BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    �






           SENATE TRANSPORTATION & HOUSING COMMITTEE       BILL NO: SB 616
          SENATOR MARK DESAULNIER, CHAIRMAN              AUTHOR:  Desaulnier
                                                         VERSION: 1/4/12
          Analysis by:  Mark Stivers                     FISCAL:  no
          Hearing date:  January 10, 2012



          SUBJECT:

          Common interest development board meetings

          DESCRIPTION:

          This bill clarifies that the written consent of all members of a 
          common interest development board is only required for the board 
          to take actions in an electronic emergency meeting, not to hold 
          an emergency meeting generally.   

          ANALYSIS:

          A common interest development (CID) is a form of real estate in 
          which each homeowner has an exclusive interest in a unit or lot 
          and a shared or undivided interest in common area property.  
          Condominiums, planned unit developments, stock cooperatives, 
          community apartments, and many resident-owned mobilehome parks 
          all fall under the CID umbrella.  A homeowner association board 
          elected by the members governs each CID.  

          The Davis-Stirling Common Interest Development Act establishes 
          the legal framework and statutory rules that CIDs must follow.  
          SB 563 (Transportation and Housing Committee), Chapter 257, 
          Statutes of 2011, amended the open meeting portion of the act to 
          prohibit generally CID boards from taking action on items of 
          business outside of an open meeting but specifically allowed a 
          CID board to conduct an electronic (e.g., e-mail) meeting in an 
          emergency situation if all the members of the board consent in 
          writing to actions taken in the electronic emergency meeting.   

           This bill  corrects a drafting error and clarifies that the 
          written consent of all members of a common interest development 
          board is only required for the board to take actions in an 
          electronic emergency meeting, not to hold an emergency meeting 
          generally.  
          
          COMMENTS:




          SB 616 (DESAULNIER)                                    Page 2

                                                                       



           1.Purpose of the bill  .  Practitioners in the field of CID law 
            have raised a concern that the language of SB 563 can be 
            interpreted to require unanimous consent for a CID board to 
            hold any emergency meeting at all, electronic or otherwise, 
            which was not the intent of SB 563.  This bill corrects that 
            drafting error.  

           2.Letter to the journal  .  Practitioners raised the concern about 
            the language of SB 563 late last year at a time when it was 
            too late to amend the bill.  While promising to fix the error 
            as soon as possible, the author submitted a letter to the 
            Senate Daily Journal stating:

               The intent of this provision is solely to clarify that 
               board members may electronically submit the written 
               consents required to take an action in an electronic 
               emergency meeting.  The language is not intended to, and 
               does not, imply that all board members must consent to hold 
               an emergency meeting, electronically or otherwise.
          
            The author intended the letter to the journal to be a 
            temporary help until the Legislature could correct the error.
          
          POSITIONS:  (Communicated to the committee before noon on 
          Wednesday,                                             January 
          4, 2012)

               SUPPORT:  None received.

          
               OPPOSED:  None received.