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General Assembly Raised Bill No. 6538
January Session, 2021
LCO No. 3957
Referred to Committee on JUDICIARY
Introduced by:
(JUD)
AN ACT MAKING REVISIONS TO THE COMMON IN TEREST
OWNERSHIP ACT.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General
Assembly convened:
Section 1. Subsection (a) of section 47-250 of the general statutes is 1
repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective from 2
passage): 3
(a) The following requirements apply to unit owner meetings: 4
(1) An association shall hold a meeting of unit owners annually at a 5
time, date and place stated in or fixed in accordance with the bylaws; 6
(2) An association shall hold a special meeting of unit owners if its 7
president, a majority of the executive board, or unit owners having at 8
least twenty per cent, or any lower percentage specified in the bylaws, 9
of the votes in the association request that the secretary call the meeting. 10
If the association does not notify unit owners of a special meeting within 11
fifteen days after the requisite number or percentage of unit owners 12
request the secretary to do so, the requesting members may directly 13
notify the unit owners of the meeting. Only matters described in the 14 Raised Bill No. 6538
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meeting notice required by subdivision (3) of this subsection may be 15
considered at a special meeting; 16
(3) An association shall notify unit owners of the time, date and place 17
of each annual and special meeting of unit owners not less than ten days 18
or more than sixty days before the meeting date. Notice may be by any 19
means described in section 47-261c. The notice of any meeting shall state 20
the time, date and place of the meeting and the items on the agenda, 21
including (A) a statement of the general nature of any proposed 22
amendment to the declaration or bylaws, (B) any budget changes, and 23
(C) any proposal to remove an officer or member of the executive board; 24
(4) Unit owners shall be given a reasonable opportunity at any 25
meeting to comment regarding any matter affecting the common 26
interest community or the association; and 27
(5) [The] Unless prohibited by the declaration or bylaws, [may allow 28
for] meetings of unit owners [to] may be conducted by telephonic, video 29
or other conferencing process if the alternative process is consistent with 30
subdivision (7) of subsection (b) of this section. 31
Sec. 2. Subsections (a) and (b) of section 47-252 of the general statutes 32
are repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective 33
from passage): 34
(a) Unless prohibited or limited by the declaration or bylaws, unit 35
owners may vote (1) at a meeting in person [,] or electronically, (2) by a 36
proxy pursuant to subsection (c) of this section or, (3) when a vote is 37
conducted without a meeting, by electronic or paper ballot pursuant to 38
subsection (d) of this section. 39
(b) At [either] a meeting of unit owners conducted in person, 40
electronically or both in person and electronically, or in a vote 41
conducted without a meeting, the following requirements apply: 42
(1) If only one of several owners of a unit is present at a meeting of 43
the association or participating in the vote without a meeting, that 44 Raised Bill No. 6538
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owner is entitled to cast all the votes allocated to that unit. If more than 45
one of the owners are present at the meeting or participating in the vote 46
without a meeting, the votes allocated to that unit may be cast only in 47
accordance with the agreement of a majority in interest of the owners, 48
unless the declaration expressly provides otherwise. There is majority 49
agreement if any one of the owners casts the votes allocated to the unit 50
without protest being made promptly to the person presiding over the 51
meeting by any of the other owners of the unit. 52
(2) Except as otherwise provided in this subsection, unless a greater 53
number or fraction of the votes in the association is required by this 54
chapter or other law or the declaration, a majority of the votes cast is the 55
decision of the unit owners. 56
(3) Unless a greater number or fraction of the votes in the association 57
is required by the declaration, bylaws or certificate of incorporation of 58
the association, directors shall be elected by a plurality of the votes cast 59
by the unit owners. If the declaration, bylaws or certificate of 60
incorporation of the association requires any or all directors to be elected 61
by unit owners of a specified group or class of units, then such directors 62
shall be elected by a plurality of the votes cast by the unit owners of 63
units of such group or class of units. The provisions of this subdivision 64
shall not apply to directors who may be appointed by the declarant or 65
under subsection (g) of section 47-245. 66
(4) If the declaration, bylaws or certificate of incorporation of the 67
association provide for the election of officers by the unit owners, then 68
unless a greater number or fraction of the votes in the association is 69
required by the declaration, bylaws or certificate of incorporation of the 70
association, officers shall be elected by a plurality of the votes cast by 71
the unit owners. If the declaration, bylaws or certificate of incorporation 72
of the association requires any or all officers to be elected by unit owners 73
of a specified group or class of units, then such officers shall be elected 74
by a plurality of the votes cast by the unit owners of units of such group 75
or class of units. The provisions of this subdivision shall not apply to 76
directors who may be appointed by the declarant or under subsection 77 Raised Bill No. 6538
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(g) of section 47-245. 78
Sec. 3. Subsection (b) of section 47-260 of the general statutes is 79
repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective from 80
passage): 81
(b) [Subject] Notwithstanding any provision of the declaration or 82
bylaws to the contrary, and subject to subsections (c) and (d) of this 83
section, all records retained by an association shall be available for 84
examination in person or electronically and for copying by a unit owner 85
or the owner's authorized agent: 86
(1) During reasonable business hours or at a mutually convenient 87
time and location; and 88
(2) Upon [five] thirty days' notice in a record reasonably identifying 89
the specific records of the association requested, provided the 90
association shall, not later than five business days following the date of 91
receiving such notice, provide the requesting unit owner or owner's 92
authorized agent with two dates at which the records may be examined, 93
copied, or both. 94
Sec. 4. Section 47-278 of the general statutes is repealed and the 95
following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective from passage): 96
(a) A declarant, association, unit owner or any other person subject 97
to this chapter may bring an action to enforce a right granted or 98
obligation imposed by this chapter, the declaration or the bylaws. The 99
court may award reasonable attorney's fees and costs. 100
(b) Parties to a dispute arising under this chapter, the declaration or 101
the bylaws may agree to resolve the dispute by any form of binding or 102
nonbinding alternative dispute resolution, provided: (1) A declarant 103
may agree with the association to do so only after the period of declarant 104
control has expired; and (2) an agreement to submit to any form of 105
binding alternative dispute resolution must be in a record authenticated 106
by the parties. 107 Raised Bill No. 6538
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(c) (1) (A) [Except] Notwithstanding any provision of the declaration 108
or bylaws to the contrary, and except as otherwise provided under 109
subdivision (2) of this subsection, before an association brings an action 110
or institutes a proceeding against a unit owner other than a declarant, 111
the association shall schedule a hearing to be held during a regular or 112
special meeting of the executive board and shall send a written notice 113
[by certified mail, return receipt requested, and] by regular mail, to the 114
unit owner at least ten business days prior to the date of such hearing. 115
Such notice shall include a statement of the nature of the claim against 116
the unit owner and the date, time and place of the hearing. 117
(B) The unit owner shall have the right to give testimony orally or in 118
writing at the hearing, either personally or through a representative, 119
and the executive board shall consider such testimony in making a 120
decision whether to bring an action or institute a proceeding against 121
such unit owner. 122
(C) [The] Notwithstanding any provision of the declaration or bylaws 123
to the contrary, the executive board shall make such decision and the 124
association shall send such decision in writing [by certified mail, return 125
receipt requested, and] by regular mail, to the unit owner, not later than 126
thirty days after the date on which the hearing concludes. 127
(2) The provisions of subdivision (1) of this subsection shall not apply 128
to an action brought by an association against a unit owner (A) to 129
prevent immediate and irreparable harm, or (B) to foreclose a lien for an 130
assessment attributable to a unit or fines imposed against a unit owner 131
pursuant to section 47-258. 132
(d) (1) Any unit owner other than a declarant, seeking to enforce a 133
right granted or obligation imposed by this chapter, the declaration or 134
the bylaws against the association or another unit owner other than a 135
declarant, may submit a written request to the association for a hearing 136
before the executive board. Such request shall include a statement of the 137
nature of the claim against the association or another unit owner. 138
(2) [Not] Notwithstanding any provision of the declaration or bylaws 139 Raised Bill No. 6538
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to the contrary, not later than thirty days after the date on which the 140
association receives such request, the association shall schedule a 141
hearing to be held during a regular or special meeting of the executive 142
board and shall send written notice [by certified mail, return receipt 143
requested, and] by regular mail, to the unit owner at least ten business 144
days prior to the date of such hearing. Such notice shall include the date, 145
time and place of the hearing. Such hearing shall be held not later than 146
forty-five days after the date on which the association receives such 147
request. 148
(3) [The] Notwithstanding any provision of the declaration or bylaws 149
to the contrary, the executive board shall make a decision on the unit 150
owner's claim and the association shall send such decision in writing [by 151
certified mail, return receipt requested, and] by regular mail, to the unit 152
owner, not later than thirty days after the date on which the hearing 153
concludes. 154
(4) The failure of the association to comply with the provisions of this 155
subsection shall not affect a unit owner's right to bring an action 156
pursuant to subsection (a) of this section. 157
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following
sections:
Section 1 from passage 47-250(a)
Sec. 2 from passage 47-252(a) and (b)
Sec. 3 from passage 47-260(b)
Sec. 4 from passage 47-278
Statement of Purpose:
To make revisions to the Common Interest Ownership Act, regarding
electronic meetings of an association, access to association records and
certain notices from an association.
[Proposed deletions are enclosed in brackets. Proposed additions are indicated by underline, except
that when the entire text of a bill or resolution or a section of a bill or resolution is new, it is not
underlined.]