PHOENIX (AP) - After vowing that his administration would not be in the business of regulating homeowner associations, Gov. Doug Ducey on Friday signed legislation doing just that.
The bill Ducey signed requires more transparency in association meetings by mandating public comment before votes and setting up tighter rules for public meeting notices, among other rules it contains.
Ducey’s action comes less than a month after he vetoed another bill banning cumulative voting. That’s when a property owner combines their available votes in an election with multiple association board seats and casts them for one board member. The practice can allow a minority of voters to control a board.
Ducey said after his veto of House Bill 2321 that it would be a slippery slope for state government to get involved in how associations are run.
“I think in this administration we’re not going to be regulating the HOAs,” he told reporters on April 4. “We’re going to let the HOAs regulate themselves.”
On Friday, the Republican governor said he signed House Bill 2411 because it was a compromise among property owners and boards and could help resolve issues without requiring government intervention.
“I do not believe that government should micromanage the operations of homeowners’ associations,” he said in a signing letter. “I have signed H.B. 2411, however, because it promotes transparency and participation for all residents in homeowners’ association governance.”
Both bills passed the Legislature unanimously. The prime sponsor of the bill he vetoed is a Democrat, while the sponsor of the one he signed is a Republican.
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