Committee backs Senate amendments in straw poll for manufactured-housing bill; Senate language adds sunset and study of funding access

The Ways & Means committee reviewed Senate amendments to a manufactured-housing bill that originally sought to treat limited equity cooperatives operating mobile-home parks "as if" they were nonprofit corporations for purposes of accessing state funding and grants. Cameron Wood of the Office of Legislative Council summarized the amendments and the Senate’s approach.

Wood said the Senate preserved the nonprofit-treatment provision only temporarily and added a sunset (July 1, 2027) and a directed report from the Department of Housing and Community Development to identify state funding and grant programs, eligibility rules and regulatory barriers that prevent limited equity cooperatives from accessing those funds. "The Senate Economic Development Committee was saying, we're okay with this very broad statement... let's identify what those funding streams are," Wood said.

The Senate also altered effective dates for sales and use tax changes tied to the bill — moving some to Jan. 1, 2028 — and the panel discussed how adjusting effective dates shifts fiscal impacts into later budget years. A fiscal presenter summarized estimates that increasing the sales-tax exemption for manufactured homes (from 40% to 90% of the transaction) would have had a fiscal impact of about $200,000 in fiscal 2027 and about $500,000 in fiscal 2028, and that pushing effective dates moves those impacts accordingly.

The chair conducted a straw poll on accepting the Senate’s amendments; the committee recorded the result as "Favorable 11-0-0." Members indicated they would go to the floor and then return to complete formal votes later.

Sources: Transcript of the Ways & Means committee meeting; Cameron Wood, Office of Legislative Council; fiscal office comments.