House Bill 1175 (HB 1175) cleared the House Business Affairs and Labor Committee yesterday without amendment on an 8-5 vote. The bill will now be taken up by the House Finance Committee where it is expected to be approved, since the Fiscal Note shows that no appropriation is required.
HB 1175 would (1) extend the community association manager licensure program for an additional five years; (2) amend the definitions of “community association management” and “community association manager;” (2) amend the supervision requirements for the apprentice license; (4) repeal references to private professional credentials; and (5) enhance the due process protections of a cease and desist order.
Following industry stakeholders reaching consensus, it is expected that amendments will be offered on the floor of the House to dispose of the requirement that management companies have a “designated manager” who is responsible for all of the management related activities in the company. Based upon testimony by industry representatives in a hearing before the House Business Affairs and Labor Committee to determine whether HB 1175 would be introduced, this move seems to be in response to a designated manager being disciplined in 2017 for financial actions taken by an unlicensed president and an unlicensed CEO of a management company. Since the designated manager was a subordinate of the president and CEO of the management company, she had no hope of regulating or controlling their actions. As a result, it seems fundamentally unfair that she was disciplined for their unlicensed activity.
I look forward to seeing whether CAI’s Colorado Legislative Action Committee will take any action on addressing better screening of complaints brought against managers prior to the Division of Real Estate launching a full blown investigation into the complaint. I have personally seen a handful of complaints brought against community association managers that had nothing at all to do with their management and instead related to decisions made by the board of directors of the HOAs they manage. It’s simply wrong to subject managers to a full blown investigation on issues that are not management related and should be disposed of through an initial review of the complaint.