Real Estate & Property Law

HOA Records Bill Passes Senate on 2nd Reading

By Lawrence B. Leff, Mark K. Payne, Suzanne M. Leff, Stan V. Jezierski

After getting bogged down on the Senate calender as we approach the end of the legislative session next week, House Bill 1237 (the HOA records bill) was just heard this afternoon and passed by the Senate on second reading.  HB 1237 is expected to be heard by the Senate on 3rd reading as early as tomorrow morning.  The bill was amended in the Senate today to:

1.  Clarify the provision of the bill addressing records relating to actions taken outside of a board meeting;

2.  Clarify that email addresses of board members must be produced to owners upon request;

3.  Clarify the ability of owners to use a normal records request to obtain basic records from the association - even if there is pending or threatened litigation.  However, attorney client privileged documents, documents which fall under the attorney work product doctrine and documents relating to executive session are still protected from production;

4.  Clarify that contracts for work performed within the "immediate preceding 2 years" must be produced upon request.  However, contracts that are under negotation are not required to be produced to owners.

As a side note, some folks have speculated that HB 1237 was not taken up by the Senate earlier because of substantive concerns with the bill. Some folks have even speculated that the bill would likely be killed in the Senate.  While there have been some amendments in the Senate to clean-up provisions of the bill, HB 1237 has enjoyed bipartisan support in both the House and Senate.   

Once HB 1237 has been passed on 3rd reading by the Senate, it will be sent back to the House for concurrence.  We fully expect the House to approve the Senate amendments and vote for final passage of the bill.  HB 1237 will then be sent to Governor Hickenlooper to be signed into law. 

We will continue to provide you with important updates on the bill as it proceeds through the final phases of the legislative process.  Once the bill has been signed into law, we will provide you with comprehensive information on steps homeowners' associations, managers and management companies should take to comply with the new law which will go into effect on January 1, 2013. 

Full post as published by Colorado Homeowners Association Law Blog on May 03, 2012 (boomark / email).