Enrolled Bill Summary

House Bill 2761	House Author:  Garza et al.
Effective:  1-1-12	Senate Sponsor:  West et al.

            House Bill 2761 amends provisions of the Property Code relating to the availability of a property owners' association's records for inspection by specified parties and establishes requirements relating to requests for copies of those records, assessing costs for compiling and reproducing the records, and releasing information contained in the records. The bill requires certain property owners' associations to adopt a records retention policy that meets certain minimum requirements. An association is prohibited from foreclosing an assessment lien of the association if the debt securing the lien consists solely of amounts added to the owner's account as an assessment for costs associated with the compilation, production, or reproduction of information contained in association records.

House Bill 2761 requires meetings of the governing board of a property owners' association to be open to owners, subject to the board's right to adjourn a board meeting and reconvene in closed executive session to consider certain actions. The bill prescribes certain methods of communication for association board meetings, establishes requirements relating to notification of an association election or vote, and sets out provisions relating to vote recounts, ballots, board membership, voting rights of property owners, and the election of board members. The bill requires an association board to call an annual meeting of the association members and provides for a meeting of the members on demand of an owner if the board fails to meet that requirement. The bill exempts from certain provisions of the bill a property owners' association that is a mixed-use master association that existed before January 1, 1974, and that does not have the authority under a dedicatory instrument or other governing document to impose fines.