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WHY A LOT OF THANK-YOUs?
By
Jan Bergemann
Published
June 21, 2013
The
provisions of H7119
(S580) will be added to the
Florida
statutes on July 1, 2013. Let’s make no mistake: It was a lot
of hard work by a dedicated team that made this happen.
I
was especially thrilled about the provision in the bill that
finally requires all
Florida
homeowners’ associations regulated by FS 720 to register with
the Division – latest by November 22, 2013 (A website to
register is in the works!). Despite the opposition of some
so-called advocates for associations, who claimed the reporting
requirements go too far, the bill passed House and Senate with
just little opposition. Their reasoning was anyway a joke: All
the required answers are public record and can easily be
researched anyway. But obviously some misled board members
don’t really understand the facts.
You
may ask why I’m so thrilled about this reporting provision
being part of this bill. It’s exactly ten years ago that I
first “dared” to ask the
Florida legislature to create provisions that would require HOAs
to register, just in order to know how many HOAs exist in the
State of Florida. I didn’t succeed then – fighting the same
opponents we are facing today. See my report about the hearing
in front of the House
Committee
on Business Regulations in 2004. We are still
facing the same people today when trying to pass
association/owner-friendly bills. The only difference: Donna
Berger isn’t the CALL-Lady any more, she switched jobs and
joined Leigh Katzman, another strong opponent of owner-friendly
bills.
The
big difference this year: A determined team of legislators who
worked very hard to keep their promise of pushing Part
I of our HOA Reform Bill.
Our biggest THANKS go to Senator
Alan Hays (S580
– the Senate companion bill to H7119) and House Representatives Debbie
Mayfield and Mike
La Rosa (H7119).
Florida
’s homeowners living in mandatory homeowners’ associations
regulated by FS 720 really owe these legislators a big debt of
gratitude! THANK
YOU!
And
we had this year a great team of dedicated advocates, determined
to make this bill a go: Our lobbyist Richard
Pinsky from Akerman Senterfitt, Eric
Glazer from the law firm of Glazer
& Associates and Ralph
Udick from the POHH (Property Owners
of Harbor Hill) are
a dedicated team that made it happen this year. THANK YOU!
My
reward for this successful session: The enthusiasm of many
homeowners who sent e-mails and/or visited the offices of their
local legislators and who now can’t wait for JULY
1 – the day these provisions go into effect. It’s great
to see that folks are already asking how the provisions of the
bill will work in daily life – and when and where they can
sign up for a HOA board certification seminar!
STAY TUNED – we are
all working on Part II. But remember to THANK the folks who helped to make this dream come true!
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