Existing law, the Davis-Stirling Common Interest Development Act, regulates common interest developments and associations, as defined. Existing law also regulates governing documents, as defined, and protects certain uses of a homeowner’s separate property. That law, among other things, prohibits an association from restricting specified rights of a homeowner. These rights include the right to peacefully assemble, to invite public officials or other speakers to discuss matters of public interest, distributing literature related to common interest development living, and a homeowner’s right to rent or lease a separate interest unless the governing document or amendment that restricts a homeowner’s right to rent or lease their separate interest existed prior to the homeowner acquiring title to the separate interest.

This bill would prohibit the governing documents from restricting a homeowner’s right to use social media or other online resources to discuss specified issues even if the discussions are critical of the association or its governance. The governance, including, among other issues, development living and association elections. The bill would authorize an association to moderate online content posted to an online resource by association members in certain circumstances, subject to meeting all of specified requirements relating to the posting of that online content. The bill would additionally prohibit an association from retaliating against a member or a resident for exercising certain rights, including the right to peacefully assemble or to use social media or other online resources to discuss certain issues.

The bill would also prohibit the governing documents from restricting a homeowner’s right to rent or lease a portion of the homeowner occupied separate interest for more than 30 days, without regard to whether such restriction existed at the time the homeowner acquired title to the separate interest.

Existing law regulates the election and necessary qualifications for a member to serve as a director of an association.

This bill would require any person serving as a director of, or a full-time employee of, an association to complete a course in fiduciary ethics and harassment prevention by a specified date. The bill would require directors and employees to attest, in writing, to completion of the course, and would require the association to maintain the attestation for at least 3 years. or employee of an association, upon election or employment, to be provided with a code of conduct that includes specified information, including what constitutes a conflict of interest, and what constitutes harassment, discrimination, and retaliation. The bill would require directors and employees to attest, in writing, within 30 days of being elected or hired, that they have read and understood the code of conduct, and would require a copy of the code of conduct and signed attestation to be retained by the association for 2 years following the expiration of the term or employee separation.

Existing law authorizes associations to establish penalties for violation of the governing documents, and regulates how an association may enforce such penalties.

This bill would prohibit an association from taking any enforcement actions for the violation of governing documents during a declared emergency, as specified. This bill would also require, if an association seeks to impose a monetary penalty for a violation of the governing documents, any physical evidence used in determining a violation be made available to the member accused of violating the governing documents. This bill would require that any photographs used to determine a violation of the governing documents has occurred contain either a time and date stamp, or digital metadata, as defined, that clearly states the time and date the photograph was taken.