Legislative Session Report

Legislative Updates

Advocacy Committee Chair Susan Engstrom

With session winding down, we have some results from a few of the bills introduced. Our advocacy team and our partners Capitol Consulting are making sure we are aware of what we may be facing. We had a great meeting this month. Toward the end of each month, Capitol Consulting sends us a list of bills impacting our local BOMA members. Some of you may not be aware that if you are a BOMA member, you are not just a member of BOMA Greater Phoenix, you are a member of BOMA International as well. BOMA International’s team meets regularly with the Senate and House members and when an issue has great import, they will testify before congress to make sure the voice of commercial real estate has an impact (positively or negatively).

Watch your email as all members of BOMA International can gain access to the new fact sheets regarding the 2017 tax rate retention which is about to sunset, EV charger subsidization, carbon reduction and like-kind exchanges. In my last letter I discussed a couple of bills that were presented at the capitol that could negatively impact our CRE members. The main one was an elevator bill that’s verbiage was vague and could be construed in a way that our engineer teams could no longer work on anything inside the elevator without a licensed elevator technician with them. The good news is that the bill failed in its current form so we will watch for them to present another (and similar) bill in the next session.

Another bill we were watching was signed by Governor Hobbs. HB2322 - condominiums; commercial structures; residential structures – This states that any common expenses in a condominium with separate commercial and residential structures be allocated based on the benefit to each structure. Expenses exclusively benefiting a commercial structure must be assessed only to the commercial units, while those benefiting a residential structure must be assessed only to the residential units. Expenses benefiting both structures must be proportionally allocated between them and assessed on a pro rata basis. This places the burden of proof on the condominium association to demonstrate compliance with these allocation requirements in case of disputes. This applies to all condominiums existing on or after the effective date of this legislation.

Please feel free to join our Advocacy Committee meetings that happen via Zoom the second Thursday of every month at 3:30. Contact the BOMA officce for the zoom link.

Respectfully submitted, Susan Engstrom, RPA® FMA® Advocacy Chair