Bills Introduced In 2022 Legislative Session

By Jennifer Wada, Esq.

We are now in the full swing of the legislative session. The deadline to get all bills out of their “first house” policy committees is April 29. Some bills will die but most will move on to the Appropriations Committee where their fiscal impact will be analyzed. “Second house” policy committees will start up in June, and we will then race toward the adjournment finish line of August 31.

AB-1410 (Rodriguez)

As previously reported, CACM has been engaged in negotiations on AB-1410 (Rodriguez). AB-1410 originally included a host of problematic provisions, including prohibiting associations from enforcing any violation during a state of emergency. The bill now allows enforcement of violations unless the nature of the emergency makes compliance unsafe or impossible.

As we move closer to the bill’s second house policy hearing, we intend to work on additional amendments that would address the requirement that directors and employees take a course in ethics and harassment. We also intend to explore possible cleanup to ensure the bill doesn’t impact current law on short-term rentals.

SB-1444 (Allen)

One issue that CACM has been focused on is the rising cost of insurance for HOAs. Alongside CAI, we looked into expanding SB- 1444 (Allen) to include all common interest developments. SB-1444 originally would have included condominium dwelling coverage in the definition of “basic property insurance” under the California FAIR Plan.

The FAIR plan is a joint reinsurance association formed by insurers licensed to write basic property insurance, and it assists people in securing this coverage. After discussions, however, it became clear that there was no feasible way to extend coverage, and more importantly, even if it could be done, it would not address the affordability issue.

In discussions with the Senate Insurance Committee, they acknowledged the very real problem of rising costs and indicated a willingness to continue to discuss and brainstorm creative solutions. CACM has also reached out to the Department of Insurance on this topic.

What’s Next?

As we approach the anniversary of the Surfside condo collapse in Florida, we would be remiss not to acknowledge the need to protect against similar tragedies in our great state. Consideration of reserve funding, board approval of emergency funds, and inspections continue to be hot topics.

Unfortunately, in the current election year, it was difficult to find courageous legislators willing to step up on the topic when the solution could impact homeowner assessments. We continue to have discussions on how to address the problem of aging CID infrastructure and are hopeful that we will see future legislation to aid our communities and to protect the residents within them.

Jennifer Wada, Esq.

Jennifer Wada, Esq., is an attorney, CACM’s legislative advocate and principal of Wada Government Relations in Sacramento.