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NEW LAWS: GOOD OR BAD?
By
Jan Bergemann
Published
May 12, 2017
Well, the
legislative session is over and its time to take a look at how
much damage our Florida legislators have done this year.
First of all I have to say this: In all reality they have done
pretty well this year. A lot of good provisions are in the books
and hopefully Governor Scott will be signing them into law.
But with lots of
good comes always some bad like we are seeing this year.
Eric already posted
a summary of all the important condo provisions that passed this year
during the legislative session.
There are two
provisions that really make me wonder who was actually writing
these bills.
In H 1237 are
new recall provisions provisions that actually open the door
to more fraud.
There is no more
control if the petitions served are actually valid. Everybody
can serve the board with recall petitions that may be signed by
Mickey Mouse, Donald and Pluto who knows. The sitting board is
removed immediately no matter if the recall petitions are
actually valid. The former board can still file for recall
arbitration but remember why we wanted the recall provisions
changed: Arbitrators took often 5-6 months before they ruled on
the recall. That means that now any owner and some of his
buddies can take over the board and run the association and
sign all kinds of damaging contracts. Good provision? I
seriously doubt it!
And this is the
sentence S 744 adds to FS 720.303(2)(a) Members
of the board of administration may use e-mail as a means of
communication, but may not cast a vote on an association matter
via e-mail.
On one hand the
legislators have tried in past years to make association
business more open for the owners.
This sentence kills
that splendid idea. In the past arbitrators have ruled that
e-mails among board members sent from private computers are NOT
public record. Now the legislators openly allow board members to
communicate by e-mails with no access to these e-mails by
owners. Who knows what may be discussed privately behind closed
doors?
BUSINESS AS USUAL IN HOAs?
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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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