ARIZONA STATE LEGISLATURE
Forty-eighth Legislature – First Regular Session
RECREATIONAL VEHICLE PARK UTILITY SERVICES
LEGISLATIVE STUDY COMMITTEE
Minutes of Meeting
House Hearing Room 3 -- 1:00 p.m.
Chairman McClure called the meeting to order at 1:05 p.m. and attendance was noted by the secretary.
|
Representative Ed Ableser |
Jean Creagan |
|
Representative Nancy McLain |
Kenneth Rozen for Comm. Gleason |
|
Representative Lynne Pancrazi |
Larry Lucero |
|
Stephen Ahearn |
Kathy Senseman |
|
Carolyn Bethka |
Kathryn Sorensen |
|
Susan Brenton |
Representative Marian McClure, Chair |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Representative Mark Anderson
Representative Andrew Tobin
Representative Theresa Ulmer
Chairman McClure asked each of the members to introduce themselves and then explained the background of why the Committee was formed.
Justin Riches, Legislative Research Analyst, read the charge of the Recreation Vehicle Park Utility Services Legislative Study Committee as follows:
The Study Committee shall submit a report of its findings and any final recommendations to the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the President of the Senate on or before December 31, 2007. The committee shall also provide a copy of the report to the Secretary of State and the Director of the Arizona State Library, Archives and Public Records.
Presentation by the Office of Manufactured Housing
Bob Barger, Director, Office of Manufactured Housing, gave an overview of the Department of Fire Building and Life Safety and the Office of Manufactured Housing (Attachment 1) which included
Representative Pancrazi said it is clear that manufacture homes must be built according to Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) standards and asked what are the standards for park models. Mr. Barger answered that they are built according to the American National Standards Institute. It is a separate code. Mr. Barger stated that once it is over 400 square feet it is considered a manufactured home and falls under HUD standards.
Presentation by the Arizona Association of Manufactured Home Owners
Ron Finestein, President, Arizona Association of Manufactured Home and RV Owners, explained the history and purpose of his organization. He further explained the difference between park models and other RVs (Attachment 2). He stated that owner occupied park models, which are defined in the law as recreational vehicles, are being charged more than the residential utility rates and other owner-occupied structures in the state. He clarified that a park model retains its designation as a park model no matter what is added on to it once it gets to the site, e.g., Arizona room, bedroom, deck or carport. No matter how large that unit becomes it is still designated a park model if when it came from the factory it was under 400 square feet.
Their concern is that park models, which are ground set, permanent in nature and have been in parks for many years, have no state oversight. They are sometimes being charged two to three times the prevailing utility rates. He said there is no state agency that has oversight on how the long-term RV rental act is applied.
He referred to a handout (Attachment 3) that shows park models with regular utility hookups. He said he does not want to suggest over-regulation but is concerned that hundreds of homeowners in Arizona, including many senior citizens, are affected by this situation. Mr. Finestein commented they deserve to have protection as those in full-sized manufactured homes. The problem is that parks are supplying the electricity or water and then charging for the utilities. He said not all, but many, are making money on these utility charges, e.g., those parks paying around 7 cents a kilowatt hour and then charging 19 to 20 cents for that kilowatt hour.
Mr. Ableser asked about the variety of parks in Arizona. Mr. Finestein said some parks have only manufactured homes; others have all types: park, RV and manufactured. Some parks are dedicated to only one type of housing.
Ruben Montalvo, District Director, Arizona Association of Manufactured Home and RV Owners reported on a survey done in Yuma (Attachment 4). He said the prevailing rate in the Yuma area is about 9 cents a kilowatt hour on average; but tenants are being charged between 12 and 15 cents a kilowatt hour per unit. He also distributed a collection of copies of utility bills paid by residents in “Caravan Oasis” Park together with information about electric rates and inappropriate billing in Tucson “Mission View” Park (Attachment 5).
Lace Collins, Arizona Corporation Commission, gave a presentation covering an explanation of the Corporation Commission and its rules applying to mobile homes, a summary of Arizona Public Service (APS) and Tucson Electric Power (TEP) rate schedules, sample APS and TEP rates, an overview of Natural Gas Utilities, SW gas sample rates, UNS gas sample tariff, water utilities and a sample water rate (Attachment 6).
Kathy Senseman answered questions regarding Southwest Gas and master-meter accounts to the parks, stating that the owners of the parks run the lines from the master meters to the individuals with the lines being the parks’ responsibility; and Southwest has no control on whatever is done from the meter point. Southwest’s delivery point and responsibility ends at the meter point in a master-meter situation. She said they now use individual meters but said there are a lot of master meters still being used.
John Stahmer, Department of Fire Building and Life Safety, stated that a park model is more like a manufactured home or mobile than it is like a recreational vehicle. It cannot be driven down a highway the way an RV can be.
Mr. Butch Hamilton, of Yuma, Arizona, voiced his concern over safety when the mobile parks are the ones responsible for the utility lines.
Chairman McClure asked if the overcharges dealt mostly with electricity or also with other utilities. Mr. Montalvo stated that there is also overcharging being done with water, sewer and trash in the RV parks. He said that basically the parks are acting as utility companies in charging administration costs. Mr. Ableser asked about special rates for low-income customers. Ms. Senseman stated that Southwest Gas offers such a program where in a master-meter situation the park owner gathers the information from the low-income tenants and then sends the request into SW Gas. The rate the landlord pays would then be pro-rated on the amount of low-income tenants they have.
Mr. Lucero stated that Tucson also has this program but it is very complicated in a master-meter situation, and he is not sure there is a mechanism in place to take care of this type of situation. Ms. Senseman says they have no control on what the landlord who has the master meter does in billing his individual tenants.
Mr. Rozen stated there are low-income assistance programs available, but the discount is passed onto the person who is being supplied. He agreed that the utility company does not have any means to compel that customer to pass along those benefits to his guests and tenants. In response to Mr. Ableser’s question, Ms. Senseman says Southwest has 160 accounts that are master-metered situations and out of that 21 have signed up on the low income program. She commented that whether or not the landlords pass that on to their tenants is beyond their scope.
In response to Mrs. McLain’s questions as to what mention of utilities there usually is in leases in RV parks, Ms. Cregan and Mr. Montalvo stated that most of the time there is nothing in writing stating what the responsibility of the tenant is regarding utilities. Many times it is a verbal agreement.
Chairman McClure said she envisions there being three meetings, this meeting being the first. She said the intent is not to form a utility company but to make sure that tenants in the parks are not overcharged for utilities. She said every utility company has had complaints from people asking why they are having to pay two or three times as much as people who have their own meters, and, of course, it is not the utility company at all who is doing it. The date and time of October 24 at 1:30 pm was agreed upon for the next meeting.
Without objection, the meeting adjourned at 3:00 p.m.
___________________________________
Patricia Hudock, Committee Secretary
October 17, 2007
(Original minutes, attachments and audio on file in the Office of the Chief Clerk; video archives available at http://www.azleg.gov/)
---------- DOCUMENT FOOTER ---------
2
Recreational Vehicle Park Utility Services
Legislative Study Committee
---------- DOCUMENT FOOTER ---------