Sine Die was June 25, 2022 at 12:25am. The Governor had another 10 days to sign passed bills, veto passed bills or do nothing and allow the bill to become law. You can read all the introduced bills and new laws at the Arizona State Legislature website.
Each year I survey the new laws of Arizona, which usually become effective 90 days after sine die, unless there is a stipulation of a different date within the bill. The General Effective date this year is September 24, 2022. Here is my list of important real estate and other new Arizona laws:
SB 1265: property tax liens; foreclosure; notice
Purchaser of property tax lien must send a Notice of Intent to File Foreclosure to property owner’s mailing address. Notice must include Assessor’s property description. Must also send the notice to the tax billing address if different from owner’s address or situs address.
HB 2629: property tax liens; expiration dates
Extends time period for a County Treasurer to notify a purchaser that a property tax lien is going to expire to within 365 days before expiration date and within 30 days after the expiration date.
HB 2103: trademarks; service marks; trade names
Additional requirements to registering a trade name or trademark. Applicant must state search has been conducted and mark will not cause confusion, deceive, does not resemble an Az registered mark. Requires trademark registration form to include statement from applicant regarding U.S. trademark.
HB 2107: emergency powers; business closure; repeal
Prohibits a Mayor of a city or town or the Chairman of a Board of Supervisors from ordering business closures during a declared emergency.
HB 2012: county improvement districts; formation
An improvement district petition must be signed by a majority of people owning real property and the owners of 51% or more of the real property within the proposed district limits.
HB 2492: voter registration; verification; citizenship
Provided that a registering voter must provide evidence of citizenship, proof of residence, date and place of birth.
HB 2131: Stryker – artificial grass ban prohibited; HOAs
Prohibits HOAs from banning artificial grass if natural grass is allowed on a member’s area. HOAs may not prohibit an owner from converting from natural grass to artificial grass.
HB 2158: homeowner’s associations; political; community activity
HOAs and planned community associations may not prohibit members from peacefully assembling or using common areas/elements of the community. Associations may not prohibit indoor or outdoor displays of association specific political signs placed on an owner’s property. Allows a group of members to organize to discuss association business.
HB 2172: real estate licensees; employers; compensation
Allows real estate licensees to receive compensation from an employer to which the licensee is not licensed if all the following apply:
• The employer holds a license
• The licensee is the employer’s employee and receives a federal W-2 form and tax statement
• The employer has the same employing broker as the licensee
• The employer receives written permission from the employing broker to pay the licensee
HB 2231: universities; water rights adjudication
Allows a state university to offer pro bono assistance to small landowners in general stream adjudication of water rights.
HB 2037: counties; powers; water supply projects
Authorizes county boards of supervisors to enter into IGAs (intergovernmental agreements) with federal, state and local governments to enable federal funding for projects to increase water supply and availability. Includes agricultural irrigation districts.
HB 2747: wholesale real estate buyers; disclosure
Provides disclosure requirements for wholesale buyers and sellers. Creates definitions of wholesale buyer and wholesale seller. Pertains to Assignment of Contracts. Requires a wholesale buyer of real estate to provide disclosure in writing to seller that buyer is a wholesale buyer (buyer intending to assign contract). Provides a wholesale seller (seller providing assignee the contract) disclose equitable interest and possibility wholesale seller may not be able to convey title.
SB 1093: equalization assistance; class one property
Reduces assessed valuation on all class one properties over two years (2026 & 2027) to 15%. Class one properties are commercial properties including utilities, mining, telecom, standing timber, pipelines, oil & gas production, shopping centers, golf courses, etc.
HB 2498: COVID-19; vaccination requirements; prohibition
Prohibits a government entity from requiring a resident of Arizona to receive vaccination for COVID-19 or any variant of COVID-19.
HB 2579: residential zoning; park model trailers
Prohibits counties from restricting the use of park model trailers (320-400 sf) as an accessory dwelling unit for single family residence in locations zoned for one dwelling per three acres or greater.
HB 2674: housing supply study committee
Establishes the Housing Supply Study Committee. AR will be one of the committee members.
HB 2101 electric energy; reliability; public policy
Public Power Entities (PPEs) must adopt consumer protection measures. Allows anyone to challenge PPE rate decisions. Mandates PPEs establish an ombudsman. Requires PPE contractors for interior household service be licensed. Other PPE rules established. Requires PPE that is an agricultural improvement district to off a buy through program. Mandates PPEs participate coordination efforts of independent system administrator. Expands entities electric cooperatives can collaborate with.
SB 1594: state lands; annexation; delegation; minerals
Allows a municipality or developer to enter into a pre-annexation agreement with a property owner in which the owner agrees to future annexation.
SB 1239: appropriation; widening; I-10
Approriates $400,000 from the General Fund to ADOT to widen I-10 from Chandler to Casa Grande.
** WeSERV letter to DOT & ADOT re: widening project
SB 1266: property tax; administration; county assessor
Allows affidavits claiming tax exemption to be filed electronically with the county assessor. Assessor must provide an electronic receipt.
HB 2453: governmental entities; mask requirement; prohibition
Prohibits governmental entities from imposing any requirement to wear a face covering or mask anywhere on premises with certain exceptions.
