Rick Robinson of the Manufactured Housing Institute (MHI) informs MHProNews that Executive director Frank Bowman, of the Illinois Manufactured Housing Association (IMHA), and his staff drafted SB 1702, convincing the IL Secretary of State’s office that manufactured homes (MH) and park models, while they are vehicles, are non-motorized vehicles. This overturned a 70 year-old generic dealer licensing rule.

In addition, included in 1702, the MH model of selling homes from inside a land lease community obviated rules that pertain to a street dealer, and thereby will result in a reduction of dealer licensing fees for community-based dealers for years to come. The measure passed the Senate April 23, 2015, and with no opposition is expected to pass the House and be signed into law by the governor to take effect July 2015.

IMHA also was able to have a bill introduced (HB2627) dealing with “interest caps” that were set by the state and that were well below “the rebuttable presumption caps” established nationally. It passed the House April 23 and is expected to meet minimal opposition in the Senate and also be signed into law.

This means doing business in Illinois will be less difficult. The other result, in Frank Bowman’s own words: “IMHA has gone from being virtually unknown in the Illinois Legislature three years ago to being well known and well respected. Now, when legislators are considering introducing legislation that affects manufactured housing, IMHA gets called by Leadership before any serious movement takes place.” ##

(Image credit: Illinois Manufactured Housing Association)

Article submitted by Matthew J. Silver to Daily Business News-MHProNews.