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Final Legislative Action Report
June 10, 2022
The Governor on Monday signed the final and third piece of HOA related legislation for this session of the legislature, HB-2010, that protect the ability of homeowners to fly certain flag in support of first responders, uniformed services and gold and blue star recipients. See final bill language Here . An important point for all of you to understand in the language of this bill is that it is written in the singular ( a flag or a flagpole) but in doing so it applies equally to the plural (multiple flags and multiple flagpoles). The rules for statutory construction dictate that aspect so never allow an association to tell you that you can only have one flagpole or fly only one flag. All of these bills will become law 90 days after the session ends which is totally unpredictable because a state budget has not been approved.
As you may recall the other two bills were HB-2131 protecting the ability of homeowners to install artificial turf, and HB-2158 protecting your ability to participate in the governance of your communities by exercising your freedom of speech related to community elections and ballot measures and your ability to assemble informally to discuss community issue and to meet with political candidates and outside experts.
All three bills were introduced by Representative Kavanagh for the old district 23 who is now running for the Senate seat to the new district 3. I truly believe that that election will be decided in the Primary between two very capable and promising candidates, a longtime incumbent, and a very capable newcomer. Even I am torn between the two, as that is my district, and while Rep Kavanagh has supported me for many years and would love to retain that relationship, he has been a legislator for over 16 years and change is a very healthy thing for any government body.
As you all may be aware Arizona and every state has gone thru a new re-districting based on the results of the 2020 census. While there are relatively few current incumbents running for re-election those that are, are now in totally different territories and may not be familiar with their new potential constituents. That is one reason why HB-2156 was so important. It allows you the opportunity to use association common property to hold meetings to speak to political candidates and to tell them of the issue that you face in their communities. Tell them more protections are required in statutes to protect the 3.5 million Arizonians living in these communities. I’ve provided the link to the map for legislative districts in Arizona here. Approved Legislative Final Draft Map I’m also providing all of you with the link to the candidates for every State, Federal and Legislative primary election for August 2 here Arizona Secretary of State - 2022 Primary Election . The primaries are much more significant this year because of the number of new candidates and the totally new districts. From all I can see the redistricting was fair and unbiased and will result in many more districts being competitive between parties. Because of this no incumbent is safe, and the primaries will determine the candidates for the general election.
I will be presenting a very significant agenda of proposed legislation for next year of 5 bills, and while HOA issue are non-partisan, they will require legislators willing and ready to work with me to make these communities better places to live and stop the abuses of power to prevalent in so many of them. My proposal priorities will be:
- Codifying into law the true duties of boards to the members of their communities and to the association established in both common law and case law for Arizona. Here
- Eliminating the predatory and illegal collection practices of HOA attorneys relative to association common expense liens and foreclosure action, and to restore the homestead protection for equity in your homes. Here
- Clarifying the open meeting laws to ensure that board elections are held every year irrespective to quorum requirements and that agendas and draft minutes are made available to members before and after every meeting. Here
- Simplifying the amendment approval process for changes to the CC&R’s into three categories, simple majority, 67% of all members and unanimous consent consistent with common law and Arizona Case law. Here
- Modifying the statutes relative to terminations of Condominiums and Planned Communities to eliminate the ability of the association to take title to your property to sell it to an investor against your will. This will actually be consistent with the statutes in 29 of the 50 States. Here
That is where all of you come in. Meet with or write to you candidates and ask them how they feel about abuses of power within these HOA’s and will they be willing to standup and fight to protect the rights of property owners in these communities. Clearly there are many issue that go into deciding who you will vote for in these elections and I’m not so naïve to believe that HOA protections rise to the top of the list for anyone, but if is important to you, then make it important to them, if they want to get elected. I’ve carefully studied the bio for every candidate for every position across the state and will provide you my insight for any district if you ask me. There is one Senate race for the new district 10 (Mesa) between a true conservative honest, moderate and honorable politician (Rusty Bowers) and a glad-handed two-faced politician that will say whatever you want to hear and then, do whatever the special interest tell him to do. (David Farnsworth). There are no Democrats running for that one seat, I think it is clear who I would support if I were a voter in that district.
Please talk to your candidates and get involved, but most importantly vote in the primaries on August 2, 2022, and have a safe and fun summer.
Thank you
Dennis Legere
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Our Mission:
To advocate, protect, support and advance the best interests and rights of all Common Interest Community members.
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