By: Hamilton (Senate Sponsor - Eltife) H.B. No. 2238
(In the Senate - Received from the House April 14, 2009;
April 15, 2009, read first time and referred to Committee on
Business and Commerce; April 24, 2009, reported adversely, with
favorable Committee Substitute by the following vote: Yeas 7,
Nays 0; April 24, 2009, sent to printer.)
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR H.B. No. 2238 By: Eltife
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the regulation of manufactured housing.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subchapter A, Chapter 1201, Occupations Code, is
amended by adding Section 1201.009 to read as follows:
Sec. 1201.009. ELECTRONIC MEANS AUTHORIZED. If feasible,
any action required under this chapter may be accomplished by
electronic means.
SECTION 2. Section 1201.058, Occupations Code, is amended
by adding Subsection (e) to read as follows:
(e) If the governor by executive order or proclamation
declares a state of disaster under Chapter 418, Government Code,
the director, in accordance with rules adopted by the board, may
waive the imposition of any fee under this chapter in the affected
area.
SECTION 3. Sections 1201.104(c), (e), and (f), Occupations
Code, are amended to read as follows:
(c) An applicant for a salesperson's license may apply for a
license without having completed the course of instruction if
[provided that] the person successfully completes the [next
scheduled] course not later than the 90th day [offered] after the
date of the person's licensure. If the person fails to complete
such course successfully and in a timely manner, the person's
license is automatically suspended until the person successfully
completes the course.
(e) The board shall adopt rules relating to course content
and approval. [Classes must be live. Online or other electronic
classes are not permitted.]
(f) An applicant for an initial installer's license shall
receive a license on a provisional [probationary] basis. The
person's provisional [probationary] status remains [shall remain]
in effect until [such time as] a sufficient number of installations
completed by the person have been inspected by the department and
found not to have any identified material violations of the
department's rules. The board, with the advice of the advisory
committee to be established under Section 1201.251, shall adopt
rules to establish what constitutes a sufficient number of
installations under this subsection.
SECTION 4. Section 1201.113(b), Occupations Code, is
amended to read as follows:
(b) Completion of [Attendance at] an approved or
administered continuing education course described by Subsection
(a) is a prerequisite to renewal of a license.
SECTION 5. Section 1201.114, Occupations Code, is amended
to read as follows:
Sec. 1201.114. LICENSE EXPIRATION[; PROBATIONARY LICENSE].
[(a)] Any license under this chapter [other than a probationary
license] is valid for two years. A license may be renewed as
provided by the director. A person whose license has been suspended
or revoked or whose license has expired may not engage in activities
that require a license until the license has been reinstated or
renewed.
[(b) If the director determines that a licensed salesperson
or installer should receive a probationary license, the director
may issue a probationary license on such terms and for such period
as are deemed reasonable. The issuance of a license on a
probationary basis, any one or more of the specific terms of the
probation, or the period of probation may be appealed before the
31st day after issuance of the probationary license by written
notice to the director. If appeal is made, the director shall set
the matter for a hearing before the State Office of Administrative
Hearings, and all administrative proceedings relating to the
issuance of the probationary license shall be deemed to be a
contested case under Chapter 2001, Government Code. If no appeal is
made, the probationary license shall be issued and shall remain in
effect in accordance with the terms specified.]
SECTION 6. Sections 1201.116(a) and (c), Occupations Code,
are amended to read as follows:
(a) The department shall renew a license if the department
receives the renewal application and payment of the required
[annual] fee before the expiration date of the license.
(c) The renewal license expires on the second [first]
anniversary of the date the license was renewed.
SECTION 7. Section 1201.204(c), Occupations Code, is
amended to read as follows:
(c) After the first retail sale of a manufactured home, the
retailer must submit the original manufacturer's certificate for
that home to the department. If an application for an initial
statement of ownership is made without the required manufacturer's
certificate and the retailer does not provide it as required, the
department shall, on or before the issuance of the requested
statement of ownership and location, send written notice to each
party currently reflected on the department's records as having a
recorded lien on the inventory of that retailer with respect to that
home. Failure to include the original manufacturer's certificate
with such an application does not impair a consumer's ability to
obtain, on submittal of an otherwise complete application, a
statement of ownership and location free and clear of any liens
other than liens created by or consented to by the consumer.
