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PROGRESS FOR COMMUNITY
ASSOCIATION BILLS?
By
Jan Bergemann
Published
February 9, 2017
Half of the session is over – and most of the owner-friendly
community association bills are dead – without even getting a
hearing.
There are only three bills in the running that still have a
chance to reach the Governor’s desk for his signature.
HB841/SB1274
(Moraitis/Passidomo): This year’s community association bill
that’s supposedly trying to correct flaws created by last year’s
Condo Reform Bill. According to Tallahassee sources there will
be quite some changes to the wording before House and Senate
will take a final vote on the floor. There are still lots of
discussions about the final wording – and the provisions
included – before the bill will be on the agenda of the House
Judiciary Committee – the final committee stop in the House.
We’ll see next week what is happening with the bill.
HB617/SB266
(Edwards/Passidomo): The bill dealing with changes to the
Marketable Record Title Act (MRTA). The House bill passed all
assigned committees with flying colors; The Senate companion
bill still has one committee stop to go.
And then there is the annual bill that is in the running since
2004: The Sprinkler Retro-fitting Bill. This year’s bill numbers
are
HB1061/SB1432
(Moraitis/Farmer). While the House version passed one
committee barely surviving with an 8:7 vote, the Senate bill
hasn’t moved yet – meaning it still has a long way to go.
Remember: This bill was vetoed last year by Governor Rick Scott.
In all honesty: Board members knew about this upcoming
expenditure since 2004. But instead of putting money aside they
just ignored the law and are now rather spending money on
lobbying for a postponement of the date instead of protecting
their often elderly neighbors who may have no chance to escape a
fire without a sprinkler-system. I have no understanding for
this kind of behavior! Please read my Op-ed on the
CCFJ website
tomorrow!
We’ll see what’s happening with these community association
bills. There are still four weeks to go in this year’s
legislative session.
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Jan Bergemann is president of Cyber Citizens For Justice,
Florida
's largest state-wide property owners' advocacy group.
CCFJ works on legislation to help owners living in
community
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associations. He moved to
Florida
in 1995 - hoping to retire. He moved into a HOA, where the
developer cheated the homeowners and used the association dues
for his own purposes. End of retirement!
CCFJ was born in the year 2000, when some owners met in
Tallahassee
- finding out that power is only in numbers. Bergemann was a
member of Governor Jeb Bush's HOA Task force in 2003/2004.
The organization has two websites to inform interested
Florida
homeowners and condo owners:
News Website: http://www.ccfj.net/.
Educational Website: http://www.ccfjfoundation.net/.
We think that only owners can really represent owners, since all
service providers surely have a different interest! We are
trying to create owner-friendly laws, but the best laws are
useless without enforcement. And enforcement is totally lacking
in
Florida
!
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