I can’t believe I’m already writing about what we might expect next year when we are just over a month after the closing of the 2013 legislation session. But, Colorado HOA Forum has already published its list of legislative topics it intends to focus on for next year. The list, which appeared in yesterday’s issue of The Denver Post’s Your Hub, listed:
- Including an out of court binding dispute resolution process for all cases regarding association law;
- Improving the manager licensing legislation that passed this year;
- Limiting the fees and administrative costs charges to delinquent owners;
- Increasing the roles, responsibilities, enforcement and authority of the HOA Information Office and Resource Center;
- Restricting or limiting transfer fees upon the sale of homes in associations;
- Requiring realtors and purchasers to receive copies of association governing documents and financial statements
- Requiring realtors and purchasers to certify they have read association governing documents and financial statements before purchasing a home in an association
- Requiring board members to certify that they have read their governing documents and information on HOA Information and Resource Center website regarding HOA law as a part of the registration process;
- Impose a term limit on board members when others are willing to serve.
Many of these items were a part of this group’s focus this year and lead to some of the laws that were passed. Embolden by these successes I think we can expect them to continue to push their agenda with legislatures and we will see a revisiting of some of the key bills such as numbers 1, 2, 4, and 5 above.
That would be the responsibility of the homeowners when electing board members. If someone has served on a board and not done a good job, then the owners should elect someone else. That is what democracy is all about. If the board member has done a good job then they should be allowed to run for re-election even though other candidates may choose to run.