SECTION 8. Section 1201.206(g), Occupations Code, is
amended to read as follows:
(g) When [the seller files] an application for the issuance
of a statement of ownership and location for a used manufactured
home that is not in a retailer's inventory is filed, [the seller
shall also file with the department] a statement from the tax
assessor-collector for the taxing unit having power to tax the
manufactured home shall also be filed with the department. The
statement from the tax assessor-collector must indicate that there
are no personal property taxes due on the manufactured home that may
have accrued on each January 1 that falls within the 18 months
before the date of the sale.
SECTION 9. Section 1201.207(c), Occupations Code, is
amended to read as follows:
(c) Except with respect to any change in use, servicing of a
loan on a manufactured home, or change in ownership of a lien on a
manufactured home, but subject to Section 1201.2075, if the
department has issued a statement of ownership and location for a
manufactured home, the department may issue a subsequent statement
of ownership and location for the home only if all parties reflected
in the department's records as having an interest in the
manufactured home give their written consent or release their
interest, either in writing or by operation of law, or the
department has followed the procedures provided by Section
1201.206(k) to document ownership and lien status. Once the
department issues a statement of ownership and location, the
department shall not alter the record of the ownership or lien
status, other than to change the record to accurately reflect the
proper owner's or lienholder's identity, of a manufactured home for
any activity occurring before the issuance of the statement of
ownership and location without either the written permission of the
owner of record for the manufactured home, their legal
representative, or a court order.
SECTION 10. Sections 1201.217(b) and (c), Occupations Code,
are amended to read as follows:
(b) Before declaring a manufactured home abandoned, the
owner of real property on which the home is located must send a
notice of intent to declare the home abandoned to the record owner
of the home, all lienholders at the addresses listed on the home's
statement of ownership and location on file with the department,
[and] the tax collector for each taxing unit that imposes ad valorem
taxes on the real property where the home is located, and any
intervening owners of liens or equitable interests. The notice
must include the address where the home is currently located. If
the person giving such notice knows that a [the] person to whom the
notice is being given no longer resides and is no longer receiving
mail at a known [such] address, a reasonable effort shall be made to
locate the person and give the person notice at an address where the
person is receiving mail. Mailing of the notice by certified mail,
return receipt requested, postage prepaid, to the persons required
to be notified by this subsection constitutes conclusive proof of
compliance with this subsection.
(c) On receipt of a notice of intent to declare a
manufactured home abandoned, the record owner of the home, a
lienholder, [or] a tax assessor-collector for a taxing unit that
imposes ad valorem taxes on the real property on which the home is
located, or an intervening owner of a lien or equitable interest may
enter the real property on which the home is located to remove the
home. The real property owner must disclose to the record owner,
lienholder, [or] tax assessor-collector, or intervening owner
seeking to remove the home the location of the home and grant the
person reasonable access to the home. A person removing a home is
responsible to the real property owner for any damage to the real
property resulting from the removal of the home.
SECTION 11. Section 1201.219, Occupations Code, is amended
by amending Subsection (b) and adding Subsection (d) to read as
follows:
(b) Except as provided by Subsection (a) and subject to
Subsection (d), a lien on a manufactured home is perfected only by
filing with the department the notice of lien on a form provided by
the department. [The form shall require the disclosure of the
original dollar amount of the lien and, if a tax lien, the name and
address of the person in whose name the manufactured home is listed
on the tax roll.] The department shall disclose on its website the
date of each lien filing. A[, the original amount of the lien
claimed by each filing, and the fact that the amount shown does not
include additional sums including interest, penalties, and
attorney's fees. The statement required by Section 1201.205(7) is
notice to all persons that the tax lien exists. Except as expressly
provided by Chapter 32, Tax Code, a] lien recorded with the
department has priority, according to the chronological order of
recordation, over another lien or claim against the manufactured
home[. Tax liens shall be filed by the tax collector for any taxing
unit having the power to tax the manufactured home. A single filing
by a tax collector is a filing for all the taxing units for which the
tax collector is empowered to collect].
