CLAC Continues to Protect Your Interests in 2025
By Robert M. DeNichilo, Esq., CCAL
CLAC Legislative Co-Chair, Orange County Regional Chapter Delegate
This article first appeared in The Communicator Magazine, Spring 2025.
CAI’S CALIFORNIA LEGISLATIVE Action Committee (CLAC) hit the ground running in 2025 in pursuit of its legislative agenda, which included allowing emergency assessments to cover the cost of insurance premiums and liability protection for associations and board members who are unable to purchase the level of insurance coverage required by CC&Rs for a reasonable cost, or at all. While the bill introduction deadline passed without CLAC being able to secure an author for its proposed bills, we continue working and are hopeful of getting some cleanup legislation into an omnibus bill.
In addition to pursuing its legislative agenda, CLAC is taking positions on several bills introduced that will significantly impact associations and man- agers. AB-739 (Jackson) would require all managing agents to be licensed real estate brokers. It is unclear what the goal of the legislation is or why it would benefit owners or associations, given that the requirements to obtain a real estate broker’s license have nothing to do with managing a community association. CLAC is opposing the bill and continues to have discussions with the author.
CLAC also has a second bill on its radar. Under the guise of creating additional options for affordable housing, SB-677 (Wiener) would expand on 2022’s SB 9, which prevented cities and counties from banning owners from splitting their lots. SB 9 did not apply to community associations, but SB-677 is directly aimed at associations and would prohibit community associations from enforcing any CC&Rs provision that prevents an owner from splitting lots. CLAC is opposed to this bill.
SB-546 (Grayson) seeks to repeal Civil Code section 5501, which permits a board to meet its obligation to review financial documents on a monthly basis by having either all board members or a subcommittee of the board consisting of the treasurer and at least one other board member to review the documents outside of a meeting so long as the review is ratified at the next board meeting and the ratification is reflected in the minutes. If this bill passes and becomes law, the only way a board would satisfy the obligation to review financials on a monthly basis would be to have a meeting each month, causing those associations that meet bi-monthly or quarterly to incur additional expenses. CLAC is opposed to this bill.
CLAC also continues its efforts to encourage the legislature to address the insurance crisis in California and meets regularly with legislators and staff to discuss this complex issue.
AB-1 is one of several bills addressing wildfires and insurance issues. This bill would require the Department of Insurance, on or before January 1, 2030, and every five years thereafter, to consider whether or not to update its regulations to include additional building hardening measures for property-level mitigation efforts and community wide wildfire mitigation programs. As part of this consideration, the bill would require the department to consult with specified agencies to identify additional building hardening measures to consider, as well as to develop and implement a public participation process during the evaluation. CLAC has taken a neutral position on this bill.
AB-69 will require a broker of record to determine if an insurance policy with the FAIR Plan that is up for renewal can be moved to a market insurance company before renewing in the FAIR Plan. CLAC supports this bill.
If you haven’t already done so, we urge you to take a moment to sign up for CAI-CLAC email updates to stay informed. You can also follow CAI-CLAC on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube for real-time updates on legislative news, resources, event updates, or legislative action.
Click Here to view 2025 Legislative Session Priorities.