AN ACT Relating to mobile home relocation; amending RCW 59.21.010, 59.21.020, 59.21.050, 59.21.060, 82.45.090, 82.08.065, 59.21.080, and 59.22.060; repealing RCW 59.21.090; and providing an effective date.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

Sec. 1. Section 1, chapter 201, Laws of 1989 and RCW 59.21.010 are each amended to read as follows:

Unless the context clearly requires otherwise, the definitions in this section apply throughout this chapter.

(1) "Director" means the director of the department of community development.

(2) "Department" means the department of community development.

(3) "Fund" means the mobile home park relocation fund established under RCW 59.21.050 consisting of tenant and landlord contributions.

(4) "Low-income" means at or below eighty percent of median household income as defined by the United States department of housing and urban development, for the county or standard metropolitan statistical area where the park is located.

(5) "Mobile home park" or "park" means real property that is rented or held out for rent to others for the placement of two or more mobile homes for the primary purpose of production of income, except where the real property is rented or held out for rent for seasonal recreational purpose only and is not intended for year-round occupancy.

(6) "Landlord" or "park-owner" means the owner of the mobile home park that is being closed at the time ((~~relocation assistance is provided~~)) written closure notice is given.

(7) "Relocate" means to remove the mobile home from the mobile home park being closed.

(8) "Relocation assistance" means the monetary assistance provided under RCW 59.21.020.

Sec. 2. Section 2, chapter 201, Laws of 1989 and RCW 59.21.020 are each amended to read as follows:

(1) If a mobile home park is closed or converted to another use, all affected park tenants are entitled to relocation assistance from the park-owner or the fund at the time the tenant relocates as follows: (a) For a single-wide mobile home, ((~~four~~)) three thousand five hundred dollars; and (b) for a double-wide or larger mobile home, ((~~seven~~)) five thousand ((~~five hundred~~)) dollars. The relocation assistance costs shall be adjusted annually by the housing component of the consumer price index for the Washington state area.

(2) When a tenant is forced to relocate before July 1, 1991, the payment of relocation assistance as provided by this section shall be paid by the park-owner. However, if the tenant has been given notice to vacate prior to April 1, 1989, and the tenant has not yet relocated as of April 28, 1989, the payment of relocation assistance by the park-owner shall be required only if the tenant is low income.

(3) When a tenant is forced to relocate after June 30, 1991, the payment of relocation assistance to low-income park tenants as provided in this section shall be shared as follows: The landlord or park-owner shall provide one-third and the fund shall provide two-thirds.

(4) After July 1, 1992, (a) if twenty-four months' notice of closure is given, the landlord or park-owner shall provide five hundred dollars for a single-wide home or one thousand dollars for a double-wide or larger home and the fund shall provide the balance of the relocation assistance to low-income park tenants; (b) if the park-owner gives less than twenty-four months' notice the park-owner shall provide one-third and the fund shall provide two-thirds of the relocation assistance to low-income park tenants.

(5) The park-owner shall be responsible for paying up to the full amount of relocation assistance to low-income park tenants if there are insufficient moneys in the fund. The department shall adopt rules governing disbursals of assistance from the fund and park-owner payments when there are insufficient moneys to meet the demand for relocation assistance.

(6) The park-owner shall pay park tenants who do not qualify as low-income tenants the same amount of relocation assistance that low-income park tenants are entitled to from the park-owners under this section. The landlord shall pay the relocation assistance directly to the tenant if the tenant submits to the landlord a copy of the contract entered into for the purpose of relocating the mobile home, which includes the date of relocation. The tenant may recover court costs and a reasonable attorney's fee in any action brought to require the landlord to pay relocation assistance under this subsection in which the tenant prevails.

(7) The park-owner shall make any payment to the department required by this chapter when demanded by the department; however, the department shall not demand such payment earlier than thirty days prior to the expected relocation date of the tenant. If the landlord does not pay his or her portion of the relocation assistance to the department when required by this chapter, the department shall have a lien on the real property on which the park is located. Such lien shall be collected as delinquent general property taxes and shall be forwarded to the department by the county treasurer.

((~~(6)~~)) (8) The director or his or her designee shall approve all expenditures from the fund.

((~~(7)~~)) (9) Relocation assistance contributions required from landlords or park-owners by this section shall be reduced by the amount paid or required to be paid under any other law for the same mobile home park tenant for the same relocation.

(10) Notwithstanding RCW 59.21.100, it is a violation of this chapter to request or require as a condition of initiating or renewing a tenancy in a mobile home park, a waiver of relocation assistance under this section or any other law or ordinance. Any such waiver, regardless of the date of its execution, is void and unenforceable as contrary to public policy.

