HB4342ham001 104TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

Rep. Dave Vella

Filed: 3/24/2026

10400HB4342ham001 LRB104 17185 JRC 35802 a

AMENDMENT TO HOUSE BILL 4342

AMENDMENT NO. ______. Amend House Bill 4342 by replacing everything after the enacting clause with the following:

"Section 1. Short title. This Act may be cited as the Mobile and Manufactured Home Ombudsperson Act.

Section 5. Applicability. This Act applies to all mobile and manufactured home parks governed by the Mobile Home Park Act and the Mobile Home Landlord and Tenant Rights Act.

Section 10. Definitions. As used in this Act:

"Manufactured home" means a factory-assembled, completely integrated structure designed for permanent habitation, with a permanent chassis, and so constructed as to permit its transport, on wheels temporarily or permanently attached to its frame, and is a movable or portable unit that is (i) 8 body feet or more in width, (ii) 40 body feet or more in length, and (iii) 320 or more square feet, constructed to be towed on its own chassis (comprised of frame and wheels) from the place of its construction to the location, or subsequent locations, at which it is connected to utilities for year-round occupancy for use as a permanent habitation, and designed and situated to permit its occupancy as a dwelling place for one or more persons, and specifically includes a "manufactured home" as defined in subdivision (53) of Section 9-102 of the Uniform Commercial Code. The term includes units containing parts that may be folded, collapsed, or telescoped when being towed and that may be expected to provide additional cubic capacity, and that are designed to be joined into one integral unit capable of being separated again into the components for repeated towing. The term excludes campers and recreational vehicles. The terms "mobile home" and "manufactured home" are synonymous for the purposes of this Act, but the term "mobile home" does not include modular homes and their support systems.

"Mobile home park" or "park" means a tract of land or 2 or more contiguous tracts of land which contain sites with the necessary utilities for 5 or more independent mobile homes for permanent habitation either free of charge or for revenue purposes, and includes any building, structure, vehicle, or enclosure used or intended for use as a part of the equipment of such mobile home park. Separate ownership of contiguous tracts of land shall not preclude the tracts of land from common licensure as a mobile home park if they are maintained and operated jointly. Neither an immobilized mobile home nor a motorized recreational vehicle shall be construed as being a part of a mobile home park.

"Department" means the Department of Public Health, unless otherwise indicated.

"Site" means the lot on which the mobile home is located for a period of 2 or more months.

"Owner" means the owner of a mobile home site and any person authorized to exercise any aspect of the management of the premises, including any person who directly or indirectly receives rents and has no obligation to deliver the whole of such receipts to another person.

"Resident" means any person who occupies a mobile home for dwelling purposes or a lot on which the person parks a mobile home for an agreed upon consideration.

"Managing agent" means any person or entity responsible for the operation, management, or maintenance of a mobile home park or manufactured home community.

Section 15. Office of the Mobile and Manufactured Home Ombudsperson.

(a) There is created within the Department of Public Health, under the supervision and control of the Director, the Office of the Mobile and Manufactured Home Ombudsperson.

(b) The Department shall name an Ombudsperson and other persons necessary to discharge the requirements of this Act. The Ombudsperson shall have the powers delegated to them by the Department in addition to the powers set forth in this Act.

(c) Neither the Ombudsperson nor the Department shall have any authority to consider matters that may constitute grounds for charges or complaints under the Illinois Human Rights Act; that are properly brought before the Department of Human Rights or the Human Rights Commission; before a comparable department or body established by a county, municipality, or township pursuant to an ordinance prohibiting discrimination and established for the purpose of investigating and adjudicating charges or complaints of discrimination under the ordinance; or before a federal agency or commission that administers and enforces federal anti-discrimination laws and investigates and adjudicates charges or complaints of discrimination under such laws.

(d) Information and advice provided by the Ombudsperson has no binding legal effect and is not subject to the provisions of the Illinois Administrative Procedure Act.

