BILL ANALYSIS Ó
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 968|
|Office of Senate Floor Analyses | |
|1020 N Street, Suite 524 | |
|(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | |
|327-4478 | |
-----------------------------------------------------------------
THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 968
Author: Gordon (D)
Amended: 6/23/14 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE TRANSPORTATION & HOUSING COMMITTEE : 10-0, 6/17/14
AYES: DeSaulnier, Gaines, Beall, Cannella, Galgiani, Hueso,
Lara, Liu, Pavley, Wyland
NO VOTE RECORDED: Roth
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 73-1, 5/9/13 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Common-interest developments: repair and
replacement responsibilities
SOURCE : Educational Community for Homeowners
DIGEST : This bill, beginning January 1, 2016, establishes the
general rule that a common-interest development (CID)
association is responsible for repairing and replacing
exclusive-use common area and the individual owners are
responsible for repairing and replacing their separate
interests.
ANALYSIS : A CID is a real property development that includes
all of the following: (1) separate ownership of a lot or unit
coupled with an undivided interest in common property; (2)
covenants, conditions, and restrictions that limit use of both
the common area and separate ownership interests; and (3)
management of common property and enforcement of restrictions by
CONTINUED
AB 968
Page
2
a community association, which a board of directors, generally
elected, governs. Condominiums, planned-unit developments,
stock cooperatives, community apartments, and many
resident-owned mobile home parks all fall under the CID
umbrella.
The property of a CID falls into three categories: (1) common
area owned by all which the association administers; (2)
separate interests that each member owns and controls; and (3)
exclusive-use common area, which is common area designated for
the exclusive-use of one or a few owners (e.g., patios and
decks).
The Davis-Stirling Common Interest Development Act is the
principal law that governs CIDs in California. Among other
things, the Davis-Stirling Act provides that, unless the
governing documents state otherwise, the association is
responsible for repairing, replacing, and maintaining the common
area, other than exclusive-use common area, and the owner of
each separate interest is responsible for maintaining his/her
separate interest and any exclusive-use common area belonging to
the separate interest.
This bill, beginning January 1, 2016, establishes, unless the
governing documents state otherwise, that the association is
responsible for repairing and replacing exclusive-use common
area and the owner is responsible for repairing and replacing
his/her separate interest. This bill further provides that the
governing documents may define which items or actions constitute
maintenance and which constitute repair and replacement.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: No Local:
No
SUPPORT : (Verified 6/24/14)
Educational Community for Homeowners (source)
California Association of Community Managers
Community Associations Institute
OPPOSITION : (Verified 6/24/14)
California Alliance for Retired Americans
Center for California Homeowner Association Law
CONTINUED
AB 968
Page
3
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : According to the bill's sponsor,
Educational Community for Homeowners, existing law establishes
that the owner of a CID unit is responsible for maintenance of
the exclusive-use common area, but does not specify if the owner
or the association is responsible for repair and replacement of
these areas. By establishing a general rule that repair and
replacement of exclusive-use common areas are the responsibility
of the association and not the owner, this bill will help
associations better budget to address these duties and will
provide clarity to associations whose governing documents do not
address the issue.
ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION : Opponents believe that this bill's
lack of definitions for maintenance, repair, and replacement
does a huge disservice to associations and residents by forcing
associations to devise definitions when even this bill's sponsor
cannot. In addition, opponents argue that this bill imposes
significant new financial obligations on homeowners. First,
this bill newly assigns the repair and replacement of separate
interests to homeowners. Second, having associations define
this bill's terms creates an opportunity to foist new
maintenance duties onto homeowners. These issues are
exacerbated by the lack of clarity in some governing documents
over what is considered exclusive-use common area.
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 73-1, 5/9/13
AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Allen, Ammiano, Atkins, Bigelow, Bloom,
Blumenfield, Bocanegra, Bonilla, Bonta, Bradford, Brown,
Buchanan, Ian Calderon, Campos, Chau, Chávez, Chesbro, Conway,
Cooley, Dahle, Daly, Dickinson, Eggman, Fong, Fox, Frazier,
Beth Gaines, Garcia, Gatto, Gomez, Gordon, Gorell, Gray,
Hagman, Hall, Harkey, Roger Hernández, Jones, Jones-Sawyer,
Levine, Linder, Lowenthal, Maienschein, Mansoor, Medina,
Melendez, Mitchell, Morrell, Mullin, Nazarian, Nestande,
Olsen, Pan, Patterson, Perea, V. Manuel Pérez, Quirk,
Quirk-Silva, Rendon, Salas, Skinner, Stone, Ting, Torres,
Wagner, Weber, Wieckowski, Wilk, Williams, Yamada, John A.
Pérez
NOES: Muratsuchi
NO VOTE RECORDED: Donnelly, Grove, Holden, Logue, Waldron,
Vacancy
CONTINUED
AB 968
Page
4
JA:k 6/16/14 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
**** END ****
CONTINUED