Sec. 3. Section 5, chapter 201, Laws of 1989 and RCW 59.21.050 are each amended to read as follows:

(1) The mobile home park relocation fund is created in the custody of the state treasurer. All legislative appropriations for mobile home relocation assistance, receipts from ((~~assessments~~)) fees collected under RCW 59.21.060(2), and amounts required to be paid by park-owners to low-income park tenants shall be deposited into the fund. Expenditures from the fund may be used only for ((~~administration of the fund,~~)) relocation assistance under RCW 59.21.020, or transfer to the mobile home park purchase fund under subsection (2) of this section. Only the director of community development or the director's designee may authorize expenditures from the fund. All relocation payments to low-income park tenants, including those due from the park-owner shall be made from the fund. The fund is subject to allotment procedures under chapter 43.88 RCW, but no appropriation is required for expenditures.

(2) The state treasurer shall maintain the fund and shall invest the fund moneys. Moneys earned on these investments shall be deposited in the fund and shall be used for the same purposes as other fund moneys. Unexpended and unencumbered moneys that remain in the fund at the end of the fiscal year do not revert to the state general fund but remain in the fund, separately accounted for, as a contingency reserve, or if the director determines at the end of any fiscal year beginning after December 31, 1991, that the fund contains a surplus over the projected amount needed for relocation during the upcoming year(s), any surplus may be transferred to the mobile home park purchase fund created by chapter 59.22 RCW. However, the director may cause any uncommitted funds in the mobile home park purchase fund which were transferred from the mobile home park relocation fund to be transferred back to the mobile home park relocation fund if that fund cannot otherwise meet its current obligations.

(3) A low-income park tenant who is entitled to relocation assistance under this chapter is entitled to payment only after submitting an application which includes: (a) A copy of the notice from the park-owner that the tenancy is terminated due to closure of the park; (b) a copy of the rental agreement currently in force; and (c) a copy of the contract entered into for the purpose of relocating the mobile home, which includes the date of relocation.

(4) The director may adopt rules for the administration of the fund.

(((5) The department may use money from the fund to offset the necessary costs of administering the fund. Administrative cost reimbursement shall not exceed fifty thousand dollars or five percent of the revenue to the fund for any given fiscal year, whichever is greater, to offset expenses incurred during that year.))

Sec. 4. Section 6, chapter 201, Laws of 1989 and RCW 59.21.060 are each amended to read as follows:

(1) There is hereby ((~~placed~~)) imposed a fee of fifteen dollars on ((~~all~~)) every transfer of title on new or used mobile homes ((located in mobile home parks an annual assessment of eleven dollars per mobile home beginning on January 1, 1990. The assessment shall be collected by the county treasurer or treasurers within the county or counties where the mobile home or the mobile home park is located. Notice of the assessment created under this section may be included on the notice of property taxes due, or may be sent separately from the notice of property taxes due. The assessment created under this section shall be due at the same time property taxes are due and shall constitute a lien on the mobile home upon which the assessment is imposed. Delinquent assessments created under this section shall be foreclosed in the same manner, and subject to the same time schedules, interest, and penalties as delinquent property taxes. County treasurers may impose a fee for collecting the assessment created in this section not to exceed five percent of the dollar value of the collection of assessments created under this section. The county treasurer may collect the assessment for 1990 at the same time the county treasurer collects the assessment for 1991 if the county treasurer would experience undue hardship in collecting the 1990 assessment in that year.

(2) Upon the request of the treasurer of the county or counties where the mobile home park is located, each park-owner shall provide the county treasurer with a list of all tenants residing in the park on January 1, 1989. This list shall be mailed by August 1, 1989, to the treasurer or treasurers of the county or counties where the mobile home park is located. The list shall include the name and address of each tenant, and the mobile home tax number of each tenant if available. Upon the request of the treasurer of the county or counties where the mobile home park is located, the park-owners shall update the list of tenants residing in the park.

(3) The assessments collected under subsection (1) of this section shall be forwarded to the state treasurer, less any administration fee collected by the county treasurer under this section. The state treasurer shall deposit one dollar of the assessment collected per mobile home in the mobile home affairs account created by RCW 59.22.070; the remainder of the assessment forwarded to the state treasurer under this subsection shall be deposited in the mobile home park relocation fund created under RCW 59.21.050.

~~(4)~~)) where ownership of the mobile home is changed by any transaction including but not limited to sales and gift transactions. The county auditor or county treasurer shall collect the fee as provided in chapter 82.08 or 82.45 RCW. The fee collected under this section shall be forwarded to the state treasurer. The state treasurer shall deposit the fees collected in the mobile home affairs account created by RCW 59.22.070.

(2) An annual fee of ten dollars is imposed on all mobile homes located in mobile home parks except for mobile homes owned by the park-owner or mobile home lots that are vacant for at least sixty percent of the year. The fee shall be collected by the park-owner and forwarded to the department of revenue under such rules as the department may prescribe. The department of revenue shall forward the ten-dollar fee per mobile home collected by the landlord to the mobile home park relocation fund created under RCW 59.21.050. The department of revenue may impose a lien on the mobile home park pursuant to chapter 82.32 RCW for any fees that are uncollected by the landlord.

