CAI offers guidance for lawmakers, advocates with legislative priorities for 2023 | Opinion
As the leading voice for the community associations industry, the Community Associations Institute serves a vital function by guiding and providing feedback to state and federal lawmakers on the top legislative priorities for communities. At the start of December, the organization’s Dawn Bauman authored an update for its members on the group’s 2023 legislative priorities at the state level, and they are particularly relevant for us in the Sunshine State.
To determine CAI’s priority issues for 2023, its Government & Public Affairs team surveyed nearly 1,000 members including the federal legislative action committee (LAC), Government & Public Affairs Committee, and state LAC representatives. Fifty percent of respondents said they anticipate condominium safety issues in 2023, including those covering reserve studies and funding; as well as building inspections, maintenance and structural integrity.
The organization recommends statutorily mandating reserve studies and funding for all community associations, and it also supports additional requirements by developers during the development process and prior to the transition of association control to homeowners. It addresses structural integrity through statutorily mandated building inspections at 10 years, 20 years, and every five years thereafter, as recommended by the American Society of Civil Engineers’ published protocol for building inspections.
Bauman also wrote that CAI encourages policymakers to engage industry stakeholders, including community associations, in an open forum over legislative initiatives and regulations involving short- and long-term rentals. The group’s position is that association boards of directors, with homeowner input, are the appropriate governing body to craft policies regarding whether short- and long-term rentals make sense for their community.
The legislative priorities summary also discusses responses to threats and violence against managers, staff members and association boards. It notes that the organization is committed to discussing public policy options, training programs, resources, and support to help ensure that senseless acts of violence do not occur.
CAI also supports the adoption of a simplified process for removing discriminatory restrictive covenants. The group has long-since supported a process to remove antiquated and unenforceable discriminatory restrictions contained in covenants via simple board approval and without any prerequisites for votes by all unit owners. It advocates for state legislation that provides for the removal of restrictions deemed discriminatory under the federal Fair Housing Act or state antidiscrimination laws.
At the federal level, CAI representatives met with White House officials on Sept. 20 to discuss condominium safety initiatives and garner support for two pieces of legislation:
H.R. 8304, the Rapid Financing for Critical Condo Repairs Act, which allows the Federal Housing Administration to insure condominium association building rehabilitation loans made by private lenders. FHA-insured loans will allow associations to finance building repairs over 30-years, reducing the need for large special assessments on homeowners.
H.R. 7532, the Securing Access to Finance Exterior Repairs (SAFER) in Condos Act, which allows condominium homeowners to finance a building repair special assessment over 20 to 30-years. Condominium homeowners may combine a building repair special assessment with existing mortgage debt in a new FHA-insured 30-year mortgage. Homeowners also have the option of financing only the building repair special assessment through a 20-year FHA-insured second mortgage.
Given all the financial pressures that Florida condominium associations have been facing with rising insurance costs and the coming increases in inspections/repairs/reserves, these federal initiatives introduced by members of the U.S. House of Representatives from the state could become a financial lifeline for communities. Interest rates are predicted to remain high for quite some time, and some condominium associations are going to require access to affordable low-interest financing for major and immediate repairs.
A significant proportion of our firm’s community association attorneys are active members of the local Southeast Florida Chapter of CAI, and we echo the organization’s support for these state and federal legislative initiatives and priorities. Some of us now and in years past have also been in contact with lawmakers to help guide them in their efforts to develop and enact positive and effective new laws and regulations for associations. We will continue to do our part, and we encourage everyone who supports the two new federal condo-safety financing proposals to do theirs by contacting their U.S. representative and asking them to back these bills.
Gary M. Mars is a shareholder with the Coral Gables-based law firm of Siegfried Rivera who is board certified in community association law. He is a regular contributor to the firm’s association law blog at www.FloridaHOALawyerBlog.com. GMars@SiegfriedRivera.com, www.SiegfriedRivera.com, 305-442-3334.
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About the CAI
The Community Associations Institute is an international trade association and special interest group headquartered in Falls Church, Virginia, founded in 1973 and having more than 60 chapters in the United States, Canada, South Africa and the United Arab Emirates. Its stated aim is to provide education and resources to the volunteer homeowners, volunteer board leaders, professional managers and business professionals in the more than 358,000 homeowners associations, condos and housing cooperatives in the U.S.
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