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Editor’s note:If you would like to comment on SB417 please go to https://www.leg.state.nv.us/App/NELIS/REL/82nd2023/Bill/10426/Opinions
The following was forwarded to me by another Sun City community. In my opinion SB417 outlines the way for attorneys and management of HOAs to place a gag order on owners living in HOA communities.
BY: DANA GENTRY – APRIL 11, 2023 4:49 PM Reporter for the Nevada Current
A bill sponsored by the Nevada Senate Judiciary Committee seeks to rein in Nevadans who lawmakers say are harassing and demanding too much of their homeowners’ associations and management companies.
“Some of the actions that we’ve taken to protect HOA members have gone a little too far and expose executive board members and their employees to harassment,” including death threats and vandalism, Sen. Melanie Scheible said as she presented Senate Bill 417 to the committee Tuesday. “They’ve also put expensive demands on boards to fulfill unit owners’ requests for records that sometimes have no bearing on the issue at hand.”
Senate Bill 417 removes the current $10 cap community managers may charge homeowners for record inspection and allows them to charge actual costs.
https://www.nevadacurrent.com/2023/04/11/bill-designed-to-chill-homeowner-criticism-of-hoas-say-opponents/
The bill allows an association to ban a homeowner from serving on an HOA board for up to 10 years for filing a vexatious, defamatory, or false complaint with the state, and allows board members or staff to use HOA funds to recover compensatory damages, attorneys’ fees, and costs from a person who takes “retaliatory action,” as determined by the State Real Estate Division.
Las Vegas homeowner Michael Kosor says the measure is an assault on the First Amendment and serves to chill opposition to HOA governance. He says it’s also “a rainmaker for the attorneys and management companies”
Kosor says defamatory speech is already prohibited. The legislation, he says, allows the association to determine what is defamatory and gives the association “the ability to censor free speech based on opposing positions from that of the board.”
Southern Highland’s developer Garry Goett’s OIympia Companies sued Kosor for defamation over statements made on-line and in-person at HOA meetings. Kosor prevailed before the Nevada Supreme Court.
“I’m a retired Air Force colonel fighter pilot with combat experience in the Gulf War,” Kosor testified Tuesday. “This experience defending the attacks of this developer on my family’s financial future was in total the most stressful experience of my life.”
Kosor contends Goett has erroneously maintained control of the Southern Highlands board. He’s presented what he says is evidence to the state, but NRED has refused to investigate. SB 417 would codify the state’s ability to pick and choose investigations.
“There’s an imbalance of power between homeowners and homeowners associations and management companies,” Las Vegan Howard McCarley testified in opposition to the bill. “Extensive financial resources are available to associations and managers. Residents are on their own.”
Adam Clarkson of the Common Associations Institute, the lobbying arm of HOA management companies, says the state’s Real Estate Division receives “a lot of complaints from people that are just routine fighters,” and noted the bill would allow boards to prevent those people from serving on the board.
“They are not the kind of people who should be on the board,” Clarkson said. “They are not good people.”
The measure would also give the state the ability to ignore some complaints.
“Even if the facts are true, NRED doesn’t have to investigate it,” Clarkson of the Community Association Institute testified.
Kosor says the government should advance HOA transparency “and encourage greater participation of owners in their HOAs. This bill does the opposite.”
IF YOU WISH TO COMMENT, pro or con on the SB417 being highly promoted by the SCA attorney, Adam Clarkson, click on this link and you may write your comment for the legislative committee and the record.
https://www.leg.state.nv.us/App/NELIS/REL/82nd2023/Bill/10426/Opinions
Here is the status of SB417 as of today. PLEASE, if you care about “free speech” and having the right to state your views on the management and spending in your HOA community, write or call the state legislature’s Judicial Committee and voice YOUR OPINION ON THIS BILL. Please note, the recommendation at this time is AMEND AND PASS http://www.leg.state.nv.us
https://www.leg.state.nv.us/App/NELIS/REL/82nd2023/Bill/10426/Opinions
SB417
Revises provisions governing common-interest communities. (BDR 10-970)Sponsors: Committee on Judiciary
Status/Location: Judiciary
Most Recent History Actions: 3/28/2023 – From printer. To committee.
Last Meeting:
Work Session Item – Senate Committee on Judiciary – 4/12/2023 12:00 PM
Last Meeting Action:
Amend, and do pass as amended
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