Senate Bill No. 673
(By Senators Oliverio, McCabe, Anderson, Redd, Craigo,
Helmick, Unger, Plymale, Ross, Love, Jackson, Sharpe, McKenzie
and Prezioso)
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[Introduced February 18, 2002; referred to the Committee
on Government Organization.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact sections two and ten, article nine,
chapter twenty-one of the code of West Virginia, one thousand
nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, all relating to the West
Virginia manufactured housing construction and safety
standards board; excluding from the definition of "contractor"
persons performing operations under a contract with a licensed
person; and restricting the use of funds from the forfeiture
of bonds or other form of assurance as defined in section ten
of this article.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That sections two and ten, article nine, chapter twenty-one of
the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as
amended, be amended and reenacted, all to read as follows:
ARTICLE 9. MANUFACTURED HOUSING CONSTRUCTION AND SAFETY STANDARDS
BOARD.
§21-9-2. Definitions.
(a) "Board" means the West Virginia manufactured housing
construction and safety board created in this article.
(b) "Commissioner" means the commissioner of the West Virginia
state department division of labor.
(c) "Contractor" means any person who performs operations in
this state at the occupancy site which render a manufactured home
fit for habitation. This definition does not include persons who
do work on a manufactured home which is owned or leased by such
person doing the work or persons who perform such operations
pursuant to a contract with a person who is licensed under section
nine of this article. Such operations include, without limitation,
installation or construction of the foundation, positioning,
blocking, leveling, supporting, tying down, connecting utility
systems, making minor adjustments or assembling multiple or
expandable units. Such operations also include transporting the
unit to the occupancy site by other than a motor carrier regulated
by the West Virginia public service commission.
(d) "Dealer" means any person engaged in this state in the
sale, leasing or distribution of new or used manufactured homes,
primarily to persons who in good faith purchase or lease a
manufactured home for purposes other than resale.
(e) "Defect" includes any defect in the performance,
construction, components or material of a manufactured home that renders the home or any part thereof not fit for the ordinary use
for which it was intended.
(f) "Distributor" means any person engaged in this state in
the sale and distribution of manufactured homes for resale.
(g) "Federal standards" means the National Manufactured
Housing Construction and Safety Standards Act of 1974 (42 U.S.C.
§5401, et seq.), and federal manufactured home construction and
safety standards and regulations promulgated by the secretary of
HUD to implement such act.
(h) "HUD" means the United States department of housing and
urban development.
(i) "Manufacturer" means any person engaged in manufacturing
or assembling manufactured homes, including any person engaged in
importing manufactured homes for resale.
(j) "Manufactured home" means a structure, transportable in
one or more sections, which in the traveling mode is eight body
feet or more in width or forty body feet or more in length or, when
erected on site, is three hundred twenty or more square feet, and
which is built on a permanent chassis and designed to be used as a
dwelling with or without a permanent foundation when connected to
the required utilities, and includes the plumbing, heating,
air-conditioning and electrical systems contained therein; except
that such term shall include any structure which meets all the
requirements of this definition except the size requirements and with respect to which the manufacturer voluntarily files a
certificate which complies with the applicable federal standards.
Calculations used to determine the number of square feet in a
structure will be based on the structure's exterior dimensions
measured at the largest horizontal projections when erected on
site.
(k) "Purchaser" means the first person purchasing a
manufactured home in good faith for purposes other than resale.
§21-9-10. Licensee to furnish bond or other form of assurance.
(a) Each manufacturer, dealer, distributor or contractor which
applies for a license under the preceding section shall, at the
time of making application therefor, furnish a surety bond or such
other form of assurance of the applicant's financial responsibility
as the board may by rule or regulation permit, such surety bond or
other form of assurance to be in such amount as the board may by
rule or regulation prescribe. In the event of forfeiture of any
such bond or security, the proceeds thereof shall be deposited in
the special account created under section nine of this article.
(b) The bond or other form of assurance shall cover any
misappropriation of funds of a purchaser or prospective purchaser
of a manufactured home, any deception or false or fraudulent
representations or deceitful practices in selling or representing
a product, any failure by a licensee, because of bankruptcy,
insolvency or other reason, to fulfill warranty obligations and any failure of the licensee, its agents or employees, to comply with
the federal standards, this article or any rules or regulations
promulgated by the board pursuant to this article.
(c) Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (b) of this
section, payments from the bond or other form of financial
assurance shall be limited to actual expenses incurred, as
determined by the board. The bond or other form of financial
assurance shall not be used to pay for any incidental expenses of
the consumer, including claims for personal injuries, claims for
property damage other than to the home itself, inconvenience,
alternate housing, attorney's fees, punitive or exemplary damages
or other legal or court costs.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to exclude from the
definition of a contractor required to be licensed under this
article a person who performs operations under contract with a
person who is so licensed and to restrict payments from forfeited
bonds or other form of financial assurance.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.
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