CAI Lawyers Slaughter Homeowner Protection Bill
AB 2289 - Guarantees HOA-CAI Lawyers More Fees - 
and 12% Annual Interest on Those Fees
April 26, 2002
By AHRC News Services    

Sacramento, California 

On February 15, 2002, Assemblywoman Christine Kehoe introduced a bill (AB 2289) in the California legislature to help curb the foreclosure racket by CAI (Community Associations Institute ­ a trade lobbying group of lawyers and other homeowner association vendors.) 

The central feature of the bill was to require a minimum of $5,000 in unpaid homeowner association assessments before non-judicial foreclosure would be authorized. 

CAI lawyers and their counterparts in ECHO (Executive Council of Homeowner Organizations ­ another trade lobby group) immediately swooped down on the bill. The result was a massacre for homeowners. 

1. The $5,000 minimum was completely gutted from the bill. 

2. Instead, CAI lawyers inserted at every conceivable point a right to attorney fees, plus 12% interest forever. 

3. The only crumb given to homeowners was a right to have a hearing before the association board prior to the filing of a lien. The board is under no obligation to do anything but to listen. 

This CAI coup d'etat confirms for many homeowners the stranglehold that CAI lobbyist lawyers have on the legislature in Sacramento. Time and again, legislators vote against homeowners and for the lobbyist lawyers, who pump money into legislative coffers. Homeowners across the state see no alternative but to vote against the incumbent legislators in the 2002 November elections. 

As this bill was promoted by one homeowner who concealed her efforts from all other homeowners, it also shows the perils of trying to do something alone amid the wolves of Sacramento. The recently introduced bill does little or nothing for homeowners and is flying through the California legislature.