SACRAMENTO – The Assembly Appropriations Committee has passed a measure aimed at providing education as well as non-judicial conflict resolution in disputes between homeowners and their homeowner associations.

The bill’s author, Assembly Member Lori Saldaña, who chairs the Assembly Housing and Community Development Committee, said that the state needs to be more responsive to the complaints of homeowners and board members living in Homeowners Associations (HOA).

“These entities are essentially little governments,” Saldaña said. “The state has empowered them with the ability to tax and to make and enforce laws that affect the day-to-day lives and the pocket books of homeowners.”

“That’s a lot of power over people’s lives and property,” she said.

Saldaña said that the state receives complaints that associations do not fulfill their obligations to homeowners or abuse their power. But the state currently does not have any oversight power and a homeowner’s only recourse to enforce the law is to take their association to court.

“That’s not always an attractive or even a financially feasible option for many homeowners, especially seniors on limited incomes,” Saldaña said.

Saldaña’s bill, AB 567, would establish a Common Interest Development (CID) Bureau at the state level that would provide training and education for association officers, collect data on homeowner complaints, and establish a non-judicial forum for dispute resolution.  In certain cases, the Bureau would also have the authority to issue citations for associations who violate state law.

Nevada and Florida, both states with large populations living in common interest developments, have similar programs.

The legislation is now headed for a full vote of the Assembly.