The Hawaii Legislative session opened on January 18th with nearly four dozen condominium related bills submitted for discussion and debate. Here is the close-of-session status of the bills we followed since the last newsletter. All of the bills we having been tracking, of interest to HOAs, were signed into law.
Act 199
Passed
Authorizes a condominium association to provide a summary of the required information in its budget. Authorizes a condominium association’s reserve study to forecast a loan or special assessment to fund life safety equipment or installations for any building located in a county with a population greater than five hundred thousand. Authorizes a condominium association to use a third party to conduct a reserves study on behalf of the condominium. Clarifies the information to be included in the description of how the estimated replacement reserves assessments are computed.
Read the new law, Act 199 here:
Life safety equipment in condominium reserves
Act 29
Passed. Governor Vetoed, Senate and House overrode Governor’s Veto
Clarifies that no statute of repose shall affect a condominium association’s right of action against a condominium developer sooner than two years after the period of developer control terminates.
Read the new law, Act 29 here:
Associations’ right of action against developers
Act 149
Passed
Requires the real estate commission to develop a curriculum for leadership training to be made available to board members of a condominium association and submit a progress report to the legislature. (CD1)
See the new law, Act 149 here:
Educational curriculum for board members
Act 189
Passed
Establishes a Planned Community Association Oversight Task Force to examine the rights afforded to owners in condominium property regimes and determine the feasibility of extending any of those rights to members of planned community associations. Establishes a Condominium Property Regime Task Force to examine and evaluate issues regarding condominium property regimes and conduct an assessment of the alternative dispute resolution systems that have been established by the Legislature. Requires interim and final reports to the Legislature. Task forces sunset 6/30/2025.
See the new law, Act 189 here:
Relating to common interest developments
In addition to the above bills, the Governor also signed the following into law.
Act 231
Passed
Requires disclosure of all existing permitted and unpermitted erosion control structures on the parcel in real estate transactions when residential real property lies adjacent to the shoreline.
See the new law, Act 231 here:
Real property disclosures within shoreline areas
The next regular session of the Legislature opens in January, with the months before spent planning for new bills to be introduced. To keep informed about these and other bills related to HOAs, regularly check in on the Legislature’s website. You can do a search for specific bills and topics using “Subject Search.” Please contact the Legislative Reference Bureau public access space online, for additional assistance with the legislative process. Destination Maui Inc., also tracks relative legislation affecting associations, and provides updates in our website learning center.
