Advocacy Updates
What is CalOHA Currently Monitoring?
AB 1472 – Assemblyman Alvarez (San Diego)
Assembly bill 1472 was proposed last year as a local bill in the town of Imperial Beach in south San Diego. Assembly housing would not pass the bill unless it was statewide. So, the ASM did what any new legislator would do and took the bill statewide. While it did pass the Assembly it was ultimately held up in the Senate Judiciary committee.
CalOHA along with our lobbyist, Andrew Govenar of Governmental Advocates opposed the bill in the judiciary hearing where the Asm was told to work on it and bring it back in a week. No changes were made to the bill, and it was ultimately voted down in the judiciary hearing with reconsideration granted.
Reconsideration means that Asm Alvarez can opt to re-work the bill and bring it back to Senate Judiciary. He has one year or until July 11th to do this. Presently, it is shown on his website as Inactive. We are closely monitoring AB 1472 in the event the Asm would like to bring it back for further review.
SB 620 - Senator McGuire
This bill would specify that, for purposes of that act, a special occupancy park does not include a low-impact camping area. The bill would define a “low-impact camping area” to mean any area of private property that provides for the transient occupancy rental of a temporary sleeping accommodation, as defined, for recreational purposes that is not a commercial lodging facility and meets specified requirements.
This bill was proposed to Senator McGuire by Hipcamp as a way to make it easier for any property owners in California to open a campground.
Specifically, the bill states that “low impact” would be 9 sites or less and that these “campgrounds” would no longer be under the jurisdiction of Housing and Community Development (HCD). These properties would essentially be under county regulations. The problem with this is that counties do not have regulations for campgrounds because they haven’t needed them.
In working with Senator McGuire and his staff we have requested the following:
- Business must comply with county code for water, waste water, and electric. Including but not limited to oversite by the California Water Boards and/or Coastal Commission.
- RV of all kinds must be excluded. RV, travel trailer, Van conversions. Must be truly “low impact”.
- Expansion beyond 9 units would move business to HCD jurisdiction. Enforcement and inspection policy must be written and adhered to by the county.
- Determine the civil code that would apply to removals of guests and enforcement procedures.
We are also working with our legal team on recommended language for the civil code that does not currently exist. Enforcement is going to be difficult and may prevent many counties from adopting this legislation.
If you would like to share your opinions with Senator McGuire you can drop them a line directly to Christopher.nielsen@sen.ca.gov.
Commissioner Lara and the FAIR Plan have reached an agreement to increase the commercial coverage limit to $20 million, more than doubling the existing limit for California businesses! The new agreement signed March 29th by Commissioner Lara and FAIR Plan President Victoria Roach will increase the combined coverage limits for the FAIR Plan, under its Division I Commercial Property Program, from $8.4 million to $20 million per location and, under its Division II Business owners Program, from $7.2 million to $20 million per location. Read the full press release here.
In July we spoke on behalf of the outdoor hospitality industry at a hearing called by California State Insurance Commissioner, Ricardo Lara. The hearing was to determine the overall impact of the state of the insurance industry on California residents and business owners and if the Fair Plan is an adequate solution.
Recommendations included but not limited to broad form peril coverage in the fair plan, expanded business interruption, and elevated service. Additionally, as the Fair Plan was designed as a temporary solution, recommendations of legislation that would prevent providers from pulling out of segments and/or the state were also discussed.
After presenting on the hearing at the Cal Travel board meeting, CalOHA requested an additional meeting with the commissioner to allow for engagement with other segments of the travel and tourism industry. CalOHA, Cal Travel Director of Government Affairs, Emellia Zamani, Political Solutions lobbyist, Tami Miller, CHLA/CABBI President, Lyn Morhfeld, met with Commissioner Ricardo Lara about the effects of insurance on the travel industry. Follow up with direct impact statements were presented.
Recently Passed Legislative Bills
SB 869 - Housing: mobilehome parks: recreational vehicle parks: manager training - PASSED
This bill requires managers and assistant managers of mobilehome and recreational vehicle (RV) parks to complete an online training and renew the training every year. (Levya,Connie (D) /Dodd,Christopher (D))
Assembly Amendments change the hours of training from 16 to six hours with a continuing education requirement of a two-hour training every two years, instead of a six-hour training every year. In addition, a third party can be permitted to offer the training, and two subject areas have been added as relevant material. The amendments also clarify non-compliance with management having 60 days to comply before a civil penalty and then suspension of a park’s permit to operate. Lastly, the date of adoption is now one year later, May 1, 2025.
AB 2243 Occupational safety and health standards: heat illness: wildfire smoke - PASSED
Requires the Division of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal/OSHA) to submit to the Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board (board) a proposal to consider revising the heat illness standard, as specified, and the wildfire smoke standard for farm workers to reduce the Air Quality Index (AQI) for PM2.5 to 301 or greater for the provision of respiratory protective equipment. (Garcia, Edurado (D))
Senate Amendments 1) Change the effective date for Cal/OSHA to submit to the board a rulemaking proposal to consider revising specified heat and wildfire standards from before December 1, 2024, to before December 1, 2025. 2) Revise the timeline for distribution of the Heat Illness Prevention Plan to both new and incumbent employees. 3) Clarify that an employer need not implement fit testing and medical evaluations for respiratory protective equipment when the AQI is above 301. 4) Clarify that the revisions to the wildfire smoke standards for consideration are for farm workers only. 5) Delete the provision that in developing regulations, Cal/OSHA shall consider linguistically appropriate training programs for outdoor employees in administering first aid related to extreme heat related illnesses.
SB 644 - Hotel and private residence rental reservations: cancellation: refunds. - PASSED
This bill would require a hotel, third-party booking service, hosting platform, or short-term rental, as defined, to allow a reservation for a hotel accommodation or a short-term rental located in California to be canceled without penalty for at least 24 hours after the reservation is confirmed if the reservation is made 72 hours or more before the day of check-in. Furthermore, the bill would require a refund to a consumer for all amounts paid to the original form of payment within 30 days of the cancellation of the reservation.
Many of you have asked if this pertains to RV parks and campgrounds. As typical for California legislation, the answer is a bit muddy. We know that it does not pertain to RV sites but what about park models, cabins, tents, etc? We consulted with our staff attorney, Rob Coldren, for some answers.
First let’s consider the definitions provided in Sec 3 Chapter 2 1748.80
(b) (1) “Hotel” means a hotel, motel, bed and breakfast inn, or other similar transient lodging establishment located in this state.
(d) “Short-term rental” means a residential dwelling, or any portion of a residential dwelling, that is rented to a person or persons for 30 or fewer consecutive days and that is located in this state.
The safest approach according to Rob “would be to follow the reservation refund protocol in this bill on anything you rent that folks can sleep in” assuming that any lodging would be considered as “other similar transient lodging” by definition.
However, if you want to take a less conservative approach and not be required to give refunds within 72 hours of arrival date, “consider taking the position that something without plumbing and cooking facilities isn’t a dwelling within the meaning of the law,” says Rob, “At least that takes care of some tent and cabin camping”.
Dwelling Unit: is defined as “a single unit providing complete independent living facilities for one or more persons, including permanent provisions for living, sleeping, eating, cooking and sanitation”.
We don’t believe it was the intent of the bill to include campgrounds but by nature of the bill language we “could be” included. Good News(?) – the penalty is capped at $10,000. (sigh)
While I continue to work on this with our lobbyist you may consider two different types of cancellation policies.