Legislative Updates

SB 1278 was approved by the governor which leaves only three HOA related bills still active. The short recap and status of these bills are listed below.
 

HB 2371 – This bill has a few provisions to it which are as follows:

• Prohibit a municipality or county from requiring developers or builders from creating HOAs.
• Allows management companies the statutory authority to execute liens on behalf of our associations and to appear in small claims court as a representative vs. just a fact witness so that our Board members would no longer have to attend hearings with us.
• Clarifies “or other form of delivery” as far as voting in annual meetings to specifically state by “electronic mail and by facsimile”
• More detailed disclosure for HOAs and condos via the annual corporation renewal with the corporation commission starting January 1, 2015.
• Petitions filed by a homeowner through the Administrative Law Judge or ALJ hearing process states that if the petitioner or homeowner wishes to dismiss the request before a hearing is scheduled then the filing fee would be refunded to the petitioner or homeowner.
• Describes what information an HOA or condo can request regarding tenants of owners and what cannot be requested.

Status:  Awaiting assignment to the Senate Consent Calendar and a Senate floor vote having successfully passed the House and the Senate Government Committee.  The strike everything version of HB 2371 can be found at http://www.azleg.gov/legtext/51leg/1r/adopted/h.2371-se-gov.pdf a subsequent clarifying amendment to the strike everything bill can be found at http://www.azleg.gov/legtext/51leg/1r/adopted/h.2371-f1-ugenti.pdf

HB 2292  – This bill is now in the form of a strike everything amendment as sponsored by Senator Rick Murphy.  The language in the bill has similarities to the first section of HB 2371 (9-461.15 and 11-810), in that it includes provisions that would prohibit a municipality or county from requiring developers or builders from creating HOAs.  However, the bill also states that the HOA or planned community will be “limited to the maintenance of community owned property.”  
Status: The bill is currently being “retained” in the Senate Committee of the Whole (COW) as stakeholders discuss implications of this bill given the language that exists in HB 2371.  The strike everything amendment can be found at the following link.   http://www.azleg.gov/legtext/51leg/1r/adopted/s.2292jud.pdf
 
 
SB 1278 – This bill states that planned communities would have no authority over public roadways dedicated to a government entity. Unlike similar prior years’ bills, this bill also states that this would only apply to those planned communities whose CC&Rs are recorded after December 31, 2014.  
Status: This bill was signed by Governor Brewer on April 11^th and will become law 90 days after the end of this legislative session.  Following is the link to the signed version of the bill.  http://www.azleg.gov/legtext/51leg/1r/laws/0103.pdf
 

SB 1302 – This bill provides additional clarification on the design guideline/architectural review committee bill that became law after last year’s session. 
Status: The bill was passed by the House by a vote of 59 ayes and one nay.  The bill will now be transmitted to the Governor via the Senate for approval or veto.  Following is the link to the Senate engrossed version of the bill.  http://www.azleg.gov/legtext/51leg/1r/bills/sb1302s.pdf