Manager Licensing Bill Has Now Been Introduced!

We knew it was coming and on February 25, 2019, HB 1212, which would reinstate Community Manager licensing, was introduced in the House.

As you will recall, last year, the bill to extend manager licensing was defeated. As of right now, if no legislative action is taken by the legislature in 2019, manager licensing will no longer exist after June 30, 2019.

The following is a message from the CAI’s Colorado Legislative Action Committee regarding the bill:

This past summer, CLAC conducted a two-month outreach process with Colorado CAI members to better understand their opinions on Community Association Manager licensing, their interactions with DORA, and what they would like to see the future of management licensing to look like. We conducted five Road Shows across Colorado in South Denver, Vail, Fort Collins, Westminster and Colorado Springs. We also conducted an online survey of the Colorado CAI membership for additional feedback. The survey generated 316 responses and more than 60 people attended the Road Show events. You can review the presentation we did on the findings here.

From the Roadshow and the survey, we learned that more than 60% of Colorado CAI members wanted continued licensing of managers and 72% of Colorado CAI members wanted continued licensing of management companies. There was also significant  feedback about the complaint process and lack of industry knowledge by DORA regarding the licensing program. CLAC took this feedback, and, when we learned several bills were coming to recreate the licensing program, we worked to get all of the potential bills combined into what is now House Bill 1212. We still have some more work to do and will continue to work with legislators on additional amendments.  We did get several improvements and modifications to the existing program that we asked for per the Colorado CAI member feedback. CLAC has also been in close communication with CAI National throughout this process regarding national public policies for states that propose mandatory regulation. Lastly, CLAC has initiated meetings with DORA since the inception of the manager licensing program and, more recently, in an attempt to negotiate aspects of the bill. 

As introduced, House Bill 1212 will do the following:

• Extends the licensing program until September 1, 2024, when it will again undergo a sunset review process.
• Creates an advisory committee to DORA that will make recommendations to the director regarding changes to rules, adoption of guidelines and the process for handling complaints. The committee is made up of seven members; three of which are licensed community managers, two homeowners, a CPA, and an attorney. This committee was added at our request after hearing about the need for DORA to better understand the industry. Our original request, per Roadshow feedback, was for an oversight board; however, that request wasn’t financially or politically feasible after discussion with legislators.
• Clarifies certain administrative functions that do not require a license.
• Clarifies the apprentice program and supervision requirements.

We are continuing to work on the complaint process with DORA to find a better solution. Stay tuned for more news on this section as this develops.
We will be reaching out to you in the coming days to solicit your help in advocating to legislators on the importance of CAM licensing. We will also be updating the CLAC website  regularly with additional information.

Make sure to check back here for updates regarding this bill. Cornerstone will also be blogging on major developments with the bill. Stay tuned!