(d) Except as provided by Subsection (a), a tax lien on a
manufactured home is perfected only by filing with the department
the notice of the tax lien on a form provided by the department in
accordance with the requirements of Chapter 32, Tax Code. The form
must require the disclosure of the original dollar amount of the tax
lien and the name and address of the person in whose name the
manufactured home is listed on the tax roll. The department shall
disclose on its Internet website the date of each tax lien filing,
the original amount of the tax lien claimed by each filing, and the
fact that the amount shown does not include additional sums,
including interest, penalties, and attorney's fees. The statement
required by Section 1201.205(7) is notice to all persons that the
tax lien exists. A tax lien recorded with the department has
priority over another lien or claim against the manufactured home.
Tax liens shall be filed by the tax collector for any taxing unit
having the power to tax the manufactured home. A single filing by a
tax collector is a filing for all the taxing units for which the tax
collector is empowered to collect.
SECTION 12. Section 1201.255(b), Occupations Code, is
amended to read as follows:
(b) An installer may not install a used manufactured home at
a location on a site that has evidence of ponding, runoff under
heavy rains, or bare uncompacted soil unless the installer first
obtains the owner's signature on a form promulgated by the board
disclosing that such conditions may contribute to problems with the
stabilization system for that manufactured home, including
possible damage to that home, and the owner accepts that risk.
SECTION 13. Section 1201.358(c), Occupations Code, is
amended to read as follows:
(c) The director may issue an order:
(1) directing a manufacturer, retailer, or installer
whose license is not revoked, suspended, or subject to an
administrative sanction under Section 1201.357(b) and who is not
out of business to perform the warranty obligation of a
manufacturer, retailer, or installer whose license is revoked,
suspended, or subject to an administrative sanction under Section
1201.357(b) or who is out of business; and
(2) giving the manufacturer, retailer, or installer
performing the obligation the right of indemnification against
another party.
SECTION 14. Section 1201.404(a), Occupations Code, is
amended to read as follows:
(a) Except as otherwise provided by Subchapter C, the trust
fund shall be paid directly to a consumer or, at the director's
option, to a third party on behalf of a consumer [used] to
compensate a consumer who sustains actual damages resulting from an
unsatisfied claim against a licensed manufacturer, retailer,
broker, or installer if the unsatisfied claim results from a
violation of:
(1) this chapter;
(2) a rule adopted by the director;
(3) the National Manufactured Housing Construction
and Safety Standards Act of 1974 (42 U.S.C. Section 5401 et seq.);
(4) a rule or regulation of the United States
Department of Housing and Urban Development; or
(5) Subchapter E, Chapter 17, Business & Commerce
Code.
SECTION 15. The following sections of the Occupations Code
are repealed:
(1) Section 1201.160;
(2) Section 1201.2055(b); and
(3) Section 1201.405(b).
SECTION 16. (a) Sections 1201.104(c) and (f), Occupations
Code, as amended by this Act, apply only to a license application
filed with the executive director of the manufactured housing
division of the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs
on or after the effective date of this Act. An application filed
with the executive director of the manufactured housing division of
the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs before the
effective date of this Act is governed by the law in effect
immediately before that date, and the former law is continued in
effect for that purpose.
(b) Sections 1201.113(b) and 1201.116(a) and (c),
Occupations Code, as amended by this Act, apply only to a license
that is renewed on or after the effective date of this Act. A
license that is renewed before the effective date of this Act is
governed by the law in effect immediately before that date, and the
former law is continued in effect for that purpose.
(c) Section 1201.206(g), Occupations Code, as amended by
this Act, applies only to an application for a statement of
ownership and location filed on or after the effective date of this
Act. An application for a statement of ownership and location filed
before the effective date of this Act is governed by the law in
effect immediately before that date, and the former law is
continued in effect for that purpose.
SECTION 17. This Act takes effect September 1, 2009.
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