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12-06-2025
- Business
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Maine lawmakers give mobile homeowners a leg up in park purchases
Jun. 12—Lawmakers on Wednesday passed a bill to give mobile home residents the "right of first refusal" when their parks go up for sale, but it won't go into effect quickly enough to benefit Friendly Village, a large park in Gorham awaiting a decision on its multi-million offer. The bill, LD 1145, was enacted in both the state Senate and House of Representatives this week and now awaits a signature from Gov. Janet Mills. It did not receive the two-thirds majority needed to pass it as an emergency, which means it would have gone into effect immediately after receiving the governor's stamp of approval. Instead, it will take effect 90 days after the Legislature adjourns. Mobile home parks in Maine and across the country are increasingly being purchased by out-of-state investors who raise the monthly lot rents, in some cases doubling or tripling prices, according to national data. Park residents own their homes but not the land they sit on and are essentially helpless against rent increases. They could sell their homes but would need somewhere else to go. Plus, it's harder to sell an older mobile home in a park with high lot rents. An estimated one-fifth of Maine's 468 licensed parks are now owned by out-of-state investors. Following the passage of a 2023 "opportunity to purchase law," several communities, including ones in Brunswick, Bangor and Monmouth, have formed cooperatives to purchase their parks. But more than twice as many have failed, even with offers above those of the competition. That law only requires the seller to negotiate "in good faith," not accept the offer. Many park owners aren't willing to gamble against a sure thing by accepting an offer from a cooperative that might struggle to get the financing together. The bill, proposed by Sen. Tim Nangle, D-Cumberland and supported by the governor's top housing advisor, requires that the seller choose the residents as long as their offer is at least at the same price and has "substantially equivalent terms and conditions." Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut all have right-of-first-refusal laws. The bill is intended to give park residents the "opportunity to have some self-determination," Nangle said previously. Nora Gosselin, director of resident acquisitions at the Cooperative Development Institute, said right of first refusal is the "gold standard" and that Maine's legislation draws on 40 years of similar laws, ironing out issues that other states have run into. The Cooperative Development Institute helps manufactured housing communities looking to purchase their parks and provides ongoing support after the sale. "I think there's a lot of heartache when you have a group of residents that has done all of this work organizing ... (to) get to that point, put their offer in and get rejected for the same or equivalent" amount of money, she said. "In right of first refusal states, we just don't see that." At Friendly Village, one of the latest parks in Maine to go up for sale, residents received notice in April that a Wyoming investment firm had put in an $87.5 million offer for their 300-lot park and seven others in different states. The firm, Crown Communities LLC, offered $22 million for Friendly Village, specifically. Under state law, the residents had 60 days to decide to attempt to purchase their park. The Friendly Village Cooperative said it submitted an offer above $22 million two weeks ago and is waiting to hear back. The sale, whether to the cooperative or to Crown, will likely be complete by the time the new legislation takes effect. But the residents aren't entirely without hope. A different bill, sponsored by Sen. Chip Curry, D-Belfast, could stop the sale of mobile home parks with more than 25 lots for three months after the Legislature adjourns. The moratorium has exceptions for sales between family members and for communities whose residents do not wish to purchase the park. The bill is proposed as an emergency and if it gets enough support, could halt the pending sale of Friendly Village for long enough for LD 1145 to take effect. The bill received initial approval by the Senate Thursday but by a narrower margin than the two-thirds required. Sen. Joe Baldacci, D-Bangor, called the bill "drastic." "Passing a statewide moratorium on the sale of all mobile home parks in order to satisfy one particular situation is, in my view, not appropriate public policy," he said. But Curry said the moratorium would delay, not prevent, sales, and that while it might help Friendly Village, there are other parks receiving similar notices. "We have legislation to better support residents to buy their own communities, we're just looking for this pause so that we can get those laws into effect," he said. The Legislature also passed a bill that could dis-incentivize future investor purchases. The bill will go to the governor for approval. Proposed by Sen. Cameron Reny, D-Bristol, LD 1016 will impose a $10,000 per-lot fee when an investor with a net worth over $50 million moves to purchase a park. That per-lot fee (which would amount to an additional $3 million for a park like Friendly Village) will go into a preservation fund to help resident groups compete. Resident cooperative and small businesses would be exempt from the fee. Gosselin, at the Cooperative Development Institute, said the legislation is, to her knowledge, "the first of its kind" and sends a message to large equity firms that if they intend to buy a park in Maine, they better be prepared to make a real investment in the state. "It's a pretty elegant way to bolster resident ownership," she said. Copy the Story Link
Yahoo
10-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Legislative recap for Monday, June 9
