.
* THIS PAGE LAST UPDATED ON 030808
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