Section 20. Training and education. On or before July 1, 2027, the Ombudsperson shall begin offering training, outreach, and educational materials and may also arrange for the offering of courses to applicants, licensees, mobile and manufactured home residents, mobile and manufactured home park owners, park managers, and any other person or group the Department deems appropriate in subjects relevant to: (i) the operation and management of mobile home and manufactured home sites and parks; and (ii) the Mobile Home Park Act, the Mobile Home Landlord and Tenant Rights Act, the Abandoned Mobile Home Act, and the Illinois Mobile Home Tiedown Act.

Section 25. Website; toll-free number.

(a) The Office shall maintain on the Department's website the following information:

(1) the text of this Act, the Mobile Home Park Act, the Mobile Home Landlord and Tenant Rights Act, the Abandoned Mobile Home Act, the Illinois Mobile Home Tiedown Act, and any other statute, administrative rule, or regulation that the Ombudsperson determines is relevant to the operation and management of a mobile and manufactured home park or site;

(2) information concerning nonjudicial resolution of disputes that may arise within a mobile and manufactured home park, including, but not limited to, alternative dispute resolution programs and contacts for locally available dispute resolution programs;

(3) a description of the services provided by the Ombudsperson and information on how to contact the Ombudsperson for assistance; and

(4) any other information that the Ombudsperson determines is useful to park managers, licensees, mobile and manufactured home residents, and mobile and manufactured home and site owners.

(b) The Office may make available during regular business hours a statewide toll-free telephone number to provide information and resources on matters relating to mobile and manufactured home parks.

Section 30. Written policy for resolving complaints.

(a) Each park, except those specified in subsection (b), shall adopt a written policy for resolving complaints made by residents. The park shall make the policy available to all residents upon request. The policy must include:

(1) a sample form on which a resident may make a complaint to the park managing agent;

(2) a description of the process by which complaints shall be delivered to the park managing agent;

(3) the park managing agent's timeline and manner of making final determinations in response to a unit owner's complaint; and

(4) a requirement that the final determination made by the park's managing agent in response to a resident's complaint be:

(i) made in writing;

(ii) made within 180 days after the park's managing agent receives the resident's original complaint; and

(iii) marked clearly and conspicuously as "final".

(b) Mobile and manufactured home parks exempted from the Mobile Home Park Act are not required to have a written policy for resolving complaints.

(c) No later than July 1, 2027, parks, except for those identified in subsection (b), must establish and adopt the policy required under this Section.

(d) Parks first licensed after July 1, 2027, except for those identified in subsection (b), must establish and adopt the policy required under this Section within 180 days following licensure.

(e) A resident may not bring a request for assistance under Section 35 for a park's lack of or inadequacy of a written policy to resolve complaints but may notify the Department in writing of the park's lack of or inadequacy of a written policy.

Section 35. Dispute resolution.

(a) Beginning on July 1, 2027, and subject to appropriation, owners and residents meeting the requirements of this Section may make a written request, as outlined in subsection (e), to the Ombudsperson for assistance in resolving a dispute that involves a violation of the Act.

(b) The Ombudsperson shall not accept requests for resolutions of disputes for which there is a pending complaint filed in any court or administrative tribunal in any jurisdiction or for which arbitration or alternative dispute resolution is scheduled to occur or has previously occurred.

(c) The assistance described in subsection (a) is available only to owners and residents. For a resident to receive the assistance from the Ombudsperson described in subsection (a), the resident must:

(1) owe no outstanding assessments, fees, or funds to the park, unless the assessments, fees, or funds are central to the dispute;

(2) allege a dispute that was initiated, or initially occurred, within the 2 calendar years preceding the date of the request;

(3) have made a written complaint pursuant to the park's complaint policy, as outlined in this Section, which alleged violations of the Acts;

(4) have received a final adverse decision from the park's managing agent and attach a copy of the park's managing agent's final adverse decision marked "final" to the request of the Ombudsperson; and

(5) have filed the request within 30 days after the receipt of the park's final adverse decision.

(d) A resident who has not received a response, marked "final", to his or her complaint from the park within a reasonable time may request assistance from the Ombudsperson under subsection (a) if the resident meets the requirements of items (1), (2), and (3) of subsection (c). A resident may not request assistance from the Ombudsperson until at least 90 days after the initial written complaint was submitted to the park's managing agent. The Ombudsperson may decline a resident's request for assistance on the basis that a reasonable time has not yet passed.