The state seal at the entrance to the Maine State House in Augusta. (Jim Neuger/Maine Morning Star) Faced with the question of whether to change the unique way the state's constitutional officers are chosen, the majority of lawmakers on Monday rejected the notion that the attorney general and secretary of state should be elected by voters, rather than the Legislature. The Senate voted against a bill that would amend the constitution to require the popular election of the secretary of state, attorney general and state treasurer (LD 455) and then voted against a similar bill (LD 508), which was later tabled. Other proposed constitutional amendments to require the popular election of the secretary of state (LD 147) and attorney general (LD 149) were rejected by the majority of both chambers. With papers frantically shuffling between chambers this week ahead of the planned June 18 adjournment, Maine Morning Star will highlight the biggest items of debate as well as legislation and issues that we've followed all session. Here's an overview of what happened Monday. Both chambers Both chambers have now passed a resolve (LD 470) directing the Department of Education to review teacher mentoring programs in Maine Public Schools after the House voted Monday to pass an amended version of the bill. Following the Senate last week, the House voted 81-64 to pass LD 1145, which would give a group of mobile home owners or a mobile home owners' association the right of first refusal to purchase a mobile home park if the owner intends to sell. The House also adopted a floor amendment stripping the emergency clause from the bill that was also approved by the Senate. (More on this issue here.) The House and Senate have both also passed LD 13, which establishes a fund for the Secretary of State's Office for the production and delivery of election-related materials. The Senate backed two measures previously supported by the House that would expand access to needle exchange programs (LD 1078) and fund proper disposal of syringe litter (LD 1738). (More on this here.) Both chambers voted Monday against legislation (LD 1505) that would phase out the sales and use tax, as well as another bill (LD 1899) that would have eliminated taxes on health care spending, which tax committee co-chair Sen. Nicole Grohowski (D-Hancock) said she generally supported but the bill was 'not ready for prime time.' The House voted 74-71 for LD 1113, which asks a court, when sentencing an individual for a Class A, Class B or Class C crime, to consider the age of the individual at the time of the conduct. The Senate later followed, voting 19-15 to pass the measure. A proposal (LD 1036) to prohibit landlords from refusing to rent to tenants solely because they rely on programs such as General Assistance or housing vouchers is essentially dead after both chambers insisted on their respective positions on the bill. After it was initially passed by the House last week, the Senate rejected the bill after Sen. Chip Curry (D-Waldo) explained that the Judiciary Committee is carrying a similar bill into the next session to allow more time to work on it. (More on this bill here.) Before the Senate passed LD 1522 without a roll call, the House voted 76-68 to permanently establish the Maine Eviction Prevention Program within the Maine State Housing Authority. Members of both chambers rejected a measure (LD 152) that would have amended the Freedom of Access Act to require agencies to respond to public records requests within a specific time. Both the House and Senate rejected a bill (LD 1593) that would require that, when making a decision based on advancing equity, that a state or a local government agency make public its definition of the term as well as metrics. Both chambers also voted down a so-called parents rights bill (LD 1974), which would explicitly declare it a fundamental right of parents to direct the upbringing, education and care of their child. Both chambers have also now rejected legislation (LD 1707) that would require an individual to be a citizen of the U.S. in order to receive any state or local assistance, aside from education. It would also have required municipalities to comply with federal immigration authorities in order to receive general assistance or state-municipal revenue sharing. LD 613, a bill supported by the Maine Medical Association that allows terminally ill patients to waive the current 17-day waiting period for access to life-ending medication, is in limbo after the Senate voted 17-18 on Monday against passage of the measure, which won the backing of the House last week. The House Monday again voted against passage of LD 1263 after the Senate last week backed the measure, which would create a Class A crime for aggravated trafficking of fentanyl when it results in an overdose. It now goes back to the Senate to take up again. After a failed effort to align with the Senate's rejection of LD 1535, the House insisted on passage of the bill, which would require the Public Utilities Commission to gather a group of municipal, police and fire officials to discuss the high electricity usage related to illegal cannabis grows in the state. Since the Senate last week insisted on its position against the bill, it is now essentially dead. The chambers are split over a resolve (LD 1364) directing the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife to evaluate efforts to promote the use of non-lead ammunition with the House passing an amended version of the bill that the Senate rejected. During the Senate debate, Sen. Anne Carney (D-Cumberland) said she is consistently approached by constituents seeking to ban lead-based ammunition but said they've never done that because educating people about this topic gets them to choose a better option. The amended version of the bill, she explained, would make educational materials more accessible. After passage in the Senate last week, the House voted 76-69 to reject LD 371, which would remove the 100-megawatt maximum capacity limit for hydropower to qualify as a renewable resource under the state's renewable resource portfolio requirement. (More on this issue here.) After LD 1928 squeaked through both chambers last week, the Senate voted 14-20 against enactment on Monday leaving the bill, which would prohibit lodging establishments from using single-use plastic containers — such as mini shampoo bottles — in limbo. The Senate on Monday voted under the hammer to pass legislation (LD 1202) to create the African American Studies Advisory Council to measure and monitor the implementation of related curriculum using data collected by the Department of Education. It is an amended version of legislation that passed last year but was never enacted. (More on this here). House lawmakers voted 100-44 to back legislation (LD 297) that extends provisions of current law regarding the management of wastewater treatment plant sludge at the state-owned landfill. The House voted against legislation (LD 1268) that would have provided an annual stipend to all employees of the Maine State Ferry Service. Legislation (LD 1471) requiring a landlord to provide tenants an energy efficiency disclosure statement for certain rental housing in the state passed the House. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
