Legislative Update - Community Association Bills heard by House Civil Justice and Courts Policy Committee
A couple of CA bills of interest were heard by the House Civil Justice & Courts Policy Committee on Tuesday (February 4, 2010) morning. HB 329 by Rep. Robaina was debated and it was decided by the Committee to hold off on taking a vote due to some concerns with the provisions pertaining to the ability of associations to go after payment of assessments from renters when unit owner landlords aren’t paying.
HB 561, a omnibus CA bill which CALL is working on very closely with sponsors Bogdanoff and Hudson, was passed by the committee after adopting several amendments pertaining to the contentious sprinkler retrofit issue. It would move the date of compliance to 2019 from 2014 and say that if an association has voted to forego retrofitting that 10 percent of owners could petition to have a special meeting “re-vote” once every 3 years. CALL will continue to monitor this issue to make certain a workable solution is found which doesn’t jeopardize the bill.
There was also a discussion on the Florida Supreme Court’s administrative order re the mandatory mediation process for residential mortgage foreclosure cases. David Muller of CALL was asked by the Committee to testify and was able to provide helpful information on the foreclosure crisis many associations are facing and how this mediation process must not cause further delay and cost. This issue remains a top priority of CALL. We need you to let your Legislators know how your association is being impacted and ask for action.
Please support HB 561 and 1222 which would postpone the difficult and very costly retrofit of sprinklers and fire alarm systems. These are extremly expensive projects with the details poorly defined. Most of our buildings are non-combustable except for the furniture inside. This is much safer than the wooden family home. We feel that two fire escapes and a building alarm system are perfectly adequate.
Thanks for your help.
I support HB 561 & 1222 to postpone the costly retrofit of
sprinklers and fire alarm systems.
LCAM in Florida since 1997.