Florida’s state senators and representