By Terri Guest and Kami Goldstein
On Friday, October 25, 2024, the California Legislative Action Committee of the Community Associations Institute (CAI-CLAC) met for their Annual Planning Meeting (APM). The meeting, which took place at the Leisure World Seal Beach Clubhouse, had attendees that traveled from all over the state to Southern California for this in-person meeting. As first-time attendees, Kami Goldstein and I were tasked with writing an article about our experience. Since Kami had previously written a blog post about her experience attending Advocacy Week, we decided to have our article serve as a follow-up to Kami’s perspective from visiting the Capitol.
TERRI: I was asked to attend the APM, as a member of the Insurance Task Force. The task force has been working on legislative solutions for the current insurance crisis, and I was honored to attend to help give an update on what we have accomplished so far. Kami, what is your involvement with CAI-CLAC?
KAMI: I first became involved with CAI-CLAC as a member of the San Diego Chapter of CAI’s Legislative Support Committee (LSC) in 2021 after attending my first Advocacy Week, virtually. Prior to attending the APM,I had no knowledge of how the legislative process worked for new bills which affect HOAs. After being a member of the LSC committee for a year, I was appointed as the CAI-CLAC Liaison in 2023, and now I am currently a newly appointed Delegate to CAI-CLAC for the San Diego Chapter.
TERRI: The meeting started with reports from the Secretary, Treasurer and Chairperson for CAI-CLAC. Randy Stokes and Betty Roth gave updates on items such as committee policies and chapter fundraising contributions. The CAI-CLAC Administrator, Wendy Van Messel, mentioned the “Save the date” for 2025’s Advocacy Week, which will be held April 22-24 in Sacramento. The PR Chair, Pam Richardson, reported on the PR Committee’s recent work, and CAI-CLAC Chair, Stacie Donnelly, gave an update on 2024 accomplishments.
I know that AB2114, which provides the addition of civil engineers to the list of those who can conduct inspections to exterior elevated elements was a big win. Kami, what do you think was the most significant accomplishment for CAI-CLAC in 2024?
KAMI: As a Community Association Manager in the industry for over 17 years, I am especially excited about AB 2159 (Electronic Balloting). One of the challenges up until now has been getting homeowners to turn in their paper ballots. I am hopeful this will help community associations get more involvement in the Election of Directors and Annual Meetings of the Membership.
TERRI: In your previous article, you mentioned how managers often only find out about legislation after they are passed into law. You decided to get involved with CAI-CLAC so you could have more insight into upcoming legislation so you could not only better prepare, but also have more involvement in the development stages of new laws. How did attending the APM help with your goals?
KAMI: After attending the Annual Planning Meeting, I am excited to be able to share with my co-workers how CAI-CLAC is planning to help our HOAs even more with multiple issues, which greatly affect our community associations in the upcoming year. During this process, I learned a lot about how CAI-CLAC determines which topics to make a legislative priority. Thanks to the efforts of Louie Brown and his staff, the Delegates were able to identify several priorities for 2025. These priorities will be discussed in more detail at the upcoming CAI-CLAC Town Hall on December 5, 2024. My goal is to bring this information to my co-workers so they can be better prepared for any potential new legislation.
TERRI: We heard from our California Legislative Advocate, Louie Brown, as well as the CAI’s Senior Vice President of Government & Public Affairs, Dawn Bauman. Of course, the discussion of insurance and the issues both in our state and nationwide was very interesting to me. What aspects of their reports resonated most with you?
KAMI: I am always impressed by Louie Brown’s involvement as our California Legislative Action Committee Advocate. He is an integral part of this process, and we are very lucky to have him. He has great insights into what the political climate is in the State of California, which is very helpful to our discussion about which areas to make a legislative priority. Prior to attending this meeting, I did not realize how CAI-CLAC decided which areas of the legislature to address and now I have a much better understanding. I agree with Stacie Donnelly’s comment about being in the presence of a celebrity when Dawn Bauman is in attendance. I am always very impressed with how knowledgeable she is including statewide trends, national trends, and identifying them to inform the Annual Planning Meeting process. I think she brings great insight to committee members so that we can make informed decisions about how to address the legislature.
TERRI: Numerous subjects were discussed as potential areas of focus for CAI-CLAC in 2025. Some of the approved strategies were:
- Legislation which would protect board members in the event that they are unable to procure insurance which may be required by their governing documents due to the market conditions.
- Allowing boards to increase assessments to pay insurance premiums.
- Allowing the disqualification of board members for failure to comply with any state or federal filing requirement (such as the Corporate Transparency Act CTA).
- Exemption of buildings from asbestos testing if they were constructed after a certain date.
How do you feel about the strategies approved for consideration by the committee and which do you feel most strongly about?
KAMI: I am excited to see what we can accomplish in 2025. If I had to pick one item that I feel impacts our associations the most, it is insurance. I am very hopeful that CAI-CLAC is able to work with legislators to get some sort of legislation passed which will protect our Associations from all of the issues they are facing regarding getting the proper insurance coverage. Each year it is more and more evident that this is a huge problem which definitely requires some sort of solution.
It was an honor to be able to be a participant in this meeting as CAI-CLAC plans their legislative priorities for 2025. We are looking forward to working with our local chapter LSC’s on these very important subjects!
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