Indiana committee hears House Bill 1477 on mobile-home parks; bill held for further work

House Bill 1477, which the author said would add enforcement tools when mobile‑home community owners fall behind on utility bills and would narrow local zoning restrictions on single‑wide manufactured homes, was presented to the committee but was not voted on Tuesday.

Representative Zimmerman, the bill’s sponsor, told the committee that Section 1 aims “that we don't want owners of mobile home communities to receive money for tenants paying their water bills [and] not pay the water utility at the end of the day,” and that the measure would require parks to be given notice and would notify the Department of Health earlier so that it could begin enforcement before a water shutoff occurs.

The bill would also add a court receivership remedy if a community remains in arrears and would prevent local governments from categorically precluding placement of a HUD‑built single‑wide manufactured home on rural private property, the sponsor said.

Campbell Ricci of the Association of Indiana Municipalities (AIM) said the utility notice and enforcement changes “essentially is trying to give tools to deal with that before you have to go to a water shut off,” describing cases where an entire park’s single meter fell into arrears and owners were unreachable.

Ron Breimeyer, executive director of the Indiana Manufactured Housing Association, said single‑wide manufactured homes are built to the HUD Code and noted state law already treats a grouping of four or more manufactured homes as a licensed manufactured‑housing community, subject to Department of Health licensure and inspection.

Senators on the committee questioned whether the change that would preempt county planning and zoning for single‑wide placement would strip locally elected officials of needed land‑use controls. Senator Niemeyer and others said counties use zoning and permitting to address public health, septic and density concerns; sponsor Zimmerman and witnesses stressed that health and septic permitting and state licensure would still apply.

Ryan Hoff of the Association of Indiana Counties opposed the language that would preempt county planning authority, asking the sponsor to remove specific lines in Section 3 that counties said would eliminate a local objection process in some unincorporated but populated areas.

The committee did not take a vote. The sponsor indicated willingness to work with county and municipal groups on compromise language; the bill was held for further amendment and possible vote at a later date.

The discussion included multiple speakers from local governments, industry and associations, and committee members pressed on implementation details including whether tenants could be billed directly and how receivership and enforcement would operate in practice.

The committee recorded no final action on HB 1477 at this hearing; the author and interested parties said they would meet in the interim to refine language and return with amendments.