05-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Bills to help mobile park residents protect homes advance but funding remains an obstacle for some
(Photo by Getty Images) Building off of a law passed last year, the Maine Legislature has advanced a number of bills that aim to support mobile home park residents in purchasing their parks. The Senate voted in favor of two of these bills on Thursday. Others have already passed both chambers but still need to be funded. 'As legislators, we consistently hear that one of the top issues on the minds of Maine people is access to safe, affordable housing,' Sen. Chip Curry (D-Belfast), co-chair of the Housing and Economic Development Committee, said during a press conference following Thursday's votes. 'That's why our committee has been focused on two deeply connected challenges: how to build more housing in Maine, and just as urgently, how to protect the affordable housing we still have. It has become very clear to us that a critical component of this mission is protecting the residents of mobile home parks.' The upper chamber voted 25-7 on Thursday to pass LD 1145 — after much discussion and a motion to table the measure failed. This bill would give a group of mobile home owners or a mobile home owners' association the right of first refusal to purchase a mobile home park if the owner intends to sell. 'This bill is about giving Mainers a fighting chance, a chance to protect their homes, a chance to protect their communities,' Sen. Tim Nangle (D-Cumberland) said on the floor. Nangle's father bought a mobile home park in Massachusetts and ran it as a community, with the philosophy 'pay what you can and communicate,' Nangle said. Since his father died, he and his siblings have tried to keep that spirit alive, however they started getting calls from out-of-state private equity firms recently interested in purchasing. But Massachusetts has a right of first refusal law, so the park residents were afforded the time to purchase the park themselves. Last session, lawmakers passed a law that requires mobile home park owners to notify residents of their intent to sell and give them at least 60 days to make an offer. 'But it really didn't go far enough,' Nangle said. 'Right now, even if residents organize, raise the money and match or even exceed the offer, they can still be turned away with no explanation. The bill says, if you can match the offer, you have the right to pay.' The version passed by the Senate was amended to include an emergency preamble, which was the version also passed by the majority of the Housing and Economic Development Committee. If enacted as an emergency, which will require the support of two-thirds of the Legislature, the bill would take effect immediately. Having the bill take effect sooner would be beneficial for the newly created Friendly Village Cooperative, said cooperative president Dawn Beaulieu, a 30-year resident of the park. Residents formed the cooperative after being notified in March that the park was for sale. '[We] have since made a counteroffer to purchase the park,' Beaulieu said during the Thursday press conference. 'As of today, we are still waiting for a response to that offer. Our livelihoods should not be in the hands of an out-of-state conglomerate that sees us not as a community, but as an investment. The legislation being considered here in Augusta will help us put our fate in our own hands.' Whether other related bills become law will likely be a matter of funding priorities. Both chambers already backed LD 255, which would allocate $3 million in one-time funding to create the manufactured and mobile home park preservation and assistance program to help preserve parks as affordable housing and support residents in purchasing their parks. However, it now sits on the appropriations table, where bills with fiscal notes that are backed by the full Legislature are placed to vie for remaining funds after the budget is set. To save affordable housing, states promote resident-owned mobile home parks Though, the bill could still be funded in the two-year budget addition, which lawmakers have yet to set with less than two weeks remaining until their expected end date. That's also the case for LD 554, which aims to encourage resident-owned communities through tax deductions. Another bill, LD 1768, which would amend the real estate transfer tax in an effort to protect mobile home parks, has also been backed by both chambers. But it would result in a decrease to state revenue and need a one-time appropriation so it may also land on the table. On Wednesday, the Senate also passed LD 1016, which would establish the assistance program fund but also a fee to help with ongoing funding. The fee would be paid by certain park buyers equal to $10,000 for each lot in the community. 'I want to be very clear, I have no intention to de-incentivize the purchase of these parks by everyone,' said Sen. Cameron Reny (D-Lincoln), the bill sponsor. 'There are exceptions to this fee to state and municipal housing authorities, for resident owner cooperatives and for smaller businesses and individuals with net worths of less than $50 million.' However, Sen. Rick Bennett (R-Oxford), who supported the minority committee report recommending against the bill's passage, said he finds some of the carveouts troubling, specifically the one based on net worth. 'It is treating people unfairly based on an arbitrary amount of money that that person or entity owns,' Bennett said. 'I believe this is unconstitutional for that reason, although it's very well intentioned.' SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
