HOUSE BILL REPORT

                  HB 2904

             As Reported By House Committee on:

                           Housing

Title:  An act relating to minimum health and safety requirements in mobile home parks.

Brief Description:  Requiring health inspections in mobile home parks.

Sponsor(s):  Representatives Leonard, Winsley, Mitchell, Cantwell, Paris, Nelson and Wineberry.

Brief History:

  Reported by House Committee on:

Housing, February 7, 1992, DPS.

HOUSE COMMITTEE ON

HOUSING

Majority Report: The substitute bill be substituted therefor and the substitute bill do pass.  Signed by 7 members:  Representatives Nelson, Chair; Franklin, Vice Chair; Mitchell, Ranking Minority Member; Winsley, Assistant Ranking Minority Member; Ballard; Leonard; and Ogden.

Staff:  Bill Lynch (786-7092).

Background:  The state Board of Health is required to adopt rules setting health and safety standards for mobile home parks.  The rules are enforced by the health officer of the jurisdiction in which the mobile home park is located.

Failure to remedy a violation may result in a fine being imposed on the park owner or the tenant up to $100 a day.  The amount of the fine varies depending on the degree of risk of injury or illness to persons in or around the park.

Health officers are only required to check for health and safety standards after notice of a violation has been made to a health officer.  Several states require periodic inspections of mobile home parks to ensure that health and safety standards are being met.  It has been suggested that health officers should inspect mobile home parks on a periodic basis.

Summary of Substitute Bill:  The Department of Health is required to meet with the Office of Mobile Home Affairs within the Department of Community Development, the Department of Ecology, and representatives of mobile home park owners, mobile home owners, and local health officers to develop minimum procedures for responding to complaints about health and sanitation in mobile home parks.

The Department of Health is required to report its findings to the Legislature by January 1, 1993.

Substitute Bill Compared to Original Bill:  The original bill is struck in its entirety.  The original bill required local health officers to inspect a mobile home park at least once every four years to ensure that minimum health and sanitation standards were being met.

Fiscal Note:  Not requested.

Effective Date of Substitute Bill:  Ninety days after adjournment of session in which bill is passed.

Testimony For:  (Original bill):  Health and sanitation violations are not being responded to by local health officers.  Regular inspections of parks would help identify problems.

Testimony Against:  (Original bill):  Certification of all mobile home parks is unnecessary.  The focus should be on those parks that are not meeting standards, and why the local health officials are not responding to complaints.

Witnesses:  John Woodring and Paul McWherter, Washington Mobile Park Owners Association (opposes original bill); and Bob Jacobson, Senior Lobby (supports original bill.)