Committee advances narrow manufactured‑housing fixes, directs MOCA to pursue full recodification

The Maine House and Senate members of the Housing & Economic Development Committee voted in a straw poll to ask staff to draft two narrower committee bills addressing immediate changes to manufactured‑housing law and to advance a concept resolve directing the Maine Office of Community Affairs (MOCA) to pursue a full recodification during the interim.

Analyst Lynn Westfall told the committee she had drafted a 40‑page mini‑recodification that would reframe existing statutes but warned the reviser's office and the committee’s March 13 deadline make it unlikely the full package could be finished this session. Instead she proposed three committee vehicles: a ‘‘gold’’ bill containing lower‑risk fixes (including assigning the attorney general responsibility for enforcement of community rules, clarifying mediation provisions from LD 1723, requiring buyer inspections before purchasing a manufactured‑housing community, and allowing title conversion of homes from personal property to real estate); a ‘‘pink’’ emergency bill exempting certain in‑park electrical and plumbing work from master‑licensing requirements when supervised by credentialed professionals; and a ‘‘purple’’ concept resolve to charge MOCA, with OCCLA and the reviser's office, to complete the recodification work in the interim and introduce implementing legislation in the next regular session.

Members questioned whether the small fixes would truly avoid the drafting complexity of a full recodification and raised concerns about the pink bill's licensing implications. Representative Amanda Collomore noted uncertainty about whether licensing boards are on board with statutory exemptions and said she would not support moving forward, citing worry that rushed fixes will force additional correction bills later. Staff and MOCA officials said the pink and gold bills are intended to be discrete, addressable items and that moving them to the reviser would allow public hearings and further committee work before any final vote.

The committee proceeded with a nonbinding straw poll on advancing the gold and pink drafts; a majority raised hands and the chair said the committee would move forward with drafting. Staff also described transition language in Part RRR to move Manufactured Housing Board functions into MOCA, and recommended adding explicit successor language for HUD administrative responsibilities. Analysts advised members that removing a statutory fee cap would make future fee changes a major substantive rulemaking and therefore require legislative review.

Next steps: the staff will send the gold and pink bills to the reviser's office for drafting and return them to committee for public hearings and work sessions; the purple concept resolve will appear as a concept draft directing interim recodification work by MOCA.