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FIXES NEEDED?
By
Jan Bergemann
Published
July 28, 2017
Already during the
time the Condo Reform Bill HB 1237 was discussed in the
legislature, it became obvious that there are changes needed to
the wording of certain provisions.
But Florida’s
legislative session only lasts two (2) months and the process
needed to pass a bill is lengthy and requires lots of committee
hearings in House and Senate. That leaves little time to discuss
fixes to the wording of a once filed bill, since the bills in
House and Senate have to be more or less the same.
Most bills require
minimum three committee stops in House and Senate each. So the
sponsors of the bills have often to decide if a change to the
wording may be feasible. An amendment needs to be filed – and if
the deadline for filing amendments is passed, the bill will most
likely be taken off the agenda by the committee chair, because
all this happens under serious time-restraints.
Many bill sponsors
rather keep within time-limits to keep their bills in the loop,
instead of making the necessary fixes to the bill wording. The
old saying in Tallahassee: “There is still a next year!”
The so called Condo
Reform Bill (HB 1237) that was later on dubbed the “CONDO
CRIME BILL” was initially written – in my opinion – with
a lot of good intentions and heated emotions, leaving certain
provisions in the bill with poor wording.
Let’s face it:
Florida’s condo owners should consider themselves lucky that
this bill passed and should thank the bill sponsors – even if
some changes to the wording may be needed next year.
Community
association bills are always a work in progress as we can see
each year at the beginning of each legislative session in
spring. Year for year various bills are being filed trying to
create changes to the existing statutes regulating community
associations.
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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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