AB 2782 Lawsuit Update

As you may know, WMA and Sandalwood Estates, LLC, filed a lawsuit against Governor Gavin Newsom and Attorney General Rob Bonta in their official capacities in late December for declaratory and injunctive relief to overturn Assembly Bill 2782 that eliminated the right of parkowners with long term leases to be exempt from local rent control.

As expected, the Attorney General filed a motion this week to dismiss the lawsuit that was filed in Superior Court. A hearing on this motion will be held on May 25, 2023. 

The Committee to Save Property Rights (CSPR) and WMA have joined with numerous parkowners around the state to fund this legal challenge to Assembly Bill 2782. If you would like to participate in assisting the effort to defend private property rights, please send an email to chris@wma.org.

To read the text of Assembly Bill 2782 as enacted into law, please click on the following link:

https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB2782

Frank J. Evans Scholarship Recipients Being Recognized by Legislators

Over the past few weeks, WMA staff has received notices from over 25 legislators who have offered to provide certificates of recognition to recipients of scholarships provided by the Frank J. Evans Charitable Foundation. WMA’s Executive Director Doug Johnson informed legislators that represent districts in which recipients live about the scholarship program, and we are thankful to the Senators and Assemblymembers who reached out to follow up and recognize the achievements of students who reside or resided in manufactured housing communities as they seek to pursue their educational goals.

To learn more about this important program please visit the following link:

FJE Scholarship Foundation – Western Manufactured Housing Communities Association (wma.org)

Calm Before the Storm

Over the next week, WMA expects many Committee hearings to be set that will hear bills either supported or opposed by the manufactured housing industry. As soon as these hearings are set, WMA will be sending out “calls for action” messages through our Voter Voice platform asking you to directly communicate with legislators. The most important bills WMA is working to defeat include:

Assembly Bill 1035 (Muratsuchi, D-Torrance) – HIGHEST PRIORITY

This bill would impose statewide rent control on mobilehome parks.  Under the initial proposal, rents would be capped at 5% per year and includes FULL vacancy control unless a new home is placed on the space.  Defeating this legislation is our HIGHEST priority, and WMA staff is fully engaged with all hands-on deck bringing in other associations and business organizations to defeat it.

To read the bill, please click on the following link:

https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB1035

Assembly Bill 318 (Addis, D-San Luis Obispo and Monterey)

This bill would make the $10 per space fee imposed on parkowners to fund the Mobilehome Residency Law Protection Program (MRLPP) created by Assembly Bill 3066 permanent.  This program is set to expire at the end of 2023 and has collected over $9 million but has spent just over $3 million over the program’s lifetime leaving a balance of $6.4 million. WMA staff is working to defeat this measure. 

To read the bill, please click on the following link:

https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billStatusClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB318

To keep apprised of legislative measures being tracked by WMA, please visit the following link:

https://www.wma.org/bills-interest

Thank you for the opportunity to serve, and please feel free to e-mail me at chris@wma.org or call me on my direct line at (916) 288-4026 with any questions.