MORE POSSIBLE LEGISLATIVE RESTRICTIONS ON ASSOCIATIONS (May 2025)

The California Legislature continues to tinker with the Davis-Stirling Common Interest Development Act, this time via Assembly Bill No. 21 (AB21), which is currently working its way through the legislative process.  If passed in its current form, AB21 would do the following:

• Require individual notice both of a proposed change to the operating rules and of the adoption of the change (currently only general notice is required in both instances);
• Prohibit a majority of Board members from conducting outside a Board meeting any communications of any kind concerning Board business;
• Require Board that meeting notices to include instructions on how a member may get a copy of the agenda packet for the open session and that associations provide a copy of the agenda packet to members upon request, for which the association may not charge more than the actual costs;
• Require Board open meeting agendas to include the wording of the proposed motions and resolutions (this requirement would force associations to prepare the language of the motions and resolutions in advance before the meeting notices and agendas are posted);
• Require that if any of the following occur, the Board announce it at its subsequent meeting:
  • If the association becomes involved in litigation, with the meeting minutes stating the court name and case number;
  • If the association files an insurance claim, with the meeting minutes stating the type of insurance, the insurance carrier, and the policy number; and
  • If there is a change to an insurance policy, with the meeting minutes stating the type of insurance, the insurance carrier, the policy number, and a description of the change.
• Require that executive session Board meeting minutes include the case name when ongoing litigation is discussed;
• Require that (i) open session Board meetings be recorded (audio or audio with video), (ii) notice be given at the beginning of the meeting that it is being recorded, and (iii) the recordings be made available to members on the same basis as the written meeting minutes;
• Prohibit a charge for Board meeting minutes that are provided to a member electronically;
• Require that Board meeting minutes include (1) the date, time, and location of the meeting, (2) the type of meeting (e.g., regular, special, emergency, executive, or committee), (3) whether notice and an agenda of the meeting was given to the membership, (4) the names of directors present and absent, (5) whether members are also present, (6)  the names and titles of any guest speakers, (7) whether a quorum of directors was established, (8) whether the Board members left early or re-entered the meeting, (9) the wording of any approvals, resolutions, acceptance of any reports, or motion adopted by the Board, including who moved, who seconded, and how each director voted, (10) the rationale for Board actions and decisions, (11) a summary of the major arguments, and (12) statements that support Board members following fiduciary duties;
• Provide that the names of members present at meetings are not required to be in the minutes, and no member may be compelled to give their name in order to attend an open meeting, unless the member speaks at the meeting;
• Require the courts to void any Board action taken at a meeting that was conducted in violation of the statutory requirements;
• Allow members to sue the association in small claims court for Board meeting violations, and award to prevailing members reasonable attorney’s fees incurred for consulting an attorney;
• Prohibit the opening of both the inner and the outer ballot envelopes before the meeting at which the ballots are counted;
• Require the meeting minutes and notice of election results to state the term for each elected Board member;
• Require individual notice of election results (currently only general notice is required);
• Include agenda packets, except from executive session Board meetings, in association records available to the members;
• Prohibit a charge for the emailing of association records already in electronic format and which do not require any redacting; and
• Award members, who prevail in small claims court to obtain association records, reasonable attorney’s fees incurred for consulting an attorney.