BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



          SENATE COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION AND HOUSING
                              Senator Jim Beall, Chair
                                2015 - 2016  Regular 

          Bill No:          AB 786            Hearing Date:     8/25/2015
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          |Author:   |Levine                                                |
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          |Version:  |8/19/2015                                             |
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          |Urgency:  |Yes                    |Fiscal:      |No              |
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          |Consultant|Alison Dinmore                                        |
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          SUBJECT:  Common interest developments:  property use and  
          maintenance


          DIGEST:  This bill prohibits a homeowners association (HOA) from  
          imposing a fine or assessment against a homeowner for reducing  
          or eliminating the watering of vegetation or lawns during a  
          drought, except where the HOA uses recycled water for all home  
          or common area landscape irrigation.  

          ANALYSIS:
          
          Existing law:

          1)Requires local agencies to adopt water-efficient landscape  
            ordinances, as specified.  
             
           2)Establishes rules and regulations governing the operation of  
            common interest developments (CIDs) and the respective rights  
            and duties of HOAs and their members.  
            
          3)Permits the governing board of an HOA to adopt operating rules  
            that apply generally to the management and operation of the  
            CID or the conduct of the business and affairs of the HOA,  
            provided that the rule is within the authority of the board to  
            make, does not conflict with the HOA's articles, bylaws, or  
            governing law, and is reasonable.  

          4)Limits the authority of an HOA or the governing documents of a  
            CID to regulate the use of a member's separate interest.  







          AB 786 (Levine)                                    Page 2 of ?
          
          

          5)Renders void and unenforceable any provision of the governing  
            documents or architectural or landscaping guidelines or  
            policies of an HOA that does any of the following:

             a)   Prohibits, or includes conditions that have the effect  
               of prohibiting, the use of low-water-using plants as a  
               group or as a replacement of existing turf; or

             b)   Has the effect of prohibiting or restricting compliance  
               with a water-efficient landscape ordinance or regulation or  
               restriction on the use of water.  
             
           1)Provides that an HOA may apply landscaping rules established  
            in its governing documents that do not conflict with other  
            law, as specified.  

          2)Prohibits an HOA from imposing a fine or assessment against an  
            owner of a separate interest for reducing or eliminating the  
            watering of vegetation or lawns during any period for which  
            the Governor has declared a state of emergency due to drought  
            or a local government has declared a local emergency due to  
            draught.

          This urgency bill:

          1)Prohibits an HOA from imposing a fine or assessment against a  
            homeowner for reducing or eliminating the watering of  
            vegetation or lawns during a drought, except where the HOA  
            uses recycled water for all home or common area landscape  
            irrigation.  

          2)Voids, or makes unenforceable, any provision of a CID  
            governing document or architectural or landscaping guidelines  
            or policies that prohibit the use of artificial turf or any  
            other synthetic surface that resembles grass.

          3)Prohibits a CID from requiring a homeowner to reverse or  
            remove water-efficient landscaping measures upon the  
            conclusion of a state of emergency due to drought, that were  
            installed during that state of emergency.  

          COMMENTS:

          1)Purpose.  According to the author, the chronic drought has  








          AB 786 (Levine)                                    Page 3 of ?
          
          
            continued and California is now in its fourth year.  On April  
            1, 2015, the Governor followed up on a proclamation of a  
            drought state of emergency with Executive Order B-29-15.   
            Among the provisions of the Executive Order was directive No.  
            2, stating that the State Water Resources Control Board shall  
            impose restriction upon water suppliers to achieve a statewide  
            25% reduction in potable urban water usage through February  
            28, 2016.  Restrictions in the amount of potable water used  
            for outdoor landscaping are the primary tool.

            According to the author, despite these directives, some HOAs  
            are interpreting language in existing law to allow them to  
            fine homeowners for restricting the watering of outdoor  
            landscaping.  Those HOAs are stating that if they (the HOA)  
            use recycled water on some part of the common areas, the HOA  
            may fine homeowners who refuse to use potable water upon their  
            outdoor landscaping and thus let the lawn turn brown.  The  
            author believes that homeowners who voluntarily seek to aid  
            the emergency drought situation should not be penalized by  
            HOAs using the recycled water loophole in an attempt to  
            maintain lush lawns during a drought.  

