JakeB (Virginia)
Posts: 3
Posts: 3
Posted:
Senator Jill Holtzman Vogel introduced emergency legislation (SB 6016) to amend the Virginia Property Owners Association Act at the Special Session in June.
It passed the Senate on Wednesday (6/25) and has been tabled in the House. This bill authorizes the courts to re-write the deed to your property, something that is unheard of in Virginia.
It is drafted for the particular purpose of changing the result of an active case in Frederick County since August 2007. It falsely alleges an emergency that doesn’t exist. These proposed changes are the result of an earlier draft written by lawyers at Reed Smith, counsel for a large developer that’s a defendant in the litigation. This last-minute, special interest legislation introduced by a legislator whose expertise, by her own admission, is in an unrelated legal specialty, will have dire and unanticipated impact on the Lake Holiday community, over 9100 community associations, and tens of thousands of property owners across the entire state of Virginia.
Vogel’s proposal:
· makes the most sweeping changes to the Act in its history;
· will overrule long-standing Virginia Supreme Court cases;
· will dramatically change fundamental Virginia law on the enforcement of restrictive covenants;
· will rewrite Virginia’s iteration of uniform acts in a way in which no other jurisdiction has to date; and
· undoes recent changes to the POA Act deliberated for nearly 2 years that have only recently been signed into law and have yet to become effective.
It is inappropriate for the legislature to contemplate, let alone approve, a bill whose sole purpose is to tip the outcome of active litigation.
Any change to an act with such far reaching impact as the POA Act should only be undertaken after careful deliberation and open public debate. Major changes to the POA Act should not be passed in haste in a special session on an important and unrelated topic when legislative rules have been suspended.
The bill has been put off for now, but Vogel plans to reume efforts to pass the bill in 2009.
It passed the Senate on Wednesday (6/25) and has been tabled in the House. This bill authorizes the courts to re-write the deed to your property, something that is unheard of in Virginia.
It is drafted for the particular purpose of changing the result of an active case in Frederick County since August 2007. It falsely alleges an emergency that doesn’t exist. These proposed changes are the result of an earlier draft written by lawyers at Reed Smith, counsel for a large developer that’s a defendant in the litigation. This last-minute, special interest legislation introduced by a legislator whose expertise, by her own admission, is in an unrelated legal specialty, will have dire and unanticipated impact on the Lake Holiday community, over 9100 community associations, and tens of thousands of property owners across the entire state of Virginia.
Vogel’s proposal:
· makes the most sweeping changes to the Act in its history;
· will overrule long-standing Virginia Supreme Court cases;
· will dramatically change fundamental Virginia law on the enforcement of restrictive covenants;
· will rewrite Virginia’s iteration of uniform acts in a way in which no other jurisdiction has to date; and
· undoes recent changes to the POA Act deliberated for nearly 2 years that have only recently been signed into law and have yet to become effective.
It is inappropriate for the legislature to contemplate, let alone approve, a bill whose sole purpose is to tip the outcome of active litigation.
Any change to an act with such far reaching impact as the POA Act should only be undertaken after careful deliberation and open public debate. Major changes to the POA Act should not be passed in haste in a special session on an important and unrelated topic when legislative rules have been suspended.
The bill has been put off for now, but Vogel plans to reume efforts to pass the bill in 2009.