Section 4041 of the Davis-Stirling Act requires homeowners to annually disclose their current mailing address and their HOA to annually solicit the same. These important disclosure and solicitation requirements help ensure associations can effectively communicate with their constituent members, a necessary aspect of good governance.
Senate Bill 392 amended Section 4041 to instead provide that owners must disclose their “preferred delivery method,” which must include the options of receiving notices at a mailing address, an email address, or both. The bill also amended Section 4040 to provide that HOAs must deliver all individual notices by each member’s preferred method.
Senate Bill 392 amended Section 4041 to instead provide that owners must disclose their “preferred delivery method,” which must include the options of receiving notices at a mailing address, an email address, or both. The bill also amended Section 4040 to provide that HOAs must deliver all individual notices by each member’s preferred method.
So far, so good, at least for those of us who view snail-mail as one step up from smoke signals. The problem with these changes, however, is that SB 392 expressly provides for each member’s right to designate email as their sole preferred delivery method, but Section 5115(c) provides that “[b]allots and two preaddressed envelopes … shall be mailed by first-class mail or delivered by the association to every member.” Emphasis added.
To be clear, Section 5115(c) is not an individual notice, but the issue is where to mail the ballot and envelopes if a member chooses email as their sole preferred delivery method. Section 4041 as amended does not require members who choose email-only to disclose a current mailing address, and Section 4041(c) only permits HOAs to use a default address (last provided or property) if a member fails to disclose a preferred method.
Several factors may compound this problem. First, members who choose email as their sole preferred delivery method will rightly expect that all important notices and documents from their HOA will arrive in their inbox. Paper ballots and envelopes mailed to an address that may or may not be current are likely to be overlooked. Second, both HOAs and members are currently incentivized to shift to email to reduce copying, postage, and other mailing-related expenses. The Davis-Stirling Act’s ever-increasing burden of individual notices - in tandem with SB 392’s green light for email-only - will dramatically accelerate that shift, as will the growing demographic of younger homeowners.
The elegant solution here would be to ditch paper ballots in favor of electronic voting, but that would represent a third major overhaul of HOA election law in as many years. Ugh. In addition, it would require a sea-change in the Legislature’s “ongoing distrust” of and “major … consternation” about the “fraught nature” of HOA governance. See Assembly Judicial Committee Analysis of Senate Bill 432, p. 4.
Given that the ice cream and pony of app-based voting seems unlikely, the practical solution is probably to require members to annually disclose a current mailing address for purposes of ballot delivery. While that requirement flies in the face of SB 392 - and indeed the 21st Century - it will ensure members receive their all-important voting materials.
To be clear, Section 5115(c) is not an individual notice, but the issue is where to mail the ballot and envelopes if a member chooses email as their sole preferred delivery method. Section 4041 as amended does not require members who choose email-only to disclose a current mailing address, and Section 4041(c) only permits HOAs to use a default address (last provided or property) if a member fails to disclose a preferred method.
Several factors may compound this problem. First, members who choose email as their sole preferred delivery method will rightly expect that all important notices and documents from their HOA will arrive in their inbox. Paper ballots and envelopes mailed to an address that may or may not be current are likely to be overlooked. Second, both HOAs and members are currently incentivized to shift to email to reduce copying, postage, and other mailing-related expenses. The Davis-Stirling Act’s ever-increasing burden of individual notices - in tandem with SB 392’s green light for email-only - will dramatically accelerate that shift, as will the growing demographic of younger homeowners.
The elegant solution here would be to ditch paper ballots in favor of electronic voting, but that would represent a third major overhaul of HOA election law in as many years. Ugh. In addition, it would require a sea-change in the Legislature’s “ongoing distrust” of and “major … consternation” about the “fraught nature” of HOA governance. See Assembly Judicial Committee Analysis of Senate Bill 432, p. 4.
Given that the ice cream and pony of app-based voting seems unlikely, the practical solution is probably to require members to annually disclose a current mailing address for purposes of ballot delivery. While that requirement flies in the face of SB 392 - and indeed the 21st Century - it will ensure members receive their all-important voting materials.