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HB 1203 BOARD MEMBERS BEWARE!
By
Jan Bergemann
Published March 29, 2024
In the past board members were pretty much protected against
prosecution other than embezzlement of funds. That might change
on July 1, 2024 if Governor Ron DeSantis signs
HB 1203 into law.
The Business Judgment Rule allowed board members to use
the I acted in good faith defense. But the education
requirements in this extensive bill (39 pages) will make this
defense likely moot.
For many years we heard from many
sides that there will be no more volunteers to run for the board
of directors if such provisions are enacted. Well: Are you not
going into the branch of your local bank because bank robbery is
a felony?
How about all these
new provisions holding board members and CAMs liable for
certain actions?
Board members will now be under scrutiny for disallowing access
to public records, defacing or destroying accounting records or
refusal to release records.
And there
are lots of other issues that may get board members in hot
water.
Other chapters of the bill deal with kickbacks, use of debit
cards and especially fraudulent voting activity.
It will be interesting to see how this all plays out, especially
since certain county DAs still claim that all the illegal
shenanigans are civil matters and should be dealt with in civil
court. Will the provisions in this bill finally change their
attitude?
It will still be up to the owners to hand the proof of the
illegal actions of board members and/or community association
managers to the local law enforcement agencies, but in the end
especially with the very strict public record requirements it
will be a lot easier to have bad actors prosecuted.
In the past it has been pretty easy for board members to enrich
themselves not only by embezzlement or committing election
fraud.
Will the provisions in this bill slow down all these bad actors
or even end these fraudulent activities?
I doubt it since there is still no regulatory agency helping
owners with investigating complaints and helping to prosecute
these bad actors. But it may still deter quite a few board
members from becoming bad actors since they have now to be
afraid that they will not just get a slap on the wrist if caught
red-handed!
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Jan Bergemann is president of Cyber Citizens For Justice,
Florida
's largest state-wide property owners' advocacy group.
CCFJ works on legislation to help owners living in
community
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associations. He moved to
Florida
in 1995 - hoping to retire. He moved into a HOA, where the
developer cheated the homeowners and used the association dues
for his own purposes. End of retirement!
CCFJ was born in the year 2000, when some owners met in
Tallahassee
- finding out that power is only in numbers. Bergemann was a
member of Governor Jeb Bush's HOA Task force in 2003/2004.
The organization has two websites to inform interested
Florida
homeowners and condo owners:
News Website: http://www.ccfj.net/.
Educational Website: http://www.ccfjfoundation.net/.
We think that only owners can really represent owners, since all
service providers surely have a different interest! We are
trying to create owner-friendly laws, but the best laws are
useless without enforcement. And enforcement is totally lacking
in
Florida
!
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