2009 Preliminary Mobilehome and Related Bill List*

SENATE BILLS

1.    SB 23 (Padilla) – Park Emergency/Evacuation Plans – SUPPORT  There is no current state requirement for mobilehome parks to have emergency preparedness or evacuation plans in the event of a disaster.  This bill requires that, on or after January 1, 2010, mobilehome parks must develop and implement an emergency and fire safety plan that includes emergency services training for park managers and on-site employees and requires the park to distribute and post the plan in a public area accessible to all residents.  The bill would also provide that these requirements do not prohibit a local government agency from enacting or adopting more stringent standards to ensure fire prevention and public safety.

Status:  Introduced Dec. 1, 2008, assigned to Senate Transportation & Housing Committee for hearing

2.    SB 111 (Correa) – The Mobilehome Residency Law (MRL) Reorganization Sometimes called the landlord-tenant law for mobilehome parks, the MRL sets forth the rights and responsibilities of the mobilehome park management vis-à-vis the rights and responsibilities of homeowners and residents living in California’s 4,705 parks.  This bill would reorganize the Mobilehome Residency Law by regrouping various disparate provisions or sections into related categories or articles, such as “Utilities” or “Rental Agreements,” etc., to make the MRL easier for laypersons to understand.

Status:  Introduced January 28, 2009, assigned to Senate Judiciary Committee for hearing

3.    SB 120 (Lowenthal) – Notice of Termination of Utilities in Master-Meter Parks – Revises various protections afforded tenants under existing law, such as the return of security deposits and prohibitions against cutting off utilities or locking residents out, to mortgage lenders and banks, so not just landlords must honor these protections after a foreclosure sale on the property.  The bill also provides that a regulated utility, as well as public utility district or agency, providing heat, light or power, must notify renters, including occupants of master metered multi-unit dwellings and mobilehome parks, by mail as well as posting, of the termination of utility service due to the fact the landlord or park failed to pay the utility bill, 15 days prior to termination of utility service. 

Status:  Introduced February 2, 2009, assigned to Senate Judiciary Committee for hearing

4.    SB 224 (Correa) – CalHome Program. The state’s CalHome program provides loans and grants to help lower-income homeowners purchase or rehabilitate their homes, including mobilehomes.  

This bill provides that local agencies administering these state funds cannot discriminate, in their underwriting criteria, in making loans or grants to low-income homeowners solely on the basis that the home is a mobilehome or manufactured home or that it is located in a mobilehome park.  The bill also clarifies that ignition resistant exterior components, now required by the Department of Housing (HCD) as the result of recent wildfires for mobilehomes located in or outside mobilehome parks in wildfire urban interface zones, shall be eligible as “rehabilitation” for the purposes of CalHome rehabilitation grants.

Status:  Introduced February 23, 2009, to Senate Rules Committee for assignment

5.    SB 251 (Sen. Trans. & Housing Committee) – 2009 Omnibus Housing Bill. By combining multiple, non-controversial or minor clean-up changes to statutes in one “omnibus” bill rather than separate bills, the Legislature can be more cost-effective.  Among other provisions, the 2009 Omnibus bill corrects a minor error in legislation from last year (AB 2050, Garcia) relating to verification that water heaters in mobilehomes and manufactured homes have been or are strapped.

Status:  Introduced February 24, 2009, to Senate Rules Committee for assignment

6.    SB 398 (Correa) – Fire Code Enforcement in Mobilehome Parks. The Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) has pre-emptive authority for health and safety (including fire) code enforcement in mobilehome parks, except that upon a 30-day notice to HCD a local fire agency may assume jurisdiction for certain limited fire code requirements in parks, such as weed abatement, fire hydrants, parking, flammable materials, and burglar bars.  This bill would require a local fire agency to give HCD a 90-day notice before assuming such authority.  The bill will soon also be used as a “vehicle” for making other changes to code requirements in parks.

