New laws will affect local HOAs
Final list of bills passed and the ones that didn't

GREEN VALLEY--After years of frustrated attempts, advocates for homeowners' association reform in Arizona made headway this legislative session with their cause, managing to enact several new laws expected to have a direct effect on individual homeowners.

Following is a final roundup of which bills passed and which bills didn't.

The new laws

HB 2177: Allows an association member's designated representative to attend association meetings and all attendees of the meetings to speak. It also allows association members to speak at an appropriate time before the board takes formal action on an issue.

Also, the board must provide for a reasonable number of speakers on each side of an issue, and any designated speakers must be so stated in writing.

The law further allows the board of directors to place reasonable time restrictions on those persons speaking. The law also assures that all financial and other records of an association are reasonably available for examination by members, and makes sure that HOA meeting are subject to most other aspects of the Open Meeting Law.

HB 2379: Requires that an HOA board file an annual financial audit of the HOA, unless governing documents require an annual audit by a certified public accountant.

HB 2381: Prohibits an HOA board of directors from hiring members of a board members' immediate family (like siblings, parents, grand parents, wives, children, etc.).

HB 2402: Prohibits HOAs from placing a lien on a member's home for unpaid fines. The bill also requires that an HOA seek a civil court judgment before placing a lien on a member's home for unpaid assessments. Assessments are the periodic fees charged to HOA members for being a part of the association, essentially dues; while fines are usually nominal charges levied against homeowners who break the HOA's rules on aesthetics and behavior.

Political signs

HB 2478: Requires HOAs to allow members to put up political signs on their property.

HB 2492: Exempts public safety vehicles from the often strict HOA rules against homeowners parking on streets within the association. Under the law, fire service, ambulance, and federal, state, local, and tribal public safety vehicles are exempted from the rules.

SB 1125: Requires an HOA to register contact information with the county recorder.

SB 1137: Allows any HOA member to challenge a corporation's power to act, and exempts an HOA from the 10 percent voting power or the 50 member requirement to challenge the action of the corporation.

Bills that didn't pass

HB 2569: Would have allowed for daycare facilities to operate from homes within HOAs.

SB 1105: Would have changed the requirements for property to be considered a common area so that all residential property owners in the development would have only needed to be "offered" membership instead of "required to be and actually be members" of the HOA.

It also would have required members to be financially liable for the common area property.

HB 2374: Would have required votes cast by proxy in HOA elections to allow the unit owner to direct the proxy holder (i.e., the tenant) which way to vote on a given issue.

HB 2378: Would have required an HOA to be considered a public body for open meetings.

SB 1202: Would have limited the representation of an apartment complex on an HOA board to the proportion that the apartment complex represents in relation to the total number of units in the planned community HOA.

HB 2377: Would have required HOAs to get a court review of the validity of an alleged rules violation.

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