California Lawmakers Kill Bid To Force HOAs To Follow Open Meeting Laws

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By Ryan Sabalow, CalMatters

Republican Assemblymember Joe Patterson says a woman slowly drives by his Placer County home about once a week and takes pictures.

She’s not an angry constituent or a stalker. He said she’s a representative from his homeowners’ association gathering evidence to make sure the exterior of Patterson’s home complies with its strict rules.

“I’ve been getting letters for, you know, ‘Oh, your (landscaping) bark isn’t deep enough,’ ” he said. “Now it’s my son’s basketball hoop.”

The “sheer harassment” from his HOA is why he said he has a large black flag in his legislative office. It reads: “Defund the HOA.”

So it didn’t take a lot of arm twisting from Patterson’s Republican colleague, Carl DeMaio, to persuade Patterson to present DeMaio’s Assembly Bill 21. The proposed new law would force California’s estimated 50,000 private homeowners’ associations to behave more like local governments when it comes to open records and public meetings. The bill failed to advance from its first committee hearing last week.

HOAs collect monthly fees from homeowners for services such as maintaining clubhouses and pools, security, plowing snow, landscaping, road repairs and other shared amenities. They often set neighborhood rules to ensure properties are maintained and don’t become unsightly.

Many people who live in HOA-governed communities have no complaints, appreciate that they help share the cost and believe that standard rules about home appearance prevent eyesores.

But the associations themselves can sometimes devolve into bitter feuds between neighbors, featuring accusations of cronyism and ruthless enforcement of petty violations of an HOA’s rules. Multiple popular social media accounts and message boards are devoted to people sharing contempt for their HOAs.

Patterson said his HOA demanded he add more landscaping bark around his home, which he did. As for his son’s basketball hoop, it’s one of those with wheels on it. That, according to his HOA, is a no-no, he said. Representatives for Patterson’s HOA, the Whitney Ranch Community Association in Rocklin, declined an interview request.

The failed measure would have required HOAs to abide by various rules similar to those city and county boards have to follow. That would have included making it mandatory for an HOA board to make decisions in recorded open meetings and adding mandatory disclosure requirements for records such as meeting agendas and minutes and notices of lawsuits. HOA members could sue to void decisions that violated the law.

“It brings sunlight to HOA governance,” Patterson told the Assembly Housing and Community Development Committee. “This isn’t a crazy, radical proposal. It’s about ensuring that the people who live in these communities have the right to know what decisions are made on their behalf.

Attempt to rein in HOAs may return

The bill failed last week with four Democrats on the committee voting for it, along with Patterson. A bipartisan group of seven lawmakers voted “no” or didn’t vote at all, which counts the same as a no vote.

The lawmakers who voted “no” or who didn’t vote did not explain their rationale during the nine minutes the bill was discussed.

According to the Digital Democracy database, the bill’s opponents included the California Association of Community Managers, the Inner City Law Center, the San Diego Housing Commission and the Community Associations Institute, which advocates on behalf of HOAs.

The institute’s lobbyist, Taylor Triffo, told the committee that existing laws already provide accountability and transparency.

The committee’s Democratic chairperson, Matt Haney of San Francisco, voted for the proposal, but it wasn’t enough to keep it alive.

Patterson said he thinks the bill largely died because of its author: DeMaio. He’s a conservative firebrand and San Diego talk radio host with a brash, Donald Trump-esque, “own-the-libs” style.

“Honestly, it was Carl’s bill, and it going down in flames had nothing to do with the policy,” Patterson said. “I think if that was Joe Patterson’s bill, it would have had a different fate.”

DeMaio agreed that his name was probably its kiss of death.

“It probably has a lot more to do with the Democrats’ pettiness of just trying to kill any bill associated with me,” DeMaio said. He was unable to present his bill due to a conflict that arose from a radio-hosting gig, he said.

The two Democratic lawmakers who voted “no” on the bill, Alex Lee of Milpitas and Robert Garcia of Rancho Cucamonga, couldn’t be reached for comment Thursday.

DeMaio owns two properties that are in HOAs. He said those paying into the associations deserve transparency from what he describes as “quasi-governmental entities.” That’s why he said he wanted to add new requirements despite normally having a distaste for more regulation of private property.

“If they can tax you, if they can encumber your property rights, they’re governmental decisions,” DeMaio said. “And so they should be subjected to the open meetings and public records laws like any other public entity.”

DeMaio said he would support Patterson’s plan to reintroduce the measure next year to give the bill a better shot. Patterson said he’s already gotten interest from Democratic colleagues wanting to sign on to give the bill a bipartisan boost. He declined to name them.

Patterson said his homeowners association doesn’t charge that much – only $85 a month. But given that there are 2,800 homeowners paying the fee, that’s a significant amount of money for which the HOA board is responsible. Plus, he said if he doesn’t pay to protest the alleged “harassment” or for other reasons, the HOA can put a lien on his house.

“If you’re going to take my house from me and have a recorded lien on my home, then you damn well better provide very transparent financial records to your community,” he said.