TCAA MINUTE
March 31, 2017
 
TCAA Capitol Activities
 
The committees of the Texas Legislature are continuing their busy pace. The House floor calendar, on the other hand, has been relatively light on activity, though that chamber is expected to pass its version of the budget next week. The Senate has been busier, and passed SB1 this week. The TCAA team continues to closely monitor bills that might impact community associations.
 
For more details on TCAA activities and events, please visit the TCAA website:  ww.txcommunityassociationadvocates.org 
 
Bills of Note
 
Several bills of interest to TCAA are still pending in various legislative committees, and the TCAA advocacy team has made great progress in improving those bills so as to mitigate harm to community associations:
 

 
TCAA is concerned that SB 2234 is overly complicated and so vague as to lead to unnecessary disputes and litigation over compliance. Though it seems aimed at protecting consumers from being overcharged, the bill also poses a potential problem in that it attempts to retroactively modify the rights and obligations of the restrictive covenants to which property owners have consented by accepting title to their property.
 
The bill also uses an owner's "understanding" as a measure of compliance with association fees and costs, meaning an owner could indefinitely keep requesting documentation because they do not yet "understand" their account.  Without an objective standard measuring when the association's duty has been affirmatively met, there is potential for abuse. The legislation also imposes new requirements for the content and manner of delivery of a collection letter sent by an association. Any deficiency in the content of the letter would arguably form the basis for an owner's challenge to an association's authority to collect certain collection costs or to an association's authority to foreclose its assessment lien.
 
SB 2234 goes on to limit what may be included in a lawsuit to collect past due assessments and caps various amounts that may be collected in such a lawsuit, removing a task historically performed by judges and placing it in the hands of the legislature to be applied with a broad brush. The bill also prohibits foreclosure by an association unless the owner's debt exceeds $5,000, which may have the effect for many associations of ending foreclosure entirely. While TCAA supports fair and reasonable fees for collections, this bill substantially erodes the ability of property owners' associations to hold an owner accountable for the assessment obligation that funds the services and amenities of the community.
 
TCAA Capitol Rally Day
 
TCAA successfully organized its annual Capitol Rally Day on Tuesday, March 28, 2017. Nearly 200 attendees from Houston, Dallas, Austin, San Antonio, and communities across Texas spent the day at the capitol advocating for property owners' associations. Supporters arrived by busloads and carloads and, upon arrival at the capitol, were divided up into regional teams to make legislative visits.
 
In addition to numerous productive meetings with legislators and staff, the Capitol Rally Day attendees shared lunch and received an in-depth briefing from TCAA leaders, advocates, and communications staff. After lunch, the crowd gathered on the south steps of the capitol for a rally and media event, and then made their scheduled rounds to capitol offices to share their support for TCAA and community associations.