BILL REQ. #:  S-2261.1 

READ FIRST TIME 02/26/07.   

     AN ACT Relating to the preservation of manufactured/mobile home communities by providing a tax exemption; adding a new section to chapter 82.45 RCW; adding a new chapter to Title 59 RCW; and repealing RCW 59.23.005, 59.23.010, 59.23.015, 59.23.020, 59.23.025, 59.23.030, 59.23.035, and 59.23.040.

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

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1   (1) The legislature finds that:
     (a) Manufactured/mobile home communities provide a significant source of homeownership opportunities for Washington residents. However, the increasing closure and conversion of manufactured/mobile home communities to other uses, combined with increasing manufactured/mobile home lot rents, low vacancy rates in existing manufactured/mobile home communities, and the extremely high cost of moving homes when manufactured/mobile home communities close, increasingly make manufactured/mobile home community living insecure for manufactured/mobile home tenants.
     (b) The preservation of manufactured/mobile home communities is a more economical alternative than providing new replacement housing units for tenants who are displaced from closing manufactured/mobile home communities.
     (2) It is the intent of the legislature to encourage and facilitate the preservation of existing manufactured/mobile home communities in the event of voluntary sales of manufactured/mobile home communities and, to the extent necessary and possible, to involve manufactured/mobile home community tenants or an eligible organization representing tenants in the preservation of manufactured/mobile home communities.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 2   The definitions in this section apply throughout this chapter unless the context clearly requires otherwise.
     (1) "Eligible organization" includes local governments, local housing authorities, nonprofit community or neighborhood-based organizations, federally recognized Indian tribes in the state of Washington, and regional or statewide nonprofit housing assistance organizations.
     (2) "Housing authority" or "authority" means any of the public body corporate and politic created in RCW 35.82.030.
     (3) "Local government" means a town government, city government, code city government, or county government in the state of Washington.
     (4) "Manufactured home" means a single-family dwelling built according to the United States department of housing and urban development manufactured home construction and safety standards act, which is a national preemptive building code. A manufactured home also: (a) Includes plumbing, heating, air conditioning, and electrical systems; (b) is built on a permanent chassis; and (c) can be transported in one or more sections with each section at least eight feet wide and forty feet long when transported, or when installed on the site is three hundred twenty square feet or greater.
     (5) "Mobile home" means a factory-built dwelling built before June 15, 1976, to standards other than the United States department of housing and urban development code, and acceptable under applicable state codes in effect at the time of construction or introduction of the home into the state. Mobile homes have not been built since the introduction of the United States department of housing and urban development manufactured home construction and safety act.
     (6) "Manufactured/mobile home" means either a manufactured home or a mobile home.
     (7) "Manufactured/mobile home community" means any real property that is rented or held out for rent to others for the placement of two or more manufactured/mobile homes or park models 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.
     (8) "Qualified tenant organization" means a formal organization of tenants within a manufactured/mobile home community, with the only requirement for membership consisting of being a tenant.     
     (9) "Qualified sale of a manufactured/mobile home community" means the sale of land and improvements comprising a manufactured/mobile home community that is transferred in a single purchase to a qualified tenant organization or to an eligible organization representing the tenants.
     (10) "Sale" has the same meaning as in RCW 82.45.010.
     (11) "Tenant" means a person who rents a manufactured/mobile home lot for a term of one month or longer and owns the manufactured/mobile home on the lot.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 3   A qualified sale of a manufactured/mobile home community is exempt from the excise tax imposed under chapter 82.45 RCW, as provided for in section 4 of this act.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 4   A new section is added to chapter 82.45 RCW to read as follows:
     (1) A qualified sale of a manufactured/mobile home community as described in section 3 of this act is exempt from tax under this chapter.
     (2) The department shall establish by rule a process to determine whether such a sale is exempt from tax under this chapter.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 5   The following acts or parts of acts are each repealed:
     (1) RCW 59.23.005 (Findings -- Intent) and 1993 c 66 s 1;
     (2) RCW 59.23.010 (Obligation of good faith) and 1993 c 66 s 2;
     (3) RCW 59.23.015 (Application of chapter -- Definition of "notice") and 1993 c 66 s 3;
     (4) RCW 59.23.020 (Definitions) and 1993 c 66 s 4;
     (5) RCW 59.23.025 (Notice to qualified tenant organization of sale of mobile home park -- Time frame for negotiations -- Terms -- Transfer or sale to relatives) and 1993 c 66 s 5;
     (6) RCW 59.23.030 (Improper notice by mobile home park owner -- Sale may be set aside -- Attorneys' fees) and 1993 c 66 s 6;
     (7) RCW 59.23.035 (Notice to mobile home park owner of sale of tenant's mobile home -- Time frame for negotiations -- Terms -- Transfer or sale to relatives) and 1993 c 66 s 7; and
     (8) RCW 59.23.040 (Improper notice by mobile home owner -- Sale may be set aside -- Attorneys' fees) and 1993 c 66 s 8.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 6   If any provision of this act or its application to any person or circumstance is held invalid, the remainder of the act or the application of the provision to other persons or circumstances is not affected.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 7   Sections 1 through 3 of this act constitute a new chapter in Title 59 RCW.