Last edition I complained about a terrible California law, an outlier that requires an affirmative vote of a majority of a quorum of homeowners to pass a special assessment for needed repairs.

The California Legislature is now actively considering a bill that, if enacted, would amend that law to make it far, far worse.

SB-1007 is brought to you by the Center for California Homeowner Association Law, a group out to handicap HOAs in the name of consumer protection. They are the same folks behind last year’s bill that now limits HOA boards to fines of no more than $100.

SB-1007 would require a majority of a quorum of homeowners to approve any budget increase bigger than…well, that’s currently being debated. The original bill limited increases to inflation. The version just passed by the Senate changed that to eight percent. Current law is 20%.

Meanwhile, Fannie Mae has published new lending guidelines that require HOAs to put 15% of next year’s budget into reserves, up from the current 10%. That means that if this bill passes, HOAs that are trying to meet the guidelines can increase the rest of their budget only three percent.

Condo Wonk is working with ECHO, The Educational Community for HOA Homeowners, to spread the word on the damage this bill could cause.

We will get back to other topics, I promise. Right now I’m working on an article about managers, so if you have any stories to share or questions you want the article to address, let me know.

In the meantime, check out the article for how to contact your legislator and what to say. Thanks, everyone!