You’ve all heard that the Minnesota Working Group for CICs/HOAs recently recommended new legislation that has generated two companion bills now winding their way through the Minnesota House and Senate. Lynn Boergerhoff and I attended the House bill’s public hearing in the State Capitol today.  An interview on local Fox 9 provides an overview from the bills’ sponsors, which was mentioned in an earlier blog.  Lynn did a nice job testifying today on the network’s behalf regarding the legislation, which has both good and bad provisions in it. The overall public testimony that took place portrayed a largely cautionary approach to new laws that if passed, could have serious impacts to HOAs and their governing boards in the future.

The legislation does contain some positive provisions with regard to board accountability, transparency and management company conflicts of interest. No one can really argue against such corrective actions. The big “however” is that there are some aspects of the bill that could send monthly HOA fees even higher due to legal fees and potential costly litigation, higher property management fees and an inability to recoup total losses from negligent homeowners. Additionally, a general “chilling effect” from this legislation could discourage the already thin selection of potential board candidates from running for any open board spots.

Lynn and I strongly encourage you to attend one of our four chapter meetings in March to get an overview of this evolving legislation from Finn Jacobsen of SJJ Law. He will kick off each meeting with an important update. Please bring along other board members to hear it firsthand.

We will continue to monitor this critical legislation and provide you with updates.