Status:  Introduced February 26, 2009, to Senate Rules Committee for assignment

7.    SB 622 (Cedillo) - Mobilehome Parks Act Fees.  Under existing law, the Mobilehome Parks Act requires a valid permit issued by the Department of Housing and Community Development or a city, county, or city and county that assumes responsibility for the enforcement of the act for the construction or alteration of a mobilehome park. The act requires a plan checking fee equal to 1/2 of the construction, plumbing, mechanical, and electrical permit fees and establishes a minimum fee of $10. This bill would raise the minimum fee by one dollar to $11.

8.    SB 804 (Leno) - Mobilehome Sales.  This bill would additionally prohibit the management from requiring a homeowner, who is replacing a mobilehome or manufactured home on a space in the park, in which he or she resides, to use a specific broker, dealer, or other person as an agent in the purchase or installation of the replacement home. (NOTE THAT THIS MAY BE A SPOT BILL)

ASSEMBLY BILLS

9.    AB 313 (Fletcher) – Common Interest Development (CID) Assessments. Amends the Davis-Stirling Common Interest Development Act, which regulates CIDs including some resident-owned mobilehome parks, to prohibit a homeowners association from levying assessments on members based on the taxable value of a homeowners’ separate interests unless the association, on or before December 31, 2009, in accordance with the CID’s declaration, levied those assessments based on the taxable value of separate interests as determined by the county tax assessor.

Status:  Introduced February 17, 2009, to print

10. AB 481 (Ma) – Rent Control – OPPOSE.  Current law provides that a mobilehome located on a space in a mobilehome park is exempt from local rent control protection if the park management can show, based on public records, the home is not the homeowner’s principal residence.  The rent control exemption also does not apply if the park does not permit the homeowner to sublet the space within the park that is subject to rent control.  This bill eliminates the public record and subletting requirements.

Status:  Introduced February 24, 2009, to print

11. AB 566 (Nava) – Conversion of Parks to Condominiums - SUPPORT .  The Subdivision Map Act provides that local governments are limited to imposing only certain state requirements upon converters of mobile home parks to condominium resident ownership.   This bill would expand the state requirement for a survey of resident support to provide that the survey must show the support of the majority of the residents in order for the converter to obtain a map from the local jurisdiction.  The bill would also provide that local agencies are not prohibited from enacting reasonable measures in addition to current state requirements to prevent “sham” conversions or to preserve affordable housing.

Status:  Introduced February 25, 2009, to print

12. AB 761 (Calderon) - Mobilehome Rent Control: Vacancy Decontrol – OPPOSE.  This bill would provide,  that upon the sale, assignment, transfer, or termination of an interest in a mobilehome or a mobilehome tenancy in a mobilehome park, the management of the park may offer a new rental agreement containing an initial rent in excess of the maximum rent established by a local measure, except as specified. The bill would provide that, after execution of the new rental agreement, the local measure shall govern the agreement in all applicable respects.

13. AB 869 (Mendoza) Certified Mobilehome Park Manager – SPONSOR.  This is the GSMOL-sponsored measure to establish a program of certification of mobilehome park managers.

14. AB 1108 (Fuentes) Master-Meter Customers.  This is the bill sponsored by Neighborhood Friends dealing with rates charged to submetered residents and maintenance of utility infrastructure.  It  would authorize the PUC, if it finds that a master-meter customer has failed to maintain or repair its submeter facilities beyond the master-meter, to order the master-meter customer to maintain or repair those facilities and would authorize the commission, in addition to the commission’s authority to make or  enforce orders pursuant to the Public Utilities Act, to order that moneys received as a result of the master-meter discount be held in trust to be  expended for maintenance and repair of the submeter facilities. The bill  would require a master-meter customer to separately bill for gas or electric service, or both, and rent. This bill would prohibit a master-meter customer from charging a user of electricity or gas any late charge for nonpayment or delayed payment of rent. The bill would require that any late charge imposed by a master-meter customer for nonpayment or delayed payment by a user for gas or electric service be in an amount that does not exceed that which the electrical or gas corporation would charge for nonpayment or delayed payment for electric or gas service.