Committees Ramp Up in Advance of Upcoming Deadline

The next two weeks will see hundreds of bills rushing to meet a deadline of April 26 for fiscal bills and May 3 for non-fiscal bills to be heard and acted upon, or die for the rest of the year.

The next round of bills affecting the manufactured housing community industry will be next week in the Assembly Judiciary Committee and the Assembly Housing and Community Development Committee.

Assembly Bill 2022 (Addis, D-Morro Bay)

This bill will be heard in the Assembly Housing and Community Development Committee on April 24 and would require community managers or responsible persons to sign under penalty of perjury that they are available to facilitate emergency evacuations of mobilehome communities, and have a working knowledge of the community’s gas, electric, and water systems, as well as be able to assist in evacuation efforts.

Manufactured housing communities already have a requirement to post evacuation plans in common areas. AB 2022 would expose owners to excessive liability if power is left on or if a catastrophe happens through no fault of the community.

A VoterVoice alert has been sent out requesting our members to reach out and convey opposition to AB 2022 to members of the Housing and Community Development Committee.  Please take a moment to express your opposition as it helps our lobbying effort to defeat this ill-conceived bill.  To utilize the VoterVoice alert to communicate your opposition, please click here.  

If AB 2022 passes out of the Assembly Housing and Community Development Committee, it will be sent to the Appropriations Committee before being considered by the full Assembly.

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

Assembly Bill 2539 (Connolly, D-San Rafael)

This bill passed out of the Assembly Housing and Community Development Committee with a bare minimum of five votes last week, and it will next be heard in the Assembly Judiciary Committee this coming Tuesday. This bill would give tenant groups a right of first refusal to purchase a mobilehome park that is up for sale, and the amendments would shorten the time this right would remain in place to four months, but the amendments are not yet drafted and available to review.

If the bill advances out of the Assembly Judiciary Committee, it will be considered by the Assembly Appropriations Committee, due to the increased workload for the Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD). The Office of Attorney General would be required to defend the constitutionality of AB 2539 in court after litigation is filed should the bill be signed into law. With a budget deficit of approximately $73 billion, many bills are currently being held in the Appropriations Committee Suspense File — which will be voted on in May after the Governor releases his May Revision to the State Budget.

To read the most recently published language of AB 2539, which does not include the change in the timeline, please click here.

Other Bills Waiting for Committee Action

In addition to AB 2022 and AB 2539, WMA will be testifying on several other bills next week with support, opposition, and neutral positions on bills that are of some concern to WMA. To view a list of bills being monitored and tracked by WMA and to learn about the positions WMA has taken on these legislative measures, please click here.

Budget Deficit Talk of the Town as Legislators Await May Revision to the State Budget

The backdrop of all of the legislation being voted on this year is the state’s massive budget deficit of more than $70 billion.  Lawmakers continue to pass bills with significant fiscal costs, and these bills will be voted on by both the Assembly and Senate Appropriations Committees after the Governor releases his May revision to the State Budget toward the middle of May.

A good overview of the status of the State Budget can be found in an article written by Dan Walters for CalMatters. The article can be viewed by clicking here.

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 you need additional information.