The End of Session Has Arrived – Legislature Done for Year

Last Saturday, at just past midnight, the Senate and Assembly adjourned sine die, which means that no more business may be conducted for the remainder of the 2023-24 legislative session. Bills that were not acted on before last Saturday are dead for the year, and the Governor is now reviewing hundreds of bills sent to him to either sign or veto by September 30.

Even though the Governor called for a special session of the Legislature to meet in the fall to consider new bills related to gasoline prices, the Senate refused to open the session prior to its adjournment. This means there will be no more legislative business in the Senate or Assembly before the new Legislature is sworn into office on December 2, 2024.

Bills of Concern to WMA Sent to Governor in Final Days of Session

In the final days of the session, the Legislature passed two primary bills of concern to WMA, which have been sent to the Governor.

AB 2022 (Addis, D-Morro Bay)

This legislation was passed on August 29. If signed into law, it would place more responsibility on park managers when implementing a disaster preparedness plan. The bill passed the Senate on a 31-6 vote and the Assembly on a 54-13 vote.  WMA has met with the Governor’s office to urge a veto of AB 2022 and has submitted a letter highlighting the bill’s fiscal impact.

The Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) estimates an annual cost of the legislation to be $2.1 million annually, to be paid from the general fund and require the hiring of 13 new positions to implement the program.  To read the language of AB 2022, click here.

AB 2387 (Pellerin, D-Santa Cruz)

This legislation passed the Senate on August 27 and was sent to the Governor on August 31 for his signature.  If signed into law, AB 2387 will permit an increase of lots in an existing mobilehome park of up to 10 percent of the number of approved lots without having to pay local development impact fees. This bill has received no opposition, and WMA has written a letter to the Governor to request that he sign it into law.

To read the language of AB 2387, click here.

To view a comprehensive list of bills supported and opposed by WMA in 2024, please click here.

A Big Thank-You to Our Members and Legal Advisors

It is no secret that the interests of mobilehome parkowners are regularly threatened by legislation in Sacramento that would increase costs and make it more difficult to provide housing opportunities for people who need it in the middle of a housing crisis. 

Because of the involvement of our members who participated in VoterVoice, our hard-working Legislative Committee, and especially the generosity and support of our volunteer legal advisors (Terry Dowdall of Dowdall Law Offices and Paul Jensen of Hopkins and Carley), WMA had a remarkably successful year.

One bill that was defeated would have adopted statewide rent control for mobilehome parks. Another bill (also defeated) would have allowed residents to delay the sale of a mobilehome park for up to 10 months by giving them a right of first refusal.

In addition to our members and our legal advisors, our success this year would not have been possible without the expert legal work of Dan Rudderow of Rudderow Law Group. He not only testified for WMA against the right of first refusal legislation, but also won a lawsuit against the State of California, focused on rent control of mobilehome parks in cases where the park covers two incorporated cities.

Paul Beard of Pierson Ferdinand also deserves a lot of credit for his work on behalf of the WMA-backed Committee to Save Property Rights (CSPR) to have AB 2782’s voiding of long-term leases declared unconstitutional.

I am also proud to report that our contract lobbyist, Andrew Govenar of Governmental Advocates, has been an absolutely essential part of the WMA lobbying team.  WMA could not have had such a successful year without his experience, expertise, and political insight. 

Finally, I would be remiss if I didn’t recognize and acknowledge the hard work and guidance our regional representatives — Jarryd Gonzales, Saulo Londoño, and Julie Paule — provided.  By working together, our regional representatives helped identify key relationships that exist between parkowners and select legislators. This has been instrumental in helping Ray Perez in our office organize the logistics of park tours, which have greatly contributed to our legislative victories. 

I hope our members realize that everybody in WMA has played a vital role in our success.  The staff, WMA committee members, and our legal advisors all came together to work as a team to achieve victory in a normally hostile legislative environment.

WMA Convention & Expo Coming Soon

The 2024 WMA Convention & Expo is right around the corner, and registration for this exciting event is now open.  This year’s Convention & Expo will be held at the M Resort Spa Casino in Henderson, Nevada (just outside Las Vegas). The event starts with a golf tournament benefiting the Frank J. Evans Charitable Foundation’s Scholarship Fund on the morning of October 14. The convention continues through the President’s Dinner Dance on October 17.

To learn more about the upcoming convention and to fill out your registration form, please click here.

For those who wish to golf in the annual kickoff tournament, please make your reservation soon. Space is limited, and it is quickly filling up.

Capitol Update to Resume in December

With the Legislature out of session for the remainder of the legislative year, this will be the last Capitol Update until the new legislators are sworn in during the first week of December.  It is an honor to serve WMA, and I am always available to answer any questions you may have.

Please feel free to reach me directly at chris@wma.org or on my direct line at the office at 916.288.4026.  Please try to have a great rest of the year, and I look forward to resuming the Capitol Update in a few months.