Legislative House of Origin Deadline Has Arrived

This year, bills introduced in the Assembly and Senate must pass their house of origin by Friday, or they will be dead for the year. Last week, the Assembly and Senate Appropriations Committees referred nearly 700 bills to the full Assembly and Senate for consideration and held 320 bills in committee.

WMA had a major victory last week when AB 2539 (Connolly, D-San Rafael) died in the Assembly Appropriations Committee. This bill would have given residents of mobilehome parks a “right of first refusal” to purchase a park up for sale and delay the sale of a park for several months. Thankfully, this bill is dead for the year.

Several other bills of interest to WMA advanced out of the Assembly and Senate Appropriations Committees, including the following:

AB 2022 (Addis, D-Morro Bay) – OPPOSE

This bill, which deals with how parkowners and managers operate in emergency situations, was substantially amended in committee on April 24. To secure passage of the bill out of the policy committee, the author removed one of the perjury provisions and removed liability involving owners and managers when complying with emergency personnel’s requests to evacuate the park and shut off utilities.

If AB 2022 passes the Assembly, it will be considered by the Senate, and WMA will continue to oppose this measure.

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

AB 2387 (Pellerin, D-Santa Cruz) – SUPPORT

This bill would exempt new spaces constructed in existing mobilehome parks from local fees and taxes not currently levied on other spaces in the park. WMA testified in support of this measure, and we continue to work with the author to ensure that areas used for recreational vehicle storage and boat storage can be converted to new housing. 

The bill limits the number of new spaces that are exempt from fees and taxes to ten percent of the permitted spaces currently allowed in the park. For example, this bill would allow for ten new spaces to be constructed in an existing 100-space mobilehome park. As drafted, the bill involves new space construction and is silent on the number of homes placed on a space.

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

AB 2291 (Alanis, R-Modesto) – SUPPORT

This bill was initially drafted in response to the California State Audit of the Mobilehome Residency Law Protection Program (MRLPP). It would have suspended the annual $10 per lot fee and required Legal Service Providers (LSPs) to disclose to HCD how funds distributed to LSPs are being spent in dealing with MRLPP complaints. This bill has received no opposition throughout the process so far.

To read the language of AB 2291, please click here.

AB 2247 (Wallis, R-Rancho Mirage) – SUPPORT

This measure contains a clause extending the life of the Mobilehome Parks Act (MPA), which is set to expire on January 1, 2025 — to January 1, 2030. AB 2247 will also require HCD to provide residents with information regarding violations of the Manufactured Housing Opportunity and Revitalization (MORE) Program, explaining how to apply for loans and grants to correct the violation. 

To read the language of AB 2247 without the amended language, please click here.

SB 1108 (Ochoa Bogh, R-Redlands) – SUPPORT

WMA sponsors this bill, which would more promptly inform community owners about resident violations that could result in a suspension or revocation of a Permit to Operate (PTO) if left uncured. This bill has received no opposition and will soon be considered by the full Senate before being transmitted to the Assembly for its consideration.

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

To view the status of bills affecting WMA members, please click here.

State Budget Update

On May 10, the Governor released his May revision to the 2024-25 State Budget. Meanwhile the Legislature is busy crafting its own budget, which must be approved by June 15. Three years ago, the State enjoyed a budget surplus of over $100 billion. Even with the rosy revenue projections made by the Governor, California faces a 2024-25 deficit of approximately $28 billion and an additional $28 billion in the 2025-26 budget year.

To read a summary of the Governor’s proposed budget submitted to the Legislature, please click here.

The Governor has regularly cited that his proposed budget does not raise taxes or fees, but the Legislative Analysts Office (LAO) points out in its summary that the Governor has proposed suspending the Net Operating Loss deduction for businesses with revenue above $1 million to generate $900 million in new revenue in 2024-25 and over $5 billion in future years.  Additionally, the Governor has proposed increasing the Managed Care Organization (MCO) tax on healthcare providers to generate $700 million in new revenue.

Over the coming weeks, the LAO will provide a more detailed analysis of the Governor’s proposed budget, but its summary can be found by clicking here.

As the Legislature is crafting the budget, special interest groups are out in force, attempting to avoid cuts to their numerous projects. Some of the cuts being proposed by the Governor include a $325 million reduction for the multifamily housing program and a $300 million reduction of the Regional Early Action Planning program to help with the development of new housing projects.

The proposed budget includes $11 billion in one-time cuts to hundreds of government programs and an eight percent across-the-board reduction of state personnel, including letting more than 10,000 vacant positions remain unfilled.

As the LAO issues further analysis, we will notify our members through future Capitol Update.

In other budget-related news, WMA is closely monitoring dozens of so-called “budget trailer bills,” which are frequently used to avoid having policy bills go through the normal legislative process.

If WMA identifies an issue in a trailer bill affecting WMA members, we will let you know as soon as possible.

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.