There are currently two bills being considered by the state government that you need to know about. They take slightly different approaches to the same thing, but at this point neither contain language that would specifically include floating homes. What you need to consider is this: do you want the language of the proposed legislation to include us—the floating home community—and if you do, what do you do about it?
Assembly Bill 2406, introduced by Tony Thurmond of Richmond, and co-authored by our own State Assemblyman Marc Levine, allows local jurisdictions to pass ordinances to permit what it refers to as “junior accessory dwelling units” in single family residential zones. In essence this means that a room with an outside door could be turned into a junior dwelling unit if it includes a rudimentary kitchen. A separate bathroom is not required.
Senate Bill 1069, introduced by Bob Wieckowski, of Fremont, and supported by our own State Senator Mike McGuire in committee, requires local jurisdictions to allow “accessory dwellings” within the walls of the existing main house or in an existing detached structure.
Both of these bills have passed their respective houses and are now in the “other house” being considered in committee. Neither are currently scheduled for a vote, but it is likely the outcome will be some kind of combined version of the two. And here is where we come in …
If this is an issue that you care about, and certainly the members of our community that live in homes that already have more than one unit do, you may want to write to your representatives urging them to change the language in the bills so that they will be inclusive of our community.
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