By Emily Q. Shults

Bullard Law - 503.248.1134 or on the web at www.bullardlaw.com

On Thursday, the Oregon House of Representatives approved landmark legislation (Senate Bill 1532) which raises the state's minimum wage rate to the highest in the United States, and does so through an unprecedented tiered system based on where Oregon residents work.  The bill now heads to Governor Kate Brown, who has already indicated that she will sign it into law. 

A product of heated debate and compromise between the interests of unions, businesses and farmers, the plan imposes a series of gradual increases over six years.  By 2022, the state's current $9.25 an hour minimum wage - already one of the highest in the nation - would climb to $14.75 in metro Portland, $13.50 in cities such as Salem, Eugene, and Bend, and $12.50 in rural communities.  Below is a timeline of the planned minimum wage increases for each designated geographic tier":

Tier 1 (the Portland urban growth boundary):

July 1

Question: A mobile home park has a separate RV section. One long-time RV resident recently moved out because of illness, but left behind his RV, which is old and in poor condition. Does the park need to file an eviction action to clear out the space for a new tenant? What can the park do with the RV itself?

We are now approaching the halfway point in the 2016 Oregon Legislative Session. We are starting to get a much better sense of what legislative proposals are moving forward and which ones will likely remain in committees and not see the light of day until perhaps the next legislative session in 2017.

The "tenant rights" bill HB 4143A passed out of the Oregon House Rules Committee late yesterday afternoon with the "dash 14A" amendment which addressed MHCO's last issue - the extension to 90 days for "no cause" evictions. This amendment returns "no cause" evictions to 60 days for tenancies over 1 year. With the adoption of this amendment manufactured home communities in Oregon will face NO SIGNIFICANT CHANGES from this legislative session. There will be no rent control or rent justificiation. The one year limit on rent increases will impact only apartments - NOT manufactured home communities. HB 4143A heads to the House floor for a vote then on to the Senate. MHCO does not expect any "anti-landlord" language to be added as we head over to the Senate chamber.

The other legislation MHCO is watching is SB 1533 the "inclusionary zoning" bill. This bill is up for a public hearing tomorrow in the Senate Committee on Finance and Revenue. Since it is only scheduled for a public hearing the bill will not move out of committee until possibly later this week. Time is starting to run out on this legislative session and there is little room for bills to stall.

This has turned out to be a very successful legislative session for community owners in Oregon. It is the first Oregon legislative session in 20 years to not have any signficant legisaltive changes impacting community owners. We still have a couple weeks to go - but things are looking good. MHCO will keep you up to date as we head into the final weeks of the 2016 Oregon Legislative Session.

Question: We have a member who has three months' of checks from a resident that the manager has not deposited. The checks are for November, December, 2015 and January, 2016. The manager did not return the checks. So, are the checks considered accepted by the landlord even though they have not been cashed?

Question: As a community owner, is it best to start selling the carport/sheds to the new residents moving into the community or keep the carport/shed as the responsibility of the community? If I do sell the carport/shed to the new resident what's the downside? Also, what about the carport/sheds that 2 spaces share where one side is owned by the resident and the other side is owned by the community? Can I sell the carport/shed to current residents and what condition should the carport/shed be in when they are sold to the resident and do I need to reduce their rent and by how much?

We are now in day 9 of the 2016 Oregon Legislative Session.  Today is a major milestone for the session - after today House Bills NOT passed out of House Committees (and likewise Senate Bills in Senate Committees) are considered dead and will have to be reintroduced in the 2017 Legislative Session.  Bills in the House or Senate Rules Committee, Revenue and Ways and Means are the exception.  Which by the way, is our next stop in our 2016 Legislative journey.

There were two committee work sessions yesterday.  In the "Senate Committee Human Services and Early Childhood" the "inclusionary zoning" bill (SB 1533) was amended with a compromise between a large pool of interests - from cities, counties, realtors, home builders, housing activists etc.   The amendment eliminates the pre-emption on inclusionary zoning" - which cuts close to our pre-emption on rent control (ORS 91.225).  There had been rumors/discussions in the Capitol for the that the legislature would make adjustments to our rent control pre-emption.  It did not happen.  The committee never mentioned rent control.  The bill (SB 1533) passed unanimously out of the Senate committee to the Senate Revenue Committee.  SB 1533 allows construction excise taxes as part of the overall compromise hence requiring a detour to the Senate Revenue Committee.  (Side note: Some of the revenue generated by this legislation will go to Oregon Housing and Communities Services for affordable housing programs such as money for first time home buyers.  That money could be used for first time homebuyers in MHCs.  MHCO will look into this further.)

The second hearing and work session was in the ""House Committee on Human Services and Housing"".  The committee adopted the dash 11 amendment to HB 4143.  This amendment strengthens the RV exception which MHCO requested and exempts MHCs from the new regulations on apartments (such as no rent increase during the fist year).  The bill passed out of the Committee to the ""House Rules Committee"". The "Rules Committee" may also adopt some changes that would open up land outside the urban growth boundary for building of affordable house.  The committee may also make changes to the 90 day no cause notice setting it back to 60 days.    The dash 11 amendment was adopted and the committee voted along party lines with one Republican (Knute Buehler