LEGISLATIVE UPDATE: New Faces, Policy Shifts and Key Bills to Watch this Year

By Jennifer Wada, Esq.

The legislative session reconvened in January with a significant refresh. Of the 120 members, 36 termed out in 2024, and 28 newly sworn-in legislators have never served in either house of the Legislature. The Legislature has, for the first time in the state’s history, closely reached gender parity with 59 of the Legislature’s 120 seats held by women. In terms of bills introduced, leadership in both the Assembly and the Senate capped the total number of bills that each legislator could introduce to 35 for the entire two-year session, as opposed to the standard 50. For this year, a total of 2,350 bills were introduced: 1,500 in the Assembly and 850 in the Senate. There are a notable number of bills focused on CIDs this year and, in particular, community managers.

The most significant bill is AB 739, introduced by Assemblymember Cory Jackson (AD 60 – Riverside County: Moreno Valley, San Jacinto, Perris, Hemet).

This bill would require a managing agent of a CID to hold a real estate broker license issued by the state. At present, it is a one-sentence bill, with more detail to be added later. The bill idea was originally introduced to, “get standard document disclosure fees…under control.” Bringing community managers under the Department of Real Estate is an attempt to “improve consumer protections and lower junk fees that have been growing throughout the industry.” CACM’s CEO, Tom Freeley, and I have already been in discussions with the author and other stakeholders about the many negative impacts this requirement would have on the industry and on CID communities overall. We will be calling on all managers to assist us in combatting this legislation in the months to come. There is another bill, SB 811, that has been introduced on manager document delivery, but we are told that this is a placeholder bill that will likely be amended into something unrelated. We will be monitoring it closely until that happens.

Senate Bill 546

Grayson – SD 9 Contra Costa County: Antioch, Walnut Creek, Orinda would repeal the ability of individual members, or a subcommittee of the board to satisfy the monthly review of financial documents and account statements independent of a board meeting. In other words, the bill would require the review to be done at a board meeting. We are in the process of determining why this bill was introduced. There are several other “spot bills” on CIDs but they are simply placeholders for substantive content to be added later in the process. We will be monitoring these closely.

In addition to CID specific legislation, there are many bills on topics of interest to managers. These topics include insurance, wildfire relief, reciprocal easement agreements, ADUs and ADA matters. While many are still in “spot” form, here is a sampling of some of the more substantive measures:

AB 69

Calderon: FAIR Plan policy renewals would require a broker of record to determine if a FAIR Plan policy can be moved to a voluntary market insurance company before the policy is renewed.

AB 226

Calderon: FAIR Plan: bonds –would authorize, if approved by the Insurance Commissioner, the California Infrastructure and Economic Development Bank to issue bonds to finance the costs of claims, to increase liquidity and claims-paying capacity of the FAIR Plan Association.

AB 238

Harabedian: Mortgage forbearance: state of emergency: wildfire – would authorize a borrower experiencing financial hardship due to the LA wildfires to request forbearance of up to 180 days on their mortgage loan.

AB 1050

Schultz: Unlawfully restrictive covenants: reciprocal easement agreements –would add reciprocal easement agreements to current law that provides certain covenants and restrictions affecting the transfer of sale of real property are not enforceable against the owner of an affordable housing development.

We are still at the beginning of the legislative session, and we anticipate 2025 to be action packed, with a lot of focus on the management industry. We are hopeful that you’ll be able to join CACM’s calls to action, as now more than ever, it is imperative that we show the Legislature the importance and professionalism of the industry.

Jennifer Wada, Esq., is an attorney, CACM’s legislative advocate and principal of Wada Government Relations in Sacramento.