Legislative Update By Jennifer Wada, Esq.
The Legislature reconvened on January 3rd and the deadline to introduce legislation was February 18th. Hundreds of new bills were introduced, and they join an already existing number of bills still alive from 2021. As of the writing of this article, CACM is still going through all newly introduced bills to assess impact on the community management industry. As we enter the first round of policy committee hearings, we can anticipate that there will be many iterations of the proposals as the year progresses. Many bills were introduced in “spot” form, meaning their substantive content is yet to be included. In this article are some bills that CACM has flagged so far.
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Vision Spring 2022 | cacm.org
AB-1410 (Rodriguez – declared emergencies: protected uses) CACM successfully stalled this bill last year, but the author is pushing it again this year. Referred to as the “kitchen sink” bill, AB-1410 originally included a host of problematic provisions ranging from prohibiting associations from enforcing any violation during a state of emergency to allowing personal agriculture in front yards. CACM vigorously opposed the original approach and while it remains opposed, negotiations have improved the bill. Here are some highlights: 1. Originally, the bill barred associations from prohibiting personal agriculture in front yards. This entire section has been eliminated. 2. Originally, the bill prohibited any courtesy notice or enforcement action during a state of emergency. Amendments now allow courtesy notices and only prohibit enforcement if the nature of the emergency makes compliance “unsafe or impossible” for the homeowner to prevent or fix the violation. 3. Originally, the bill prohibited all rental restrictions. Amendments now clarify that these provisions only apply to owneroccupied units with a roommate (a.k.a. “lodgers”). In other words, an association cannot prohibit owners from having lodgers.