HB 2371: enforcement prohibition; vaccinations; requirements
Prohibits a government entity from requiring without parental consent a minor to receive a vaccination for COVID-19 or any variant of COVID-19.
SB 1260: registrations; early voting; move notice
Modification of criteria for voter registration cancellations, early voting list, and establishes penalties for person knowingly allowing person to vote who is registered in another state or county. Establishes process for county recorders to notify other recorders of newly registered voters.
HB 2010: first responder flags; homeowners’ associations
Adds outdoor display of first responder flag and blue or gold star flag to list of flags HOAs may not prohibit.
HB 2610: Project unit size; affordable housing
Removes the 200-unit cap for affordable rental housing projects to qualify for a property tax exemption.
HB 2694: department of real estate; fees
Eliminates the minimum fee amounts to real estate licensure and modifies license course requirements. Defines Live Classroom Course as a course delivered either in person classroom format or a synchronous remote instructions format that allows students to participate remotely.
SB 1267: Property; classification; primary residence
Mandates that change in use be physical ad objectively verifiable. Change of occupant or classification of a single family residence does not constitute a change in use. Defines residential property as occupied as the owner’s primary residence, not just used as primary residence.
HB 2872: transportation; 2022-2023
Amongst other provisions provide budget funding for the SMART Fund (State Match Advantage for Rural Transportation). ADOT administers the fund and directs the State Treasurer to invest and deposit the SMART funds and monies earned from investment into the SMART Fund. Funds may be used to reimburse up to 50% of the costs associated with developing and submitting a federal grant application, as a match to a federal grant, or to reimburse the cost of design and engineering to meet federal project standards.
Counties and cities with a population of more than 1,000,000 are excluded from the fund. Municipalities and counties receive 20% of the funds if population is within certain parameters.
SB 1564: on-farm irrigation efficiency; fund; appropriation
Creates a pilot program and the On-Farm Irrigation Efficiency Fund to be administered by the University of Arizona Extension. The pilot program strives to collect data and provide funds to help reduce farm usage of groundwater, surface water, Colorado River water and CAP water.
HB 2317: revenue distribution; border security
Requires the State Treasurer to distribute $335,000,000 for the remainder of the fiscal year to the Border Security Fund. Requires DEMA (Az Dept. of Emergency & Military Affairs) to construct and maintain a physical border fence and install security technology.
SB 1168: vacation rentals; short-term rentals; enforcement
Local government may require the owner of a vacation or short term rental to maintain liability insurance of at least $500,000, advertise and offer each rental through an online lodging marketplace that provided equal or greater liability insurance coverage.
Local governments may require owner or owner’s designee to notify all single-family residential properties near the rental that it is a vacation or short term rental before it is offered for rent the first time. Residents on the same floor as the rental in a multifamily residence is also deemed adequate notification.
Local governments may require the display of the city permit or license number, or TPT license. Local government may require a contact for emergencies and complaints. Timeshares are eliminated from the definition of vacation and short term rental. Other provisions were added.
SB 1255: lieutenant governor; duties; ballot
Office of Lieutenant Governor is established to act as the Governor’s Chief of Staff and the Director of the Az Dept. of Administration (ADOA) or to any position for which the Governor is authorized to appoint.
SB 1411: early ballots; tracing system
Requires a county that uses early ballots to also have an early ballot tracking system. The system must indicate if the voter’s early ballot was received and whether the voter’s early ballot has bee verified and sent for tabulation or rejected. The tracking system must be accessible on the county website. This law become effective on Jan. 1, 2024.
SB 1494: COVID-19 vaccine; unemployment insurance
Prohibits DES (Dept. of Economic Security) from disqualifying and individual from unemployment benefits if the person lost their job because they did not receive the COVID-19 vaccination.
HB 2243: voter registration; state residency; cancellation
Provides that a statement be added to the voter registration stating if registrant moves to another state the voter registration will be cancelled. Directs county recorders to cancel voter registrations of dead people, cancel voter registration of peoples submitting an ADOT form informing them the person no longer resides in Arizona, cancel voter registration if receives a report from a jury commissioner or manager that the person is not a resident of the county and requires certain verifications before cancelling that registration, cancels voter registration if the recorder confirms the person is not a United States citizen. Also provides requirements of the Az Secretary of State.
HB 2275: condominium termination; unit owners; percentage
Condominiums created on or after the effective date may be terminated by agreement of unit owners of which 95% of the votes in the association are allocated. The termination agreement percentage may be higher if provided for in the declaration. The percentage may be lower only if the units are restricted to nonresidential uses.
HB 2664: military transitional housing fund; monies
Creates the Military and Transitional Housing Fund (MTHF) at the Az Dept. of Housing. The fund will be used to develop new construction transitional housing for military members. Monies are to be used in cooperation with veteran owned and operated for-profit and nonprofit organizations providing transitional housing to military members separating from the military. Monies cannot be spent on unoccupied motels or hotels for homeless veterans. ADOH may not interfere with local planning, zoning or land use regulations.
HB 2678: state broadband office
Establishes the State Broadband Office within the ACA (Az Commerce Authority).