Bill Introduction Deadline Arrives – Many Bills Affect WMA Members

Tomorrow is the deadline for bills to be introduced, and over 1,500 bills are expected to be introduced by the end of Friday.

When the WMA PAC succeeded in the 2024 elections, the makeup of the Legislature shifted much more to the center. With more moderate Democrats and more Republicans, WMA’s legislative priorities have expanded from prior years, putting us on offense for the first time in recent memory.

This year, WMA is actively sponsoring five bills that would benefit parkowners and managers.  While the impacts of these measures may appear modest to many, being on the offense in and of itself can be viewed as a victory. Bills sponsored this year by WMA include:

• AB 768 (Anamarie Avila Farias, D-Antioch) – This bill would remove rent control protections from mobilehome residents in jurisdictions with rent control who own more than their mobilehome.  The bill is crafted to allow market rents to be charged to tenants in communities with rent control if their mobilehome is a vacation home.

• AB 760 (Tri Ta, R-Garden Grove) – This bill will allow manufactured housing community owners who own more than one home in their park to rent them out for up to one year after the expiration of a declared state of emergency without having to allow other residents to sublease their own homes. This is essentially a suspension of AB 861, which passed in 2021. It allowed only one park-owned rental for every 200 spaces in a park.

• AB 813 (Jose Solache, D-Los Angeles) – This legislation will make it easier to evict a resident who threatens violence or acts violently against a park employee or vendor employed by the park.  Current law allows this prompt eviction for residents who threaten other residents, but AB 813 gives the same protection to employees and vendors.

• AB 391 (Michelle Rodriguez, D-Pomona) – This bill will allow park managers to electronically distribute copies of the Mobilehome Residency Law to residents who volunteer to receive their documents in a digital format.  It is expected that thousands of labor hours will be saved by managers not having to distribute paper copies every year to each resident and will save parkowners from having to purchase these documents and have them shipped to their park.  If a resident still wants a paper copy, they can have one printed out, but this bill will save paper and time for every mobilehome park in the state.

• AB 874 (Anamarie Avila Farias, D-Antioch) – This bill will eliminate local impact fees for all rental housing developments (including mobilehome parks) for affordable housing units.  As WMA looks for ways to reduce the costs associated with new construction of spaces and parks, AB 874 will be a positive first step in lowering the cost of creating housing inventory in California.

High-Priority Bills Affect WMA Members

In addition to WMA’s sponsored bills, we are closely monitoring the following legislation that would directly affect many manufactured housing communities across the state.

• AB 246 (Isaac Bryan, D-Los Angeles) – This bill would make it illegal to increase the rent of residential real property in Los Angeles County for 12 months after the declaration of emergency issued by the Governor resulting from the Palisades fire and the Eaton fire. WMA is opposed to this legislation.

• AB 414 (Gail Pellerin, D-Santa Cruz) – This bill would require park managers to send by certified mail a return of a security deposit upon termination of tenancy instead of through regular mail.  This would significantly add to the cost of returning a security deposit. 

• AB 456 (Damon Connolly, D-Petaluma) – This bill would prohibit park management from requiring repairs to the interior of a mobilehome that is up for sale in a mobilehome park. It also requires a prospective buyer of a mobilehome be notified of the approval or rejection of a rental application within 15 calendar days of receiving the application, or the application will be deemed approved. 

• AB 806 (Damon Connolly, D-Petaluma) – This bill would require mobilehome parks to provide air conditioning in common areas at no extra charge to residents.  It would also prohibit park management from denying a homeowner the ability to install a cooling system in the owner’s mobilehome, even if a park’s electrical system cannot handle the increased load.

• SB 436 (Aisha Wahab, D-Fremont) – This bill would essentially provide a tenant with a three-day grace period to pay rent after an Unlawful Detainer action is taken. SB 436 would also allow a tenant to apply for rental assistance without having to prove financial hardship and delay paying rent until the request for assistance is granted or denied.

WMA’s Next Coffee Talk – 2025 Legislative Priorities

On Thursday, March 6, I will be hosting (alongside our contract lobbyist Andrew Govenar) the monthly WMA Coffee Talk. This one-hour virtual discussion will take place from 10:00 to 11:00 a.m. and will provide insights into key bills and ways for WMA members to get involved in passing and defeating legislation impacting manufactured housing communities in California.

For more information and to register, click here. 

Legislative Park Tours Continue

WMA’s legislative team continues to organize many park tours across the state to educate lawmakers about the manufactured housing industry. Below are the upcoming scheduled tours:

• February 27, 2025 – Assemblymember Joe Patterson (Auburn)
• March 7, 2025 – Assemblymember Blanca Rubio (Azusa)
• March 13, 2025 – Assemblymember Lori Wilson (Vacaville)
• March 14, 2025 – Assemblymember Jeff Gonzalez (Coachella)
• March 18, 2025 – Assemblymember Stephanie Nguyen (Sacramento)
• April 4, 2025 – Assemblymember Leticia Castillo (San Bernardino)
• April 11, 2025 – Assemblymember Avila-Farias (Antioch)

If you are interested in attending a tour or would like information on additional dates, please contact Ray Perez at ray@wma.org.

General Comments

The 2025 Legislative Session is shaping up to be a busy one for manufactured housing communities, and it is an honor to represent our members in the State Legislature. If you have any questions, please feel free to call me directly at the office at 916.288.4026 or email me at chris@wma.org.