Arizona Senate OKs limiting HOA liens
This is the foreclosure bill that left the Government Committee last week and has now cleared the full Arizona Senate:
"This year’s most significant proposed reform for homeowners associations appears headed to the governor’s desk after the state Senate tentatively agreed Thursday to remove the power to foreclose on homes for unpaid fines. State lawmakers have been convinced by reform advocates that some HOAs abuse foreclosure by taking the home of someone who hasn’t paid fines for planting the wrong bushes or placing a trash can in the wrong place. But for the fourth straight year, lawmakers have rejected a proposal to restrict the use of liens and foreclosures on an HOA member who hasn’t paid association dues. HB2402 is one of a series of bills moving through the Legislature that are intended to scale back the power of HOA boards and management companies. Other proposals that appear to be headed to the governor or already have been signed would require annual audits and the release of additional association records and would block HOA rules that forbid political signs in front of homes. But Thursday’s vote goes to the heart of an HOA’s ability to enforce rules that can range from landscaping and parking to a house’s color palette. HB2402 still allows an HOA to place liens on a house for unpaid fines as well as legal costs incurred for trying to collect. But the HOA wouldn’t be allowed to use the lien to seize a home. Instead, the HOA might have to wait after the house is sold, when a lien must be paid from sale proceeds."

This "goes to the heart" language that I highlighted is pretty silly. Let's not get carried away. The cardiovascular analogy is better applied to the revenue stream, and the HOA can still foreclose over that. But this bill is an improvement. It is not a good situation if a BOD has the power to make a rule, cite you for violating it, find you guilty of the violation, sentence you to pay a fine, and foreclose on you if you don't pay. This is one stop shopping, complete with danger of abuse of power. Considering that the owners have no constitutional protections and there's no separation of powers, removing the power of the HOA to take your home for rule violations is an obvious and much needed reform in my opinion.