California’s Legislature is more active this year regarding common interest developments than it has been in many years.
There are at least 10 bills pending that would affect California HOAs, and two more “placeholder” bills that mention HOAs but are empty of significant content, for now.
Although Feb. 20 was the deadline to introduce bills for consideration this year, placeholder bills or other filed bills could still be significantly changed at the last minute.
Four of the pending bills would help HOAs if passed, while six others would be troublesome. This week’s column will recap the four good proposals. We’ll save the six “bad” ones for next week.
Assembly Bill 1892 would help elections by acclamation.
Civil Code 5103, enacted in 2022, allows HOAs to forego casting and counting of ballots if at the close of nominations the number of eligible candidates does not exceed the number of open seats. However, to use the acclamation process HOAs must start their election activities at least 150 days before the election date, and many HOAs find planning that far ahead to be difficult.
AB 1892, authored by Orange County’s Assemblymember Laurie Davies, would shorten the acclamation process to the same length (90 days minimum) as normal board elections. The bill would also require that HOAs using electronic voting issue electronic ballot notices to members at least 30 days before the voting deadline.
Assembly Bill 2035 by Assemblymember Diane Dixon in Newport Beach proposes to help very large associations amend their CC&Rs.
Voter participation regarding CC&R amendments is often low, and HOAs can petition a judge to approve CC&R amendments if at least more than 50% of all members voted for it. This bill would reduce that percentage to 37%.
However, its application would be extremely narrow, applying only to senior housing HOAs of at least 6,000 homes in which at least 25% of the homes are occupied by tenants and if at least 25% of the owners live in the HOA less than six months each year. There are only a few HOAs that are large enough to benefit from this bill, including Third Laguna Hills Mutual and United Laguna Woods Mutual, both part of Laguna Woods Village in Laguna Woods, and possibly Sun City Lincoln Hills in Lincoln.
Senate Bill 1267 by state Sen. Ben Allen of El Segundo would help HOAs regarding electric vehicle charging stations.
Installers would be required to indemnify or reimburse the HOA or its members for loss or damage caused by the installation, maintenance or use of the system. HOAs would not be liable for problems caused by such systems unless the HOA was grossly negligent regarding them.
Assembly Bill 2050 by Assembly member Jessica Caloza of east and northeast Los Angeles proposes to add to reserve fund study requirements starting in 2032.
The bill requires HOA reserve studies to include calculating the minimum reserve savings level to prevent the account from falling below zero and allow boards to impose a special assessment once every three years to help reserve savings catch up to the minimum level required by the study. This special assessment would not be limited by the 5% cap of Civil Code 5605.
You can find all pending bills at leginfo.legislature.ca.gov
Kelly G. Richardson, Esq. is a Fellow of the College of Community Association Lawyers and Partner of Richardson Ober LLP, a California law firm known for community association advice. Submit possible column questions to Kelly@roattorneys.com.
Richardson, Esq. is a fellow of the College of Community Association Lawyers and partner of Richardson Ober LLP, a California law firm known for community association advice. Submit column questions to kelly@roattorneys.com.
Hence then, the article about hoa homefront 4 pending bills that would help hoas was published today ( ) and is available on Los Angeles Daily News ( Middle East ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( HOA Homefront: 4 pending bills that would help HOAs )
Also on site :