Texas POA Bills    84th Legislature (2015)

A Periodic Report by Sharon Reuler 

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Issued March 2, 2015  
  

Friends,

 

Happy Texas Independence Day, whether you observe March 2nd or 3rd. (You do observe, right?)  According to Professor Stephen L. Hardin of Victoria:

 

Many believe, for example, that the delegates signed the Texas Declaration on March 2. Not true. The delegates read and approved the document on that day, but remember that they did not have a photocopier at their disposal. Clerks worked through the night. Perforce, the five hand-written copies were not ready for signatures until the following day.


Speaking of working through the night, that begins to happen as we approach the bill filing deadline of March 13th - the 60th day of the 140-day session.  Yes, it IS a Friday-the-Thirteenth. 

 

My third report on pending POA bills - filed through 2/27/15 - is available on this link:

 

REPORT #3 - 2015 Texas POA Bills

  

So far I've identified 14 POA-Specific bills.  The four that were filed since my last report are a mixed bag.

 

HB 1455 by King and its companion SB 834 by Creighton give us hope of making Texas safer for new condominium development. The bill creates rules for playing the game of filing groundless construction defect lawsuits against competent developers and design professionals in order to extract an insurance settlement. For at least 20 years, some of our nation's best professional architects, engineers, contractors, and developers have refused to work on condominiums because of the threat of litigation. No building is perfect. So why condos and not other types of properties? Because construction defect lawyers could manipulate volunteer condo directors into filing lawsuits at no cost to the condo HOA and without consulting the condo owners. Time to end that kind of opportunistic litigation in which only the lawyers come out ahead. The Texas Association of Builders sponsors this "tort reform" bill. 

 

HB 1442 by Workman revives a "tree bill" that was worked last Session - to allow a property owner to remove trees and vegetation, without interference from cities, counties, or HOAs, if the owner "believes" that the plants pose a risk of fire. 


 HB 1792 by Springer is a strange new concept. A home that's used for short-term rentals must meet the same health and safety requirements as a Marriott. Possibly unintended consequences for HOAs, especially multi-family condos.

  

HB 1886 by Martinez is another unusual (to me) idea. It allows a city to assess owners in a subdivision for the cost of streetlights that benefit the subdivision . . . without creating a PID . . . and gives the city a first lien to secure the streetlight charge. This one made my list because of lien priority. Because this bill is bracketed to the McAllen area it may sail through without much scrutiny. 

 

As I've done since 2005, I will periodically report on bills that seem likely to affect the creation and operation of common interest developments in Texas - subdivisions and condominiums - anything with mandatory membership and assessments.

How to Use the 3-Part Report
 

FIRST PART is a 5-column table of POA-Specific Bills, organized alphabetically by the topic I assign to the bill.  The bill number and author are in the first column.  My thumbnail description of the bill is in the second column.  Where the bill fits into the Texas statutes is shown in the third column. Next I identify whether the bill pertains to condos only, to single-family subdivisions only, or to both. The last column identifies the bill's progress, using the "keys" at the bottom of the page. 

 

SECOND PART is a 5-column table of " Sundry Bills " - bills that are not POA-Specific, but which interest me for some reason. The 5 columns are same as for the POA-Specific Bills. As the Session progresses, the Sundry Bills may disappear from the report.
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THIRD PART is the " Numerical Order of Bills " - a list of reported bills in order of bill numbers, with cross-references of where to find each bill in the topical tables.  This is an improvement over prior sessions. 
TLO Website
  

The Texas Legislature Online website is the second best thing about our Legislature. (The first being the hiatus between sessions.) TLO is chock full of information and fueled by a powerful search engine that's easy to learn and use. Open 24/7 for free. If you have any interest in legislation, you'll love exploring this amazing website. Look for the "My TLO" tab next to "Home" in the top left corner. Here you can sign up for automatic email alerts of bills that interest you, or topics, or committee meetings.   
HOA/POA Slang
  
If you're Type A about terminology for common interest communities, this report may drive you bonkers. I use HOA and POA interchangeably - and inconsistently - to refer to mandatory membership associations for all types of common interest development - condos, townhomes, subdivisions, masters, mixed-use, and subs.
 
Texas laws, however, do distinguish between condos and non-condos. Condos are subject to Chapter 82 (TUCA) of the Property Code (and maybe also Chapter 81, depending on age).  The non-condos are subject to Chapter 209 of the Property Code, which refers to the developments as "subdivisions."  So, a property is either a condo or a subdivision, and its owners association may be called either HOA or POA or "condo association" or "townhome association" or "neighborhood association" or . . . the options are endless.
 
Speaking of townhomes . . . . contrary to popular belief, Texas law does not recognize townhomes as something other than a condo or subdivision. Townhomes are a style of building that can be condominium in ownership (Chapter 82) or non-condo (Chapter 209).
 
Of course, there's more to it than this windshield tour. But, you get the idea.  Don't bet on what a word means. :-)  
Numbers
  
Since the Session started, 2,984 bills have been filed - a little more than half of the 5,500 bills that we expect to see filed on or before March 13.  In 2013, of the 5,761 House and Senate bills filed, 1,437 became law. The passage rate of 25% is fairly typical.
Trivia
  
The Texas Legislature first created a subject category for HOA\POA bills in the 1999 Session, when an astounding 25 bills were filed. That was the beginning of the furor at the Capitol that culminated in the 2011 HOA Reform Laws.  Since 1999, an average of 29 POA bills have been filed each session - the banner years being 2009 and 2011, with 51 and 52 bills filed, respectively. 


 

Dates of Interest 


January 13, 2015 - Opening day of 84th Regular Session
March 13, 2015 - Deadline for filing bills (with some exceptions)
June 1, 2015 - Last day of Session (no exceptions)
June 21, 2015 - Last day Governor can veto a bill that passed
August 31, 2015 - Effective date for bills without specific effective dates

Sharon's Perspective 

 

All views expressed are entirely my own, and my views have been known to change. I receive no income for my legislative reporting. I'm not a lobbyist ~ don't head any group or promote any cause ~ don't expect to go to Austin for hearings.

 

I'm a Texas real estate lawyer who works with developers of common interest developments. I write the "HOA docs" for new communities and advise developers on HOA issues that arise during build-out. My developer practice is enriched by an earlier decade of representing established homeowner-controlled POAs.

 

Before becoming a lawyer in 1987, I was a real estate broker specializing in the resales of condominiums and townhomes. Also, I have the sensitivities of a homeowner from 38 years of living in common interest communities, and three bumpy HOA experiences as a home buyer.  

 

My interest in POAs began in 1977. Four years later I was drawn to POA legislation by the then proposed Texas Uniform Condominium Act. I was privileged to play a pivotal role in TUCA's passage in 1993.

 

My nearly 40 years (omg!) of involvement with POA legislation has always been as a volunteer. In recent years I have done little more than report on what's going on under the dome.  I try to call it like I see it.        


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contact info
Although I aspire to be active on social media, I'm still old school. I can be reached at the street address below, by email sreuler@txlandlaw.com, and by phone (972) 720-9727. If I'm not responsive, it's because my day job keeps me plenty busy.
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