          2)Example of the problem.  According to the author, Irvine Ranch  
            Water District is an example of a water agency struggling to  
            meet the drought emergency by limiting outdoor landscaping.  A  
            homeowner in an HOA that receives water from that district  
            informed the district that he would be fined by the HOA if he  
            were to let his lawn go brown.  That HOA interpreted existing  
            law as allowing them to fine homeowners for non-watering if  
            the HOA is using recycled water in common areas.  This bill  
            will restrict the ability for HOAs to impose a fine on a  
            homeowner only in circumstances in which recycled water is  
            used by both the HOA and the homeowner in common areas and in  
            homes.

          3)Artificial turf provisions.  This bill also contains the same  
            provisions contained within AB 349 (Gonzalez), which was heard  
            in this committee on June 24, 2015.  This language was  
            included to avoid chaptering issues if both this bill and AB  
            349 were signed by the Governor.  Therefore, this bill would  
            prohibit an HOA from preventing a homeowner from installing  
            artificial turf or synthetic grass.  Existing law allows an  
            HOA to apply landscaping rules that are included in the  
            governing documents, so long as those rules do not prohibit or  
            have the effect of prohibiting the use of low-water-using  








          AB 786 (Levine)                                    Page 4 of ?
          
          
            plants or prevent a homeowner from complying with a local  
            water-efficient landscaping ordinance.  This bill would extend  
            those protections to artificial turf or grass.  This means an  
            HOA may establish reasonable restrictions about the type of  
            artificial grass that a homeowner may use so long as those  
            restrictions do not, in effect, prevent a homeowner from  
            installing artificial grass.

          4)Opposition.  The Educational Community for Homeowners (ECHO)  
            does not oppose the prohibition against an HOA imposing a fine  
            or assessment against an owner of a home for reducing or  
            eliminating the watering of vegetation or lawns during a  
            drought, except where the HOA uses recycled water for all home  
            or common area landscape irrigation.

            ECHO opposes the provisions that were contained with AB 349  
            (Gonzalez) that are incorporated into this bill, however,  
            because decisions made regarding landscaping in CIDs is, and  
            should continue to be, made by the community and their elected  
            board of directors.  ECHO therefore resists attempts by the  
            state to legislate a "one-size-fits-all" approach to CID  
            governance.  ECHO also raises environmental and public health  
            concerns related to the installation of artificial turf,  
            including the "possible unknown health impacts that could be  
            caused by synthetic turf," and "concerns that the end of the  
            life of synthetic turf will be in landfills."  

          Related Legislation:
          
          AB 349 (Gonzalez, 2015) - voids, or makes unenforceable, any  
          provision of a CID governing document or architectural or  
          landscaping guidelines or policies that prohibit the use of  
          artificial turf or any other synthetic surface that resembles  
          grass.  This bill is currently on the Senate Floor. 

          SB 759 (Lieu, 2011) - would have voided, or made unenforceable,  
          any provision of a CID governing document or architectural or  
          landscaping guidelines or policies that prohibit the use of  
          artificial turf or any other synthetic surface that resembles  
          grass.  This bill was vetoed by Governor Brown.  This is an  
          excerpt from the veto message:

            The decision about choosing synthetic turf instead of natural  
            vegetation should be left to individual homeowners  
            associations, not mandated by state law.  For this reason, I  








          AB 786 (Levine)                                    Page 5 of ?
          
          
            am returning this bill.

          AB 1793 (Saldana, 2010) - would have voided, or made  
          unenforceable, any provision of a CID governing document or  
          architectural or landscaping guidelines or policies that  
          prohibit the use of artificial turf or any other synthetic  
          surface that resembles grass.  This bill was vetoed by Governor  
          Schwarzenegger.  This is an excerpt from the veto message:

            CIDs provide a system of self-governance through a community  
            association, responsible for managing, maintaining, and  
            repairing the common areas, and have the authority to enforce  
            special rules. Decisions such as these regarding the use of  
            artificial turf can be made by the homeowners and amended into  
            their governing documents.

          FISCAL EFFECT:  Appropriation:  No    Fiscal Com.:  No    Local:  
           No


            POSITIONS:  (Communicated to the committee before noon on  
          Thursday,
                          August 20, 2015.)
          
            SUPPORT:  

          California Forward Action Fund
          Irvine Ranch Water District

          OPPOSITION:

          Educational Community for Homeowners 


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