President's Message
Winter 2009-2010
Dear HMOA, Inc. Team,
As you are all aware, 2009 was quite a year. Many of you called and wrote to Assemblymember Mary Hayashi and Senator Ellen Corbett member urging support for Assembly Bill 566 by Pedro Nava which, if passed would give local government more support in curtailing sham condo conversions. Although we had the support of both our representatives along with the State Senate and State Assembly, the bill was vetoed by the Governor.
We now have a bigger fight on our hand as Assembly Bill 761 by Charles Calderon, if passed into law will eliminate rent control on a space-by-space basis. Under its terms, rent control will remain in effect until the mobilehome owner sells the mobilehome. However, when the home is transferred to new owner, rent control will be eliminated. What will most likely occur is that in order to sell a mobilehome, the seller will likely have to substantially reduce the selling price of the home in order to compensate the buyer for the loss of rent control. As the vast majority of mobilehome owners are seniors, the elderly and the disabled whose next move will most likely be to an costly assisted living arrangement, receiving a fair market price for the mobilehome is paramount.
There are some actions we can take to help defeat this mean-spirited legislation. On behald of HMOA, I have written letters to the Senate Transportation and Housing Committee, the Senate Judiciary Committee and to the Senate Rules Committee expressing our very strong opposition to AB761. I will follow up by sending a letter to each committee member as the bill makes its way through their respective committee.
I would suggust that each of our nine mobilehome owners associations names are added to a list of official opposers to AB 761. This can be accomplished by writing to the aforementioned Senate Committees as these three Committee will be reviewing the bill before it proceeds to the Senate Floor. Also, I would strongly urge you to use your associations letterhead. Additionally, an individual can get their name added to the list of opposers and, of course, the longer the list the better chance we have in defeating this outrageous bill.
Senate Transportation and Housing Committee
State Capitol, Room 2209
Sacramento, CA 95814
Senators Lowenthal, Huff, Ashburn, De Saulnier, Harman, Hollingsworth, Kehoe, Oropeza, Paveley, Simitian and Wolk
Senate Judiciary Committee
State Capitol, room 2187
Sacramento, CA 95814
Senators Corbett, Harmon, Hancock, Leno and Walters
Senate Rules Committee
State Capitol, Room 400
Sacramento, CA 95814
Senators Steinberg Oropeza, Aanestad and Cedillo
FLASH!
In addition to the above information, we have some good news. Our newly appointed President Pro Tem, Senator Darrell Steinberg has replaced moderate Democrat Senator Dean Florez for Senator Loni Hancock on the Senate Judiciary Committee. As Senator Hancock is a very strong supporter of rent control, her appointment on this committee will have a decided impact on AB 761 and AB 481. It is quite possible that the WMA may decide against presenting the two bills for consideration or they may elect to introduce alternative bills. As the State Legislature has been focusing on the State budget crisis, the 2010 legislative agenda has been postphoned until February 19, 2010. We will post the 2010 on the HMOA, Inc. website as soon as it becomes available.
Our next general meeting will be held on Saturday, March 20, 2010 at 10:00 A. M. at Eden Roc. We hope to see you all there.
By working together we CAN and ARE making a difference.
Kathy