84th Recap: The Would’ve Been Nice Bills
HB 3662 which related to, "recovery of damages, attorney's fees, and costs related to frivolous regulatory actions by state agencies," got through the House, but stalled out in the Senate. The bill would have provided a cause of action for frivolous regulatory actions of state agencies and provided a check to agency regulatory power. Unfortunately, the bill never received a hearing in the Senate and perished.
HB 2595 would have prohibited cities from using initiative or referendum procedures that would restrict the right of any person to use or access the person's private property that would limit the use of the private real property from being used to provide economic gain. We liked the bill as a potential check against city authority to try to restrict manufactured home community owner’s rights to continue to enjoy economic gain from the communities they own. HB 2595 got through the House and was heard in Senate committee, but that is where it stopped moving.
HB 3713 would have prohibited cities from regulating anyone with a state occupations license. Obviously, for all those licenses under 1201 or 1202 of the Occupations Code for manufactured or modular housing this would have been a good bill to pass to place a check on city authority. Unfortunately, HB 3713 met opposition and failed to gain enough support to get it out of the blocks this session, and died before it was ever heard in committee.