AZ HOA Bills: What does the House leadership fear?

OPEN EMAIL LETTER
Feb. 28, 2006

TO: All Arizona House Representatives

What do the House Leaders fear in allowing the HOA bills to be heard by ALL the elected Representatives? Are they afraid that, if passed, that doom and gloom will or a catastrophe upon the State of Arizona will result by granting homeowners the equal protection of the laws and due process protections? These are the same irrational fears that we've heard over and over again by the special interests groups seeking to protect their income streams. What else can it be?

Does the House leadership feel that without the coercive protection of state laws, people will shirk HOAs? That by holding the HOA boards, management firms and attorneys accountable under the law, like any other group or governmental entity, the HOAs will fail? Is the Constitution still the law of the land or can anybody draft a private government contract to avoid the US and state Constitutional protections of the peoples rights and freedoms?

Will the housing industry collapse? Will builders run for the hills? Will people seek the older authoritarian forms of private HOA governance? Or will life go on with the good people living in HOAs feeling that they are now part of the American landscape? And will builders continue to build and buyers continue to buy?

I say let the elected Representativess vote their conscience for which they were chosen by the people. We do not need a dictator group or chairman to tell the people what is good for them. Pass the HOA bills out of the Rules committee and place them on the Active Calendar.

Let our duly elected representatives do their job!

Heavy Hand of CAI business trade group in Twin Rivers suit

Please note that the Twin Rivers Homeowners Assn attorney, Barry S. Goodman, is an attorney at Greenbaum Rowe Smith & Davis LLP, that is a 2006 Platinum PLUS Sponsor for the NJ CAI chapter (http://cainj.com)

Please note that Scott Pohl, TR Assn president is a director of the CAI NJ chapter.

Please note that CAI filed an amicus curiae brief in favor of the HOA, and warned against the unwise extension of constitutional protections.

CAI is Community Associations Institute that turned from attempting to educate homeowners on how to live in HOAs for some 20 years, to a business trade group that lobbys state legislatures to protect the income stream of its member attorneys and management firms, as is the purpose of a business trade group..

New Jersey HOA held to be bound by state constitution

The New Jersey Supreme Court heard this appeal that included issues of violations of the NJ constitution by the Twin Rivers HOA. The court held,

We reverse the general ruling in respect of the fundamental rights exercises implicated that TRHA was not subject to limitations imposed by the New Jersey Constitution and that the business judgment rule and contractual standards applied. We remand plaintiffs' claims in counts one, two, and three of the complaint for reconsideration under the proper standard.

This is a solid victory that HOAs cannot operate outside the Constitution by arguing that they are just a simple private agreement among consenting adults, not to be interfered with by the government. In essence, that they are principalities operating with their own, untouchable constitutions.


CAI amicus curiae brief in opposition:

This Court must balance the plaintiff’s claims that focus on their perceived individual “rights” versus the rights and legitimate economic expectations of other homeowners.

In the context of community associations, the unwise extension of constitutional rights to the use of private property by members (as opposed to the public) raises the likelihood that judicial intervention will become the norm,and serve as the preferred mechanism for decision-making,rather than members effectuating change through the democratic process.

Court filings:
The complete opinion (pdf)
appeals brief (pdf)
CAI amicus brief (pdf)
Response to CAI (doc)

The Truth is Out There!

More and more homeowners across the country are seeking information on homeowners associations, because in the past the only information that has been available has been from the industry supporters. Even state web pages, in many states, only provide links to the industry supported web pages and not to homeowner rights advocacy pages.

The people want more, and along with other advocacy websites, PVTGOV.ORG, the website for Citizens for Constitutional Local Government, Inc, brings the other side of the picture -- the side that has been kept from the public for too long. It has been viewed more than 40,000 times for those seeking assistance from oppressive and abusive private HOA governments.


The truth is Out There!