Arizona bill tells HOAs that they do not control public streets

[Please note that a previous post on this bill, SB 1278, was posted in error, referring to restrictions on mandating HOAs in new subdivisions.  An Arizona bill, SB 2292, that would have made this a law has been stalled in the Legislature and will die there.]

Arizona Session Law Ch. 103 (2013), SB 1278,  reaffirms local municipality control of public streets within an HOA.  It is a groundbreaking bill because it relegates HOA private governments to a rightful secondary status and subject to public government laws.  In a disgraceful rejection of the Constitution, courts see no problem with upholding the common law Restatement of Property (Servitudes) as controlling over Constitutional and contract law.

It’s a simply worded bill:

Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Arizona:

Section 1. Title 33, chapter 16, article 1, Arizona Revised Statutes, is amended by adding section 33-1818, to read:

33-1818. Community authority over public roadways: Applicability

A. NOTWITHSTANDING ANY PROVISION IN THE COMMUNITY DOCUMENTS, AFTER THE PERIOD OF DECLARANT CONTROL, AN ASSOCIATION HAS NO AUTHORITY OVER AND SHALL NOT REGULATE ANY ROADWAY FOR WHICH THE OWNERSHIP HAS BEEN DEDICATED TO OR IS OTHERWISE HELD BY A GOVERNMENTAL ENTITY.

B. THIS SECTION APPLIES ONLY TO THOSE PLANNED COMMUNITIES FOR WHICH  THE DECLARATION IS RECORDED AFTER DECEMBER 31, 2014.

While homeowners must wait until 2015, this bill is a giant step forward to curtail the unconsitutional reach of private regimes where homeowners are outside the protections of the US and Arizona Constitutions.  It speaks to putting a clamp on The New America of HOA-Land. The bill took 5 years of dedicated effort by HOA champion and State Senator Nancy Barto before it became law.

HOAs had raised feeble arguments that could and still can  be easily addressed by seeking ordinance variances.  The HOAs and their hired-hand venders have refused to avail themselves of this avenue of redress, which is available to all citizens.  No, this 4 year long battle was a battle for power and control.  Which form of government controls your public streets,  the municipality of the HOA regime?