Hearings Begin … More to Come

After weeks of discussing proposed laws affecting manufactured housing communities, hearings have begun in earnest.  Overall, there were 29 Assembly policy committee hearings held this past week and 17 Senate policy committee hearings.  The legislative season is in full swing, and WMA’s advocacy team has been actively engaging lawmakers on several bills affecting the manufactured housing community. 

On Monday, WMA testified in support of SB 748 (Richardson, D-Los Angeles) which would make it easier for cities to remove recreational vehicles and cars parked on city streets being used as homeless encampments and illicit commercial enterprises like drug dealing and prostitution. In many large cities, these homeless encampments present a health and safety danger to local residents, including many mobilehome parks.

SB 748 passed unanimously on a 5-0 vote in the Human Services Committee and next heads to the Senate Housing Committee. 

Click here to read SB 748.

On Wednesday, WMA testified in opposition to AB 925 (Addis, D-Morro Bay), which would require additional information to be provided in emergency preparedness plans. AB 925 is nearly identical to AB 2022 (Vetoed by the Governor last year), purportedly because of the fiscal impact on the Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD), which was estimated to be $13 million.

To provide additional resources to HCD, AB 925 would raise the annual Permit to Operate (PTO) fee from $4 per mobilehome space to $10 per space.  This dramatic increase still would not meet the need cited by HCD when the Governor vetoed AB 2022 last year. Additionally, this bill would require HCD to review emergency preparedness plans every time a plan is changed by park management.

AB 925 passed the Assembly Housing and Community Development Committee on a 8-2 vote, with two members not voting. It next heads to the Assembly Appropriations Committee, which will evaluate the fiscal impact to HCD. 

To read the language of AB 925, click here.

Also on Wednesday, WMA testified in opposition to AB 635 (Ahrens, D-Campbell), which originally made the Mobilehome Residency Law Protection Program (MRLPP) permanent and required HCD to send up to 25 of the most severe and deleterious MRLPP complaints to the Attorney General — even though HCD has no authority to review cases and decide which ones have merit.

The bill was amended in committee to extend the sunset of the MRLPP to 2030 while also requiring increased reporting to judge the efficacy of the program. The bill passed as amended on a 9-1 vote, with two members not voting and will next be heard in the Assembly Judiciary Committee before being sent to the Appropriations Committee. 

To read the language of AB 635, click here.

The Legislature is on its annual Spring Break next week, so there will be no Capitol Update.  When lawmakers return on April 21, the last sprint to pass bills out of policy committees by May 9 will begin. In addition to lobbying legislators on WMA’s five sponsored bills, there are many other bills affecting the mobilehome park industry that will be heard.

To learn more about the status of bills being tracked by WMA, please click here.

Concern Is Growing Over Budget Deficit

The past few weeks have been chaotic on many fronts. The federal tariffs and threats of tariffs have increased the volatility index in the stock market, and California’s Governor has expressed an interest in cutting his own trade deals with foreign nations. While the financial markets are bouncing up and down, the impact on California’s deficit is clear – there will be a lot less money for state government to spend than originally projected.

Dan Walters, the unofficial “dean” of the Capitol press corps, has been writing about politics in Sacramento for just over 50 years, and his recent column about the budget problems facing lawmakers can be read by clicking here.

As the Governor prepares his May revision to the State Budget, California’s fiscal condition continues to worsen. Private-sector employment is falling, and government employment is growing. Since 2023, California has lost 173,000 private-sector jobs and gained 181,100 largely part-time government jobs. This means California’s deficit for FY 2025-26 will be significantly larger than projected by the Governor in January.

To learn more about the employment picture of California, click here.

Workers’ Compensation Classification Review Underway

The Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau of California (WCIRB) is seeking input on a review that may result in classification changes for the property managers of mobilehome parks. The WCIRB is in Phase One, and mobilehome park operations are being reviewed for possible changes to Classification 9010 /8740(4), which can be reviewed by clicking here.

Coffee Talk: Wildlife Awareness in Your Community – May 1

Join us Thursday, May 1, 2025, from 10:00 to 11:00 a.m. for our next members-only Coffee Talk via Zoom. Representatives from the Cougar Conservancy and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife will discuss how to safely interact with wildlife in and around your community. No registration is required — Zoom links will be emailed in advance.

To read more about the Coffee Talk, please click here. For more questions, contact info@wma.org.

WMA Website Upgrade – Temporary Downtime Scheduled

To improve member experience, the WMA website and WMA Forms Online feature will be offline from April 14 to April 27. Service will resume at 10:00 a.m. on April 28. During this time, members may continue ordering forms via the FormsRUs subscription service or by submitting the attached order form. For assistance, please contact us at info@wma.org.

General Conclusion

I wish to thank the dozens of parkowners who emailed members of the Assembly’s Committee on Housing and Community Development through our Red Alert email last week.  The emails our members sent greatly helped to force the author of AB 635 to amend his bill involving the MRLPP. 

When lawmakers return to Sacramento on April 21, WMA will be working to defeat several bills affecting manufactured housing communities in California.  Please make sure you check back with us after we have fully transformed the WMA website. 

If you have questions about legislation while our website is down, please feel free to email me at chris@wma.org or call me at the office.  My direct line is 916.288.4026.

Thank you for the opportunity to serve WMA. Be sure to buckle your seat belts because the few weeks after lawmakers get back to town will be frenetic, tumultuous, and hopefully successful.