(e) The request for assistance shall be in writing, on forms provided electronically by the Ombudsperson, and include the following:

(1) the name, address, and contact information of the owner or resident;

(2) the name, address, and contact information of the park;

(3) the applicable park governing documents unless the absence of governing documents is central to the dispute;

(4) the date of the final adverse decision by the park's managing agent;

(5) a copy of the park's written complaint policy required under Section 30;

(6) a copy of the owner or resident's complaint to the park's managing agent with a specific reference to the alleged violations of the Act;

(7) documentation verifying the owner's ownership of a unit, or documentation verifying the resident's lease of the property; and

(8) a copy of the park's managing agent's adverse decision marked "final", if applicable.

(f) On receipt of an owner or resident's request for assistance that the Department determines meets the requirements of this Section, the Ombudsperson shall, within the limits of the available resources, confer with the interested parties and assist in efforts to resolve the dispute by mutual agreement of the parties.

(g) The Ombudsperson shall assist only opposing parties who mutually agree to participate in dispute resolution.

(h) An owner or resident is limited to one request for assistance per dispute. The meaning of dispute is to be broadly interpreted by the Department.

(i) The Department has the authority to determine whether or not a final decision is adverse under paragraph (4) of subsection (c).

(j) The Department shall, on or before July 1, 2027, establish rules describing the time limit, method, and manner for dispute resolution.

Section 40. Confidentiality.

(a) All information collected by the Department in the course of addressing a request for assistance or for any other purpose pursuant to this Act shall be maintained for the confidential use of the Department and shall not be disclosed. The Department shall not disclose the information to anyone other than law enforcement officials or regulatory agencies that have an appropriate regulatory interest as determined by the Director. Information and documents disclosed to a federal, State, county, or local law enforcement agency shall not be disclosed by that agency for any purpose to any other agency or person.

(b) A request for information made to the Department or the Ombudsperson under this Act does not constitute a request under the Freedom of Information Act.

(c) The confidentiality provisions of this Section do not extend to educational, training, outreach material, statistical data, and operational information maintained by the Department in administering this Act.

Section 45. Reports. The Department shall submit an annual written report on the activities of the Office to the General Assembly. The Department shall submit the first report no later than July 1, 2028. Beginning in 2029, the Department shall submit the report no later than October 1 of each year. The report shall include all of the following:

(1) annual workload and performance data, including (i) the number of requests for information; (ii) training, education, or other information provided; (iii) the manner in which education and training was conducted; and (iv) the staff time required to provide the training, education, or other information. For each category of data, the report shall provide subtotals based on the type of question or dispute involved in the request; and

(2) if relevant information is available, analysis of the most common and serious types of concerns happening in mobile home parks, along with any recommendations for statutory reform to reduce the frequency or severity of those disputes.

Section 50. Rules. The Department may, from time to time, adopt rules that are necessary for the administration and enforcement of this Act. Any rule adopted under this Act is subject to the rulemaking provisions of the Illinois Administrative Procedure Act.

Section 55. State Lawsuit Immunity Act. Nothing in this Act shall be construed to constitute a waiver of the immunity of the State, Department, Office, or Ombudsperson, or any officer, employee, or agent thereof under the State Lawsuit Immunity Act.

Section 60. Annual fee for lots in parks operated for profit; notice; penalty; deposit.

(a) The owner of a manufactured home park that is operated for profit shall pay to the Office of the Mobile and Manufactured Home Ombudsperson an annual fee of $10 for each lot within the park beginning January 1, 2027. The fee shall increase to $12 on January 1, 2032. The owner shall not impose a fee or surcharge to recover from his or her tenants the costs resulting from the annual fee per lot paid pursuant to this subsection, or any related penalty.

(b) The Office of the Mobile and Manufactured Home Ombudsperson shall notify the owner of each manufactured home park that is operated for profit in this state on or before September 1 of each year of the fee imposed under this Section.

(c) If an owner fails to pay the fee on or before January 1 of each year, a penalty of 50% of the amount of the fee must be added.

