The California Bill to Increase the Transparency of HOA fails in the Assembly

Republican Assembly Joe Paterson He says a woman slowly drives her home in Place County about once a week and takes pictures.

It is not an angry ingredient or stalker. He said she was a representative of the Association of the Housing Owners, which collects evidence to make sure that the exterior of Patterson’s home responded to his strict rules.

“I get letters for, you know,” Oh, your (landscaping) bark is not deep enough, “he said. “Now this is my son’s basketball hoop.”

The “clean harassment” of his Hoa is the reason to say he has a large black flag in his legislative office. He reads: “Define Hoa.”

So it didn’t take a lot of hand from Patterson’s Republican counterpart, Carl Demaioto persuade Patterson to present Demaio Assembly Bill 21S The proposed new law would force the estimated 50,000 private associations of homeowners to behave more as local authorities when it comes to open records and public meetings. The bill failed to pass from its first hearing of the committee last week.

HOA collects monthly fees from homeowners for services such as maintenance of club houses and pools, security, plowing snow, landscaping, road repair and other shared amenities. They often set the rules for the neighborhood to ensure that the properties are maintained and do not become ugly.

Many people who live in Hoa -managed communities have no complaints, evaluate that they help to share costs and believe that standard rules for the appearance of the home prevent the eyes.

But the associations themselves can sometimes turn into bitter feuds between neighbors, including accusations of crowning and relentless application of minor violations of HOA rules. Many popular social media accounts and messages are dedicated to people who share contempt for their HOA.

Patterson said his Hoa wanted to add more barking for landscaping around his home, which he did. As for his son’s basketball hoop, this is one of those with wheels on him. According to his Hoa, this is not, he said. Representatives of Patterson’s Hoa, the Whitney Ranch Community Association in Rockelin, refused an interview request.

The unsuccessful measure would require HOA to follow different rules similar to these urban and district advice should follow. This would have to make it obligatory to make the HOA Council to make decisions of recorded open meetings and to add mandatory requirements for announcement for recordings, such as a meeting of programs and protocols and notices of court cases. HOA members could file a claim for annulment of decisions that violate the law.

“He carries sunlight in the management of Hoa,” Patterson said Community Housing and Development Committee. “This is not a crazy, radical proposal. It is to ensure that people who live in these communities have the right to know what decisions are made on their behalf.”

Hoa recovery attempt can return

The bill failed last week with four Democrats on the committee that voted for him, along with Patterson. A bilateral group of seven legislators votes “No” or does not vote at all, which is reported as the vote.

The legislators who voted no or did not vote did not explain their justification in the nine minutes that the bill had been discussed.

According to Database of digital democracyOpponents of the bill included the California Association of Community Managers, the Center for Internal City Law, the San Diego Housing Commission and the Institute for Association of the Community Association, which is advocated on behalf of Hoas.

Institute lobbyist Taylor Trifo told the Commission that existing laws are already providing accountability and transparency.

The Democratic Chairman of the Commission, Matt Hani San Francisco voted for the proposal, but it was not enough to keep it alive.

Patterson said he thinks the bill has died largely because of an author: Demaio. It is a conservative fiery brand and host of the radio in San Diego with great, Donald Trump Style, Style Libes.

“Honestly, it was Karl’s bill, and it was going down in flames has nothing to do with politics,” Patterson said. “I think if it was Joe Patterson, it would have had a different fate.”

Demayo agreed that his name was probably his kiss of death.

“It probably has a lot more to do with the Democrats’ smallness to just try to kill any bill related to me,” Demeyo said. He failed to submit his bill due to a conflict arising from a radio-hosting concert, he said.

The two democratic legislators who voted no on the bill, Alex Lee of Milpitas and Robert Garcia On Rancho Kukamonga, they cannot be reached for comment on Thursday.

DEMAIO owns two properties that are in Hoas. He said that those who pay in the associations deserve transparency from what he describes as “quasi-government entities”. He therefore said he wanted to add new requirements, although there is usually a dislike of more private property regulation.

“If they can tax your taxes, if they can burden your property rights, they are governmental decisions,” Demayo said. “And so they must be subjected to open meetings and the laws of public records like any other public entity.”

Demaio said he would support Patterson’s plan to introduce the measure next year to give the bill a better shot. Patterson said he had already shown interest from democratic colleagues who want to enter to give the bill bilateral impetus. He refused to name them.

Patterson said his association of homeowners did not charge so much – only $ 85 a month. But given that there are 2,800 homeowners who pay the fee, this is a significant amount of money for which the HOA Council is responsible. Plus, he said that if he did not pay to protest against the alleged “harassment” or for other reasons, Hoa could bet on his house.

“If you are going to take my house from me and you will have a recorded bet on my home, then it is better to provide a lot of transparent financial records to your community,” he said.