Legislative Updates

FREE 2014 Legislative Update

Saturday, June 14th from 9am-10am attorneys from Ekmark & Ekmark will be discussing the 2014 legislative session and bills that passed which affect HOAs.

As of today, April 24, 2014, the 51^st Arizona Legislative Session has adjourned.  Although typically 100 days long, this year’s session went 101 days and wrapped up around 1:45am in the morning.  The big issue surrounding Child Protective Services is expected to be addressed in a Special Session.

There were a few bills regarding homeowner associations that came up in this session; a few passed and the majority went by the wayside for this year.  An infographic regarding the Legislative process in its entirety can be viewed at: http://www.associatedasset.com/hoa-resources/legislative-updates/arizona/

Below is the list of bills that would impact homeowners’ associations that we have been tracking this session.  Bills that the Governor signs or has signed will take effect 90 days after the Legislature adjourns.

As of last week, bills must have passed their committee of origin in order to proceed. AAM has the list of HOA related bills that have made it through the committee along with those that are now considered dead.

There are now eight bills pending involving HOAs that we are currently tracking. The newer bills are at the top and highlighted in blue followed by status and possible short commentary. As these bills make their way through various committees we will let you know so that you will hopefully have an opportunity to contact your legislators to voice your opinion. SB1482, HB2570, HB2556, HB2027, HB1151, SB1184, SB1197, SB 1334

As we enter the fourth week of the 2014 session, we are approaching the deadline for bills to be introduced in their respective houses. Once introduced, these bills are assigned to the various committees for review. There are currently four bills that have been introduced that we are monitoring related to homeowners associations. Recaps of the bill are as follow:

• HB 2027
  Allows for owners in an age restricted community (active adult community) to drive golf carts or neighborhood electric vehicles on paved roads.  However, this would only apply to communities in unincorporated parts of large counties like Maricopa. For the communities that AAM currently manages, this will have an impact since our associations are located in incorporated area of the counties.
• SB 1151
  Municipalities would not be allowed to prohibit a resident in a single-family detached home to keep fowl (chickens or other bird raised for food) in the backyard of the property. The city would however be allowed to restrict the number. This legislation would pre-empt local laws that are contrary.
• SB 1184
  An extended definition of the planned community definition.
• SB 1197
  Would prohibit gated and/or guarded communities from restricting the entry of process servers. Additionally the guard (if any) cannot “announce” to an owner that the process server has entered the association to serve that owner.