(d) All fees and penalties collected by the Office of the Mobile and Manufactured Home Ombudsperson under this Section must be deposited into the Mobile and Manufactured Home Ombudsperson Fund, a special fund that is created in the State treasury.

(e) This Section is inoperative on and after January 1, 2038.

Section 65. Use of money in Mobile and Manufactured Home Ombudsperson Fund; eligibility to receive money from Fund; rules.

(a) Money in the Mobile and Manufactured Home Ombudsperson Fund may be used to pay necessary administrative costs and to assist eligible persons by supplementing their monthly rent for the manufactured home lot on which their manufactured home is located. Except as otherwise provided in this Section, to be eligible for assistance from the Fund, a person must:

(1) have been a tenant in the same manufactured home park in this state for at least 10 years immediately preceding his or her application for assistance;

(2) be the registered owner of the manufactured home which is subject to the tenancy, as indicated on the certificate of ownership that is issued by the Secretary of State;

(3) be 65 years of age or older;

(4) have a monthly household income, as determined by the Office of the Mobile and Manufactured Home Ombudsperson in accordance with this Section, which is at or below:

(A) one-twelfth of the applicable annual amount in the poverty guidelines updated periodically in the Federal Register by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services under the authority of 42 U.S.C. 9902(2) or $750, whichever is greater, if the person is the sole occupant of the manufactured home; or

(B) one-twelfth of the applicable annual amount in the poverty guidelines updated periodically in the Federal Register by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services under the authority of 42 U.S.C. 9902(2) or $1,125, whichever is greater, if the person is not the sole occupant of the manufactured home;

(5) be a tenant in a manufactured home park that is operated for profit and maintain continuous tenancy in that park during the duration of the supplemental assistance; and

(6) not have assets whose value is more than $12,000, excluding the value of:

(A) the manufactured home which is subject to the tenancy;

(B) the contents of that manufactured home; and

(C) one motor vehicle.

(b) In determining the monthly household income of an applicant pursuant to subsection (a), the Office of the Mobile and Manufactured Home Ombudsperson shall exclude from the calculation:

(1) The value of any benefits the applicant received under the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program during the year immediately preceding his or her application for assistance; or

(2) If the applicant is receiving coverage pursuant to Medicare Part B under 42 U.S.C. 1395j et seq., the value of the cost of that coverage during the year immediately preceding his or her application for assistance, whichever is greater.

(c) The Office of the Mobile and Manufactured Home Ombudsperson may waive the monthly household income requirements for eligibility set forth in paragraph (a)(4) upon the written request of an applicant if the applicant demonstrates to the satisfaction of the Office of the Mobile and Manufactured Home Ombudsperson that the circumstances of the applicant warrant a waiver as a result of:

(1) illness;

(2) disability; or

(3) extreme financial hardship based upon a significant reduction of income, when considering the applicant's current financial circumstances.

An applicant shall include with his or her request for a waiver all medical and financial documents that support his or her request.

(d) The Office of the Mobile and Manufactured Home Ombudsperson shall adopt rules establishing:

(1) the annual reporting requirements for persons receiving assistance pursuant to this Section. The rules must require that each such person provide the Office of the Mobile and Manufactured Home Ombudsperson with a written acknowledgment of his or her continued eligibility for assistance.

(2) the maximum amount of assistance which may be distributed to a person to supplement his or her monthly rent pursuant to this Section (both on an annual basis and on a program basis).

(e) As used in this Section:

"Manufactured home" includes a travel trailer that is located on a manufactured home lot within a manufactured home park.

"Monthly household income" means the combined monthly incomes of the occupants of a manufactured home which is subject to the tenancy for which assistance from the Fund is requested.

"Travel trailer" has the meaning given to that term in Section 1-210.01 of the Illinois Vehicle Code.

(f) This Section is inoperative on and after the date that the Fund no longer has available funds.

Section 90. The State Finance Act is amended by adding Section 5.1038 as follows:

(30 ILCS 105/5.1038 new)

Sec. 5.1038. The Mobile and Manufactured Home Ombudsperson Fund.

Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect January 1, 2027.".