Legislative Committees Continue to Schedule Hearings

The Legislature’s many committees are finally starting to meet, and two bills supported by WMA will be considered by the Senate Housing Committee on March 19. The two bills are Senate Bill 1052 and Senate Bill 1108.

SB 1052 (Seyarto) — This bill adopts recommendations made by the State Auditor on the Mobilehome Residency Law Protection Program (MRLPP). The key elements of the bill include suspending the $10 per space fee that can be collected from residents and would allow HCD to examine the bills submitted by the responsible Legal Services Provider (LSP). The Senate Housing Committee is likely to amend the bill and remove the provision that suspends collection of the $10 fee.

To read the language of SB 1052, please click here:

SB 1108 (Ochoa Bogh) — This bill would extend the amount of time to allow residents to correct a violation cited by the Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) before a mobilehome park’s Permit to Operate (PTO) is threatened with revocation. SB 1108 is sponsored by WMA. The Senate Housing Committee is likely to amend the bill and remove the provision taking away the authority of HCD to revoke a PTO.

To read the language of SB 1108, please click here.

Many other bills impacting the manufactured housing community industry have not yet been assigned to a policy committee, and many committees have not yet scheduled their first meeting. WMA will be closely monitoring the developments, so please be on the lookout for future updates and VoterVoice alerts.

The bills of utmost interest to WMA include the following:

1. AB 3200 (Hoover) — This bill would create a pilot program to allow mobilehome parks to transfer their existing water systems and the management and billing for water systems over to the serving water company regulated by the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC). This legislation has not yet been referred to a specific policy committee, but that will occur next week. AB 3200 is sponsored by WMA, and it is modeled after legislation that created the conversion program currently underway for natural gas and electric systems in mobilehome parks.

To read the language of AB 3200, please click here.

1. AB 2778 (Muratsuchi) — This bill would establish statewide rent control for mobilehome parks. While there is no language in the bill yet, the author still has time to make amendments. If the bill is amended to a point where it is referred to a policy committee, WMA will quickly launch an aggressive campaign through VoterVoice to urge opposition.

To read the language of AB 2778 as it currently stands, please click here.

To avoid confusion, the current law cited in the bill references AB 978, which was signed into law in 2021. The bill dealt with rent control for mobilehome parks located in two incorporated cities in counties with a population between 2.5 million and 3.75 million people.

AB 978 has been ruled as unconstitutional by the California Superior Court in Orange County, and the State of California has appealed the decision to the Court of Appeal. WMA’s Committee to Save Property Rights (CSPR) is helping to fund the appeal.

1. AB 2539 (Connolly) — This bill would give a so-called “right of first refusal” to residents, resident groups, nonprofit organizations, and local governments when a mobilehome park is listed for sale. Modeled after legislation in Colorado, this bill would delay the amount of time afforded to a mobilehome park when a decision to sell the park is made. WMA is in strong opposition to this measure. The bill has been referred to Assembly Housing and Community Development Committee, but a hearing date has not yet been announced.

To read the language of AB 2539, please click here.

1. AB 2387 (Pellerin) — This bill would encourage new space construction in existing mobilehome parks by exempting up to 10 percent of the permitted spaces currently in the park from local fees and taxes. This would incentivize mobilehome parks to use vacant land in existing communities to build more housing units as California faces a serious housing shortage.

This bill is almost identical to AB 1334, which was stalled in the Senate Appropriations Committee last year. WMA is a strong supporter of efforts to build more housing units in existing mobilehome parks. This bill has been referred to the Assembly Committee on Housing and Community Development, but a hearing date has not been announced.

To read the language of AB 2387, please click here.

1. AB 2022 (Addis) – This bill will require park managers, parkowners, or responsible persons to sign under penalty of perjury that they are fully able to assist emergency first responders in evacuating mobilehome parks in emergency situations such as fires or floods. Mobilehome parks already are required to possess an emergency disaster plan, but AB 2022 goes beyond existing law and makes it the responsibility for park managers, owners, or responsible persons to have a working knowledge of fire hydrant pressure in the park, knowledge of the status of the electrical and gas systems in the park, and forces managers, owners, or responsible persons to assist emergency first responders in an evacuation. The bill has been referred to the Assembly Committee on Housing and Community Development, but a hearing date has not been announced.

To read the language of AB 2022, please click here. 

HCD Mobilehome Park Maintenance Inspection Task Force Meeting This Friday

The California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) will conduct its Mobilehome Park Maintenance (MPM) Inspection Task Force meeting on a virtual platform tomorrow (March 15) from 10:00 to 11:30 a.m. The Task Force meets twice every year and is attended by WMA staff, mobilehome parkowners, mobilehome park residents, Local Enforcement Agencies (LEAs) and representatives of the California Legislature. The briefing provides an overview of the MPM process, common park violations, common resident violations, and an overview of the Mobilehome Residency Law Protection Program (MRLPP).

To view a copy of the agenda and briefing documents to be discussed, please visit the MPM Task Force information page where you will find links to the March 15 meeting agenda, the Member’s briefing document, and MRLPP program information. Click here to visit the page.

Click here to join the meeting

All Ballots Are In; Many Races Are Too Close to Call for Presidential Primary

March 12 was the last day ballots could be received and counted by the 58 County Registrar of Voters offices, but nearly one million ballots remain to be counted. Approximately 30 percent of the state’s 22 million registered voters cast ballots, making the 2024 Presidential Primary election one of the least participated in elections in recent history.

Candidates and Independent Expenditure committees spent approximately $50 million to help elect candidates in all 80 Assembly Districts and 20 Senate Districts. Since the top two vote recipients will move on to the General Election regardless of political party, there are 17 races that will see a Republican versus a Republican or a Democrat versus a Democrat. Five races had only one candidate file for office, so these districts will see only one candidate on the ballot in November, unless a write-in candidate can collect enough signatures to appear.

The WMA PAC provided financial support to 49 candidates this year, and 44 of whom have advanced to the General Election. One additional race remains too close to call — a success rate of 90 percent! A special thank-you should go out to our WMA PAC Board of Trustees who spend considerable time evaluating races and examining viability of candidates that share WMA’s belief in private property rights.

On behalf of the WMA PAC Board of Trustees, I also want to express our overwhelming gratitude to our members who contribute to the WMA PAC. Without the generous financial support of our members, the WMA PAC would be unable to help elect candidates for state office who share the values of WMA.

To learn about the election results around the state, please visit the Secretary of State’s election results website by clicking here.

Frank J. Evans Charitable Foundation Accepting Scholarship Applications

The Frank J. Evans (FJE) Charitable Foundation is seeking applications from college-bound high school graduates for $2,000 in 2024. To qualify for the FJE Scholarship, applicants must:

1. Return a completed and signed application form.
2. Provide copies of high school transcripts and proof of college registration.
3. Prove a one-page, typed essay describing his or her reasons for attending college.
4. Be college-bound to an accredited two-year or four-year institution.
5. Currently reside in a WMA-member mobilehome park.

The Foundation offers these scholarships through the generosity of those who have contributed. If you have not yet done so, please consider making a contribution of $1 per space to the Frank J. Evans Charitable Foundation. For more information or to learn how to make a tax-deductible contribution, please call 831.475.0335.

To learn more about the FJE Charitable Foundation, please click here.

It is an honor to serve WMA. Please feel free to reach me directly at chris@wma.org or on my direct line at the office at 916.288.4026 if I may be of assistance or if you need additional information.