So, What’s Left, Part Two?

With just more than 3 weeks left in the scheduled legislative session, the Senate Bills still up for consideration include :

SB 13-126: This bill concerns the removal of unreasonable restrictions on the ability of the Owner of an Electric Vehicle to access charging facilities. Essentially, this bill prohibits an association from denying requests from an owner or a tenant in a community for the installation of an electric car charger.  Additionally:

• the chargers must be placed in the garage or on limited common elements allocated to the Unit owned or occupied by the party requesting the charger;
• the unit occupant requesting the charger is required to pay any and all costs associated with its installation, operation and removal; and
• the Association may charge the owner a reasonable fee for the electricity used by the charger if the charger is not separately metered. 

This bill is expected to pass as it has been debated and passed both chambers of the legislature. 

SB 13-182: This bill addresses deceptive practices in the sales of time shares. The bill puts substantial limitations on the ability of owners to sell or otherwise dispose of their timeshare interests.  Specifically, the bill provides that, “A time share resale entity is prohibited from knowingly transferring or offering to transfer, or receiving compensation in connection with the transfer of, a resale time share to a transferee who is unable or does not intend to fulfill the obligations of ownership.” Owners will no longer be able to pay to have a company take their timeshare interest and not intend to fulfill the obligations of ownership, such as the obligation to pay assessments. This will help time share communities in their operations. This bill is expected to pass as it has been debated and agreed to in both chambers.  

SB 13-183:  And last, but not least, SB 13-183, the Drought Mitigation Bill.  This bill protects xeriscaping and prohibits an association from:

• requiring any amount of non-native turf grasses,
• fining owners for dead or dormant lawns during times of watering restrictions, and
• requires a reasonable amount of time to permit lawns to recover. 

While this bill was passed out of the Senate in short order being passed out of the Senate in just over three weeks, it has stalled in the House.  However, we still expect this bill to pass as the drought is not getting any better and watering restrictions are already in place.

We will keep you updated as the legislation log jam breaks loose.