By Ken Parker

Now that the Holidays are upon us,which means that the 2012 Legislative Session is just around the corner.  Each HOA should have a legislative committee to represent Manufactured Homeowners on Capitol Hill. We should have more than the ten needed to serve on each committee.  Each HOA should have a committee of at least ten,so we can have two residents from each HOA on the hill every day of the week.

UMHAG presented a plan to MOHAA at the 2010 Convention,outlining a plan to empower HOA’s to participate in the law making process that goes beyond voting for representation.  The plan can put a legislative committee into action for every Manufactured Housing HOA.  Here is a review of how each committee can work to serve your community.

The legislature is in session Monday thru Friday during the legislative session.  They have hearings in the morning from nine to nine forty before they go in to their various chambers.  For those homeowners living in communities along the Wasatch Front it is very important to make your presence known at these meeting when allowed.  At times some selected homeowners will be called on to testify.

Any and all needed testimonies will be prepped before called upon to testify.  As committee members we will be calling Senators and Legislators out of session to educate them about the communication bill we are presenting before them during the 2012 session.  All committee members will be schooled on the proper presentation to make to the Senators and Representatives.

Committee members in each community will also keep residents in their community apprised of the activities and upcoming events such as Manufactured Homeowners Day on the Hill,and Democracy Day.  They will also get residents involved in letter writing,phone calls and e-mails to senators and representatives not in their district.

Every State Senator and Representative needs to hear from Manufactured Homeowners. This is where Senators and Representatives in the areas other than the Wasatch Front can really make a difference in the educational process of our Utah representatives.

You may not feel that there are any problems in the community that you live in,but the problems throughout  the Manufactured Home Communities in the State of Utah can only be resolved if we stand together to fight for the rights of all Manufactured Homeowners throughout the state. Remember,if it is going to happen it is up to you as a member of a Manufactured Home community in Utah.

We had an interesting week in Washington DC. Aside from all of the sightseeing,which was wonderful –we did accomplish a few things while we were there. One of the things we did do was meet with most of the Utah congressional delegation.

Our meetings were fairly positive. The item that we’ve established as a priority on the national scene is a bill that would eliminate the capital gains tax for a park owner who sells the community to us –the homeowners –to form a resident owned community.

We’ve been working on this for three years and finally have language that we can present to our representatives to work with that they should find as something they can work with. Much of this is due to the work that has been done with Senator Mike Lee’s office and with two of our partner organizations –CFED and ROC-USA.

We met with Congressmen Matheson’s and Chaffetz’staff. Both were interested in the bill and saw the potential. Matheson liked the community preservation aspect and Chaffetz liked the fact that it helped provide a more level playing field between the two competing groups –which he saw as a good thing.

We also met briefly with Senator Lee,who has been supportive of this bill;however,he has suggested that we work with somebody on the Senate Finance Committee or the House Ways and Means Committee.

We have been working towards this end. The biggest fish on this committee from our perspective is our own Senator Orrin Hatch. We met with his staff. They advised us that –although this bill may be worthy of his attention…senators in leadership positions such as Hatch on the Senate Finance Committee –DO NOT SPONSOR BILLS.

They also gave us a lot of window dressing about how the bill needed to be rated by the Congressional Budget Office to determine how much it would cost the government and that we needed to provide more statistics than the ones we had already given them,etc.

Part of what they said was true,we do need to provide them with a more exhaustive study regarding the total cost to the taxpayers when a community is closed due to redevelopment. Unfortunately,nothing is selling so we have nothing to provide them other than pre-recession data.

What galls us is that Hatch keeps telling us that we should re-elect him because if we do –he will be chair of the Senate Finance Committee. That is all well and fine if he actually plans on doing something when he is chair or is a ranking member of that committee that can benefit the people he represents as well as the rest of the nation’s moderate income earners who live in unsubsidized housing and want to remain independent and in control of their destiny.

Needless to say –the one person in this state who has the horsepower to make a difference –doesn’t give a tinkers *()&$% about homeowners who don’t have a Dunn &Bradstreet rating. It’s time for Senator Hatch to become ex-Senator Hatch. It’s time to replace him with somebody who has no problem giving people the tools to help themselves determine their own destiny.

For those of you who have been watching both political parties in the latest debacle over the federal budget,both sides are polarized and neither one wants to budge an inch. It seems that neither one cares about the interests of everyday Americans,like us.

The same things goes with most state legislators on both sides of the aisle with a few exceptions. So what do we do about it –we call them home! We show up at the precinct caucuses for both parties and let it be known that we don’t want the extreme right or left candidates who keep getting nominated –who couldn’t care less about us –but who are always the ones who get elected.

I was invited to participate in a telephone town hall meeting with Senator Hatch. When it came time for me to ask my question –I was rudely interrupted by somebody (who I think was pre-planned) because my question had to do with a manufactured homeowner issue which I had visited with Senator Hatch’s office staff when I had visited Washington on two separate occasions.

Senator Lee’s office has always been gracious and helpful and are working with us on a bill that would eliminate the capital gains tax for a park owner who sells their community to the homeowners to form a resident-owned community. This is a market incentive program!

Senator Hatch will not give us the time of day with regard to this proposal –even though he is the ranking Republican on the key committee where this bill will be heard and could ensure its passage. That is the type of senior senator we have here in Utah. It is time to call him home!

It is time to call 3/4 of the Utah Legislature home! When they point to the “state gun”as one of their most significant accomplishments of the legislative session –it is time for a new legislature!

It is time for all of us as homeowners to stop giving away our most sacred possession in this democracy –our vote! These bozo’s don’t deserve it! They haven’t earned it! When they do their best to defeat legislation that would benefit all manufactured homeowners,especially those that would help enforce existing laws without forcing us to hire expensive lawyers –they need to be called home!