(3) The department of revenue, the department of licensing, and the state treasurer((~~, and the county treasurers~~)) may enact any rules necessary to carry out this section.

Sec. 5. Section 28A.45.090, chapter 223, Laws of 1969 ex. sess. as last amended by section 2, chapter 192, Laws of 1984 and RCW 82.45.090 are each amended to read as follows:

The tax imposed by this chapter and the fee imposed in RCW 59.21.060(1) shall be paid to and collected by the treasurer of the county within which is located the real property which was sold, said treasurer acting as agent for the state. The county treasurer shall cause a stamp evidencing satisfaction of the lien to be affixed to the instrument of sale or conveyance prior to its recording or to the real estate excise tax affidavit in the case of used mobile home sales and used floating home sales. A receipt issued by the county treasurer for the payment of the tax imposed under this chapter shall be evidence of the satisfaction of the lien imposed hereunder and may be recorded in the manner prescribed for recording satisfactions of mortgages. No instrument of sale or conveyance evidencing a sale subject to the tax shall be accepted by the county auditor for filing or recording until the tax shall have been paid and the stamp affixed thereto; in case the tax is not due on the transfer, the instrument shall not be so accepted until suitable notation of such fact has been made on the instrument by the treasurer.

Sec. 6. Section 1, chapter 89, Laws of 1987 and RCW 82.08.065 are each amended to read as follows:

In the collection of the sales tax on mobile homes and the fee imposed in RCW 59.21.060(1), the department of revenue may designate the county auditors of the several counties of the state as its collecting agents. Upon such designation, it shall be the duty of each county auditor to collect the tax and the fee at the time the mobile home dealer or selling agent applies for a new certificate of ownership for such mobile home in the instance where transfer of ownership was from a mobile home dealer or person deemed a selling agent under RCW 82.04.480, except where the applicant presents a written statement signed by the department of revenue or its duly authorized agent showing that no retail sales tax or use tax is legally due. The term "mobile home" as used in this section means a mobile home as defined in RCW 46.04.302. It shall be the duty of every mobile home dealer or selling agent to declare upon the application for a new certificate of ownership the selling price paid for the mobile home. Any person willfully misrepresenting, or failing or refusing to declare upon the application, such selling price shall be guilty of a gross misdemeanor.

Each county auditor who acts as agent of the department of revenue shall at the time of remitting license fee receipts on motor vehicles subject to the provisions of RCW 82.12.045 pay over and account to the state treasurer for all sales tax revenue collected under this section, after first deducting as his or her collection fee the sum of two dollars for each mobile home upon which the tax has been collected.

Any applicant who has paid sales tax to a county auditor under this section may apply to the department of revenue for refund thereof if he has reason to believe that such tax was not legally due and owing. No refund is allowed unless application therefor is received by the department of revenue within four years after payment of the tax. Upon receipt of an application for refund the department of revenue shall consider the same and issue its order either granting or denying it and if refund is denied the taxpayer shall have the right of appeal as provided in RCW 82.32.170, 82.32.180, and 82.32.190.

The provisions of this section shall be construed as cumulative of other methods prescribed in chapters 82.04 to 82.32 RCW, inclusive, for the collection of the tax imposed by this chapter. The department of revenue shall have power to adopt such rules as may be necessary to administer the provisions of this section. Any duties required by this section to be performed by the county auditor may be performed by the director of licensing but no collection fee shall be deductible by the director of licensing in remitting sales tax revenue to the state treasurer.

Sec. 7. Section 11, chapter 201, Laws of 1989 and RCW 59.21.080 are each amended to read as follows:

Before a mobile home park-owner may close a mobile home park or convert it to another use, the owner shall pay amounts owed for relocation assistance under RCW 59.21.020 to the ((~~state treasurer~~)) department for deposit into the fund. A park-owner may give notice as required by RCW 59.20.080 and this chapter before payment of these amounts.

Sec. 8. Section 4, chapter 280, Laws of 1988 as amended by section 7, chapter 201, Laws of 1989 and RCW 59.22.060 are each amended to read as follows:

(1) Every landlord shall register by October 1, 1988, with the department of revenue under such rules as that department shall prescribe.

(2) Every landlord shall pay a fee of one dollar per lot per year, except for unoccupied lots, until December 31, 1990. This fee shall be remitted by the landlord to the department of revenue under such rules as the department shall prescribe. The department of revenue shall forward the one-dollar fee per lot paid by the landlord to the mobile home affairs account created by RCW 59.22.070.

((~~(3) This section shall take effect on January 1, 1990.~~))

NEW SECTION. Sec. 9. Sections 4, 5, and 6 of this act shall take effect July 1, 1990.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 10. Section 13, chapter 201, Laws of 1989 and RCW 59.21.090 are each repealed.