Publishing rules
Know what the board owes owners after a rule is adopted, not just when it's voted on.
Publishing a rule means getting its actual text into owners' hands after the board adopts it, not just voting on it at a meeting. California requires notice to all members within 15 days of adoption; Connecticut requires notice with a copy of the rule. Most states set no such deadline, so check your own bylaws and declaration.
Adopting a rule and publishing it are two different acts
A board adopts a rule when it votes to approve it at a meeting. That vote alone does not put the rule in front of anyone. California's statute treats an operating rule as its own category, separate from the recorded declaration, and defines a "rule change" as the board's act of adopting, amending, or repealing one.
"a regulation adopted by the board that applies generally to the management and operation of the common interest development or the conduct of the business and affairs of the association"
Source: California Civil Code Section 4340, State of California
Publishing the rule is the separate step that happens after that vote: getting the actual text of what was adopted into every owner's hands, not just into the board's meeting minutes.
What the states that regulate this require
Not every state tells a board how to publish an adopted rule, but two that do set very different deadlines. In California, once a board adopts, amends, or repeals an operating rule, it must give notice of the change to every member within 15 days of adoption. In Connecticut, the executive board must likewise give owners notice of an adopted or amended rule, including a copy of it, after acting.
Whether your state imposes any post adoption notice requirement at all, and what deadline applies if it does, varies. Check your state's common interest ownership statute.
If your state is silent, your governing documents control
Practitioners describe rules as the level of the governing document hierarchy with the least built in protection: easiest for a board to adopt, and the level most dependent on the bylaws and declaration for procedure.
Look in your own bylaws and declaration for a publication requirement before assuming there isn't one. If you find nothing there either, ask yourself a narrower question: if an owner disputed a rule next month, could you show exactly when and how it reached them?
Check yourself
Answer before you read the explanation, recalling it is what makes it stick.
A California board adopts a new operating rule at its June 1 meeting. Under Civil Code Section 4360, by when must it notify all members of the change?
A board mails owners a proposed rule change, takes comments for three weeks, then adopts it at the next meeting. It never sends anything afterward. What has it likely skipped?
A board in a state with no statutory notice and comment law wants to know how it must publish new rules to owners. Where should it look first?
Sources
- California Civil Code Section 4360, State of California
- California Civil Code Section 4340, State of California
- Connecticut General Statutes Section 47 261b, State of Connecticut
- What's the Difference Between Condo Declarations, HOA Covenants, and Rules & Regulations?, Perez Mayoral, P.A.
Rules & Rulemaking
Next, see what has to happen before the board can even vote on a rule: notice and comment.
Whether your state requires any post adoption notice at all, how many days you have to send it, and what your bylaws or declaration require you to do with an adopted rule all vary by state and by association.