In what promised to be a very busy legislative session aimed at addressing construction defects, amendments to CCIOA and manager clean up bills, of the ten bills introduced, only three made it out of the legislature and onto the governor for action. Now that the dust has settled, we can explore what passed, along with future blogs on what was introduced and may not have passed, but may reappear next year.
The Survivors:
HB 15-1095: Signed into law on April 21, 2015 this law amends CRS 38-33.3-119 and allows communities created prior to July 1, 1992 with limited expenses to amend their declaration to opt out of CCIOA. This bill really has very limited impact upon the number of communities that qualify for its exemption in that it is limited to small, low expense communities created prior to July 1, 1992. Given the limited impact, this bill sailed through the legislature without much opposition.
HB 15-1343: The long awaited manager streamline and cleanup bill. Clarified who is a manager, exempted some CEOs from licensure and exempted some managers from the requirement of the general portion of the test. This was a very popular bill that received wide spread support. This is on Governor Hickenlooper’s desk and, given the broad support this bill received, we expect a quick signature.
SB 15-209: This bill, which did not get much attention, has the effect of exempting managers of Time Share communities from the manager licensing requirements. In order to be deemed a time share, the community qualifies as a time share community if a majority of the units reserved for residential use are “time share units” as defined by CRS 38-33-101; or CRS 12-61-401.
The Association would also qualify as a time share if it is registered with the Colorado Division of Real Estate as a Time Share Subdivision. As used in the statute, a majority of units means “the units to which are allocated more than fifty percent of the allocated interest in the common interest community appurtenant to all units that are designated for residential use.” So majority of interest relates to the allocated interest not necessarily a straight count of the units. If your community qualifies, the manager would be exempted from the licensing requirement.
Please contact us at 303.432.9999 with any questions you may have with any of these statutes. Tomorrow we will explore those bills that did not pass this legislative session, but may return.
We’d all be better off if the legislative session lasted 1 week, so lawmakers could address issues that truly impact the citizens, and quit trying to create solutions for non-existent problems. And they could cease legislating in matters about which they know nothing, like managing CICs. This legislative micro-management has started and will now be never ending.