LEGISLATIVE ACTION COMMITTEE MEMBERS NEVER STOP WORKING FOR COMMUNITIES
Monitoring current and future legislation affecting community associations, (and being an advocate for communities) is critical to the long-term success of our clients and it is why MEEB partners chair, or co-chair, three (3) out of the four (4) CAI-New England Legislative Action Committees (LACs) for our region: Massachusetts (Matt Gaines), Rhode Island (Janet Aronson) and New Hampshire (Gary Daddario). For these committees, success is measured as much by undesirable measures deflected as by desirable measures approved, and by that metric, the 2021-2022 legislative term was successful for all three. Below are the recent highlights from our region.
Sometimes the status quo is a win. “Not a single bill the LAC supported or opposed passed” during the formal session, which ended in July, Matt reports. But one of the committee’s priorities, authorizing condominium associations to hold meetings of members and boards and allowing voting by electronic means, received a favorable committee report and may win final approval during the informal legislative session, which runs through the end of the year. The bill is important for condo associations, Matt explains, because it would eliminate the need to amend their documents if they don’t explicitly authorize electronic voting and meetings. The chairman of the state Legislatures’ Housing Committee has been “encouraging” about the bill’s prospects, Matt says, and while that is “not a one hundred percent commitment,” he is “cautiously optimistic” the bill will be approved.
Matt is less optimistic about another LAC priority – amending the Statutes of Limitation and Repose to extend the deadlines for initiating construction defect litigation. The Home Builders Association of Massachusetts continues to oppose the measures, “and as long as they can find a single representative or senator” willing to block the vote, “they will be able to kill the bills this year” as they have in the past, and the LAC will refile them once again.
Although lawmakers don’t pass many bills in an informal session, the House has already approved one, creating a commission to study proposals to penalize owners who misrepresent their pets as “service animals.” The LAC doesn’t oppose the measure, which has not yet passed the Senate. But the committee does want lawmakers to broaden the language to include the misrepresentation of emotional support animals – a major concern for condominium associations, which may be required to accept the animals (even in a no-pet community) as required accommodations for owners under the Fair Housing Act.
On the Radar
Other measures the LAC is eyeing with concern:
The so-called “clothesline bill,” an energy-conservation measure allowing condo owners to install a clothesline pretty much wherever they like as an alternative to using gas or electricity-powered clothes dryers. The bill received a favorable report this year, “and we’re hoping it doesn’t go any further,” Matt says.
A bill establishing “onerous” requirements for condominium elections, applicable to all communities regardless of size. “One-size-fits all” rules don’t work for communities that differ dramatically in size and governance, Matt notes. Equally problematic: “The bill targets a problem that doesn’t exist” in most communities.
Bills stemming from the “Surfside” tragedy, mandating reserve funding and regular structural integrity inspections, among other requirements for condominium communities. This is another ‘one-size-fits-all” legislative solution that fails to consider differences in the structures, locations, and ages of buildings. While measures of this kind haven’t surfaced yet in Massachusetts, Matt says, “it is certainly possible that they will.”
The Rhode Island LAC won a major victory with the passage of a bill closing a potential gap in insurance requirements that had allowed insurance companies to deny coverage under a unit owner’s policy for the owner’s share of the association’s master policy deductible. The problem arose with older policies that did not specifically reference that coverage or precluded it, Janet Aronson, chair of the RI-LAC explains. The legislative fix specifies that the unit owner’s policy is responsible for an individual claim up to the limits of the master policy’s deductible. “The LAC is thrilled with the passage of this bill,” Janet says, because it addresses a serious problem. The measure also underscores both the need for association boards to understand the insurance coverage requirements in their governing documents, and the need for owners to understand their potential obligation to pay the master policy deductible (or a share of it) and to have a unit owner’s policy covering that cost. Toward that end, MEEB recommends associations adopt a policy detailing the community’s insurance requirements emphasizing the need for appropriate unit owner coverage.
Gary Daddario and the New Hampshire LAC may have felt a little like the proverbial ‘catcher on a javelin team,’ judging by the number of adverse condominium bills they deflected during the 2022 legislative term, many of them refiles of measures the committee has countered before and expects to see again. This list of ‘oldies but baddies’ included bills:
Creating a statewide condominium dispute resolution board, charged with hearing complaints filed by owners against their association’s governing board. The major problem with this bill Gary says, is procedural: The board decides whether an owner’s complaint merits a hearing based solely on information submitted by the owner, without considering the condo association’s response; “Any complaint will seem valid on its face if you don’t consider the other side,” Gary notes.
Allowing owners to install HAM radio equipment virtually anywhere in the community, including common areas. “Any bill with a preamble that says, ‘notwithstanding language to the contrary in the association’s governing documents,’ is not going to be good for condo associations,” Gary says, “and this one is classically bad.”
Prohibiting associations from restricting the installation of solar equipment desired by unit owners. The legislation “ignores the realities” of condominium communities, Gary says, primarily among them: Common areas are owned and controlled by the association, not by individual owners, and the roofs in many communities aren’t large enough to accommodate all the equipment owners might want to install.
Requiring a majority of owners to approve any fee increase. “Anyone who knows anything about condominiums knows this is madness,” Gary says.
The 2022 legislative agenda included two condominium-related bills the LAC didn’t oppose, both establishing study committees. One will consider agreements between condo developers and municipalities requiring owners to pay both for private trash services and for municipal services they don’t receive. The other will study the merits of requiring developers who create private roadways in condo communities to establish reserves to fund ongoing maintenance and repairs.
Foreclosure Authority – Again
The NH LAC’s priority this year, as it has been for several years, was a measure authorizing condo associations to enforce their priority lien by foreclosing on the units of delinquent owners. Once again, the effort fell short, blocked by mortgage lenders who continue to oppose the measure. “But we came closer this year,” Gary says, “and we’ll keep hammering away until we wear them down. We’ll get this done eventually.”
The LAC’s biggest success this year, Gary suggests, was its ability to attract large numbers of people to support or oppose legislation affecting condominiums. Several hearings, including those on the dispute resolution board, owner approval of fee increases and the foreclosure measure, attracted standing-room-only crowds. ‘This is where the rubber meets the road,” Gary emphasizes, noting, “There’s a direct correlation between the number of people who testify for or against a bill and what eventually happens to it.”