HOA bills range from displaying religious items to charging EVs

Yahoo

26-02-2025

Nevada has 3,711 HOAs which represent the owners of 623,917 housing units – about half of the state's 1.3 million homes. (Photo: Ronda Churchill/Nevada Current)
State lawmakers in Carson City are proposing a number of changes to laws governing the rights of homeowners in common-interest communities. Unlike the 2023 session, which featured measures designed to limit the rights of homeowners, the majority of bills this session seek to expand homeowners' rights.
'The bills are intended to be friendly, if they can get passed in their current form,' said Southern Highlands homeowner Michael Kosor, a frequent critic of HOA regulation. 'It's kind of a pushback on the industry lobby that's been in control. The industry could jump in with 'friendly' proposals and it will be exactly what homeowners don't need.'
Nevada has 3,711 HOAs which represent the owners of 623,917 housing units – half of the state's 1.3 million homes, according to the state. Wielding powers generally reserved for government tribunals, HOAs can assess fines, deny property rights, and even foreclose.
Critics contend the Nevada Real Estate Division (NRED), which regulates HOAs, is a smokescreen designed to do the bidding of the multi-million dollar industry it oversees, often at the expense of homeowners subject to HOA control.
HOA–related bills this year include:The City of Henderson is sponsoring AB 10 to address repairs to water or sewer systems in common-interest communities. The city stepped in to repair a water leak last year at Somerset Park, a condominium complex. Homeowners now owe the city $8,000 each, according to news reports. ​​
The bill would amend state law to include water or sewer systems owned by a common-interest community as a 'neighborhood improvement project,' allowing HOAs to finance the cost of such repairs by levying assessments on individual unit owners. ​​Nevada law currently requires an HOA board to solicit at least three bids, 'whenever reasonably possible,' for projects expected to exceed the cost of 3% of the association's annual budget in communities with 1,000 or more units, and by 1% of the annual budget in communities with less than 1,000 units.
AB 129, sponsored by Assemblymember Jill Dickman, a Republican from Sparks, would require an association to solicit bids for all projects, unless undue delay could worsen the property damage or pose a risk of injury. It would also require an association to award the contract to the lowest bidder. In 2019, amid concerns about the independence of the Nevada Real Estate Division's (NRED) regulatory scheme, state lawmakers created a task force designed to address concerns about existing laws and bill drafts outside the time constraints of the Legislature, which meets every two years for 120 days.
The task force had two meetings in 2020. It has not met since, It meets at the discretion of its chairman, Business and Industry Director Dr. Kristopher Sanchez. according to the state's website.
Sanchez is the author of SB 78, which seeks to eliminate the task force and other boards and commissions, in line with Gov. Joe Lombardo's 2025 State of the State address, in which he promised 'to streamline' and 'consolidate' state boards and commissions.
Sanchez 'has expressed a willingness to reconvene a meeting of the taskforce during the first quarter of 2025,' NRED's spokesperson said last month. No meeting has been scheduled, according to the task force's website.
Advocates for HOA regulatory reform suggest the state fears an open discussion via the task force would expose flaws in the regulatory scheme.
Jim Sweetin, who Lombardo appointed to the state's Commission for Common-Interest Communities and Condominium Hotels (CIC) last year, told the Current last month that he was unaware of the task force's pending demise.
'My opinion is that that task force falls under the jurisdiction of the Committee of the CIC,' he said. 'They report back.'
Kosor says Sanchez is calling to abolish the task force 'knowing owners will be left with no advocate while NRED, Nevada's sole HOA regulator, is captured by the very industry players it is tasked to regulate.' Sen. Dina Neal, a Democrat from North Las Vegas, is sponsoring SB 121, which addresses landscaping and late fees.
The measure would prohibit HOA boards and governing documents from requiring a homeowner to landscape their backyard sooner than 36 months after the close of escrow. The measure also allows an HOA to require a homeowner to install 'a thin layer of rock in the backyard' not sooner than 18 months after the close of escrow.
The bill also prohibits an association from assessing a late fee sooner than 30 days after an obligation becomes past due, and from reporting a past due obligation to an agency that assembles or evaluates credit.
Should the measure pass, an HOA would also be prohibited from assessing a fine against a homeowner for an oil stain that is not located on the unit's driveway.
The legislation would prohibit an association from restricting vehicles with commercial advertisements from parking in the community, unless the ad contains 'a sexual portrayal' or depicts an image relating to the sale of a controlled substance.
Finally, SB 121 would require HOA boards to notify residents by email, if available, and by posting notifications within the community, when management contracts are terminated. Sen. James Ohrenschall, a Democrat from Las Vegas, is sponsoring SB 152, which seeks to override prohibitions on installing electric vehicle charging stations in common interest communities where they are currently prohibited.
EV charging stations would be permitted in areas over which a homeowner has exclusive use, and in some cases, in a common area. The bill authorizes an association to contract for the installation or maintenance of an EV charging station in a common area, and provides that installation and maintenance of an EV charging station in a common area shall not be deemed a change in use, a commercial use, or a capital improvement.
Opponents who spoke with the Current complained the bill would authorize an association to contract for installation, a capital improvement, and maintenance of charging stations in common areas, without a vote of homeowners. The measure seeks to restrict prohibitions on owners and occupants of units in common interest communities from displaying religious items. The bill defines 'display of religious items' as items displayed or affixed on an entry door or door frame because of sincerely held religious beliefs.
The measure has widespread bipartisan support, with seven sponsors and 13 co-sponsors. A measure sponsored by Sen. Carrie Buck, a Republican from Henderson, and Sen. Jeff Stone, a Republican also from Henderson, would pull back the curtains, with some exceptions, on complaints previously kept confidential following investigation by the Nevada Real Estate Division (NRED) of the Department of Business and Industry.
Nevada law currently requires that complaints filed with NRED for investigation of possible violations of law are confidential. SB 221 would render the complaints and supporting documentation of information compiled as the result of an investigation as public records.
HOA members allege complaints filed with NRED fall into a regulatory black hole, with little to nothing known about their disposition.
​
Buck is also sponsoring SB 222, which authorizes HOA members to record board meetings by 'the use of any means.'
Current law allows a homeowner in a common-interest community to record HOA board meetings if they provide notice of their intent to do so.
SB 222 allows a homeowner to record board meetings by 'the use of any means of audio or video recording or reproduction.' The measure does not allow the recording of executive sessions, in which executive board members discuss sensitive issues such as personnel matters.