Hey SCJ, long time no see (or read). Good to see you stop by. Hope all is well. Point #2 is a tough one. T33 has dollar limits on what planned communities/typically HOA's can charge. As noted by IC, any number of them have what is often called impact fees and they far and away exceed the $400 flat rate in T33. They simply aren't covered. Rick Grey's article in the paper entitled "Unintended Consequences," implied if we fell under T33 we could face losing the right to collect the PIF. I don't see it, especially given there is long standing precedence set all around us. It did become a handy tool to once again try and scare people. That said, the reality is the folks behind the lawsuit hate the PIF. If you think not, look at those litigants claiming they were impacted by it. It amounted to about half the claims. I have had folks associated with the suit ask me to testify at the legislature and told them flat out no. I want there to be open meetings, i have been clear on that since moving here. I never agreed with the suit because we were essentially suing ourselves (we are all paying for it) and if they were to win everything, the PIF could go away. It is one of things they are asking for. Should the judge in the case get crazy over the T33 thing at the legislature and use the PIF question to get even, i have no doubt the RCSC would take it to a higher court and it would ultimately be overturned. The problem with that is we keep incurring costs and dragging this mess on. The simple truth is we could have resolved this years back had we just did like Sun City West and agreed to operate under T33. Had we done that, the suit was DOA and Sun City would look wholly different than it does today. Damn, if only...
Well, BP what have I been up to? Look at my picture: it took some time to find the fountain of youth and then I drank too much lol! Anyway, thanks for answering and confirming what my impression was re: the PIF emphasis at the heart of the lawsuit. Thx also to IC for posting the links to that info about the other communities. The T33 and SB1094 stuff has become a really confusing mess for me to try to understand and if someone like me who has really tried to understand gets confused, I know those who only get the bits and snips in the paper are far worse off and that's a shame.... Only bright spot in the midst of all this is that RCSC has finally made the open mtgs we've wanted a reality and that's a good thing indeed.
The vote was just held in the Senate. Bill passed 17-11 and now sent to the Governor. It's well worth watching the video when it's posted.
Thanks! Now guess what's left is to write to the Governor? I think in an earlier post Carole said something about that being the next step because of veto power....
REPOST Arizona Homeowners Coalition Legislative Update Legislative Update 4/26/2019 Despite the scheduled end of the legislative session today, the session has been extended by the Speaker of the House and President of the Senate for one more week. This action will now allow time for both Bills SB-1094 and SB-1531 to be passed by the legislature prior to session end. The House on Wednesday Passed SB-1094 the bill that retroactively exonerates Sun Cities Recreation Centers from accountability for violating the law for 25 years and eliminates the homeowners living under that association’s control, from the protections of the planned community act. Every Republican House member that had personally committed to me that they would vote against this bill were somehow convinced to change their vote and approve the measure. The final vote was 32 to 25 with two representatives not present. If only three of the four that committed to oppose the measure did so, the bill would have been defeated. The bill will now go to the Senate where it will be considered in Caucus than voted on from the floor. Senator Gray will absolutely prevail and ensure that all Republicans vote in his favor. While I’ve still written all Senators any further efforts to stop this bill in the Senate would be futile. Right now our best chance to stop both this legislation is to contact the Governor’s office and ask that he veto either bill if they make it to his desk. The Governor is not swayed in any way by the fact that the legislature put a bill on his desk. He will approve it or veto it based on what he believes is best for Arizona. The following link can be used to write the Governor directly and express your opposition to both bills. Contact the Governor . Please click on the hyperlink and tell the Governor "NO"
You can also click on the above hyperlink and request the Governor to sign the bill but better do it quickly. The door's about to close....
I read an article in the online Independent where Rick Gray threatened David Farnsworth if he didn't vote for passing the bill. Apparently Farnsworth is going to run for the ACC in the next election and Gray assured him he would have everyone in Sun City turn against him. You can read the article here. Farnsworth didn't care about the threat and voted against the bill. In the article Gray has now become adamant we would now lose the right to collect a PIF if the the bill fails. Wow, massive leap from what he was originally saying. I can hardly wait to have that discussion with him. Gray's point to Farnsworth was that "judges make mistakes." Damn, i love that logic. Is it really just judges? How about politicians? What about General Managers? How about 9 board members? Now that i think about it, the folks who set up Sun City and the community documents had it right. The structure we had with a checks and balance system whereby the residents had a voice every three months when the quorum was a hundred was stroke of brilliance. It insured if the GM or board got off track, the membership could quickly and effectively speak out and up. Of course, that's all gone now because well, you guessed it...in my not so humble opinion, all of the above made mistakes.
Watch the video of the Senate discussion when it's uploaded to understand the "threat". Gray wanted to let Farnsworth know that voters in Sun City keep track of how their representatives vote. A perfect example is how we were hoodwinked by Sandra Kennedy who ran on holding EPCOR to the fire and then recused herself when it came time to step up to vote.
You mean like how we were "hoodwinked" when the board voted to do away with the quorum of 100...so they could save us from ourselves aggie?
I do remember the BOD saying that "We're being less restrictive than what is allowed under Title 33 which would have been 10% of total number of cardholder/members". What did I hear on TV this morning? "He didn't lie but was just not totally honest." At the member meetings I attended, I can't seem to remember any specifics in the late 90s & early 2000s. Were there actually any motions brought from the floor and voted on by the members when the quorum was 100? It was rather contentious when certain speakers would not yield the floor. I think a quorum of 500 would be reachable if it was something that had an impact on a huge number of RCSC cardholders. It shouldn't be always a negative thing to bring out the crowds.
It's the new normal...say whatever you want. There is no such thing as truth or honesty. As a community, as a society, as a country, we all deserve better. Just don't look for it to happen any time soon. Goodness i long for the days when we were more pure, more civilized and more humane.
"Well despite all of our efforts both Bill’s SB-1094 and SB-1531 are on the Governor’s desk for action. Because the legislative session continues to be extended the Governor has 5 days excluding Sundays to act on any bill on his desk or it will automatically become law without his signature. SB-1094 went to the Governor on 5/1 so he has until the end of the day on Tuesday 5/7/2019 to act on that bill." Just an update as to what is going on with SB-1094 if anyone was curious.
Well, opened up my email and RCSC had sent out the following: "Governor Ducey Signs SB1094 Thanks to your support, Arizona Senate Bill SB1094 (formerly HB2374) was signed by Governor Ducey last night (May 7, 2019). SB1094 allows the Recreation Centers of Sun City, Inc. (RCSC) and Green Valley Recreation, Inc. (GVR) to continue to operate as they have historically since 1968 and 1973 respectively. Both RCSC and GVR remain under Title 10 and are not subject to the Planned Communities Act (commonly referred to as Title 33). RCSC and GVR are not homeowners associations (HOA) and do not enforce CC&Rs, do not maintain any roadways, do not regulate or monitor private residences and do not have any affiliation with the numerous homeowner and condo associations in these communities (well over 350 in Sun City and 100 in Green Valley). Thank you!"
In the bizarre world that is Jan’s mind who was thrilled that we could operate under ARS 30, we are now back to ARS 10. Does this mean that we will return to a Board/member exchange, a monthly Board meeting and the Directors return to the Batcave to iron things out? Is it me or is this a bit surreal? This is like being on magic mushrooms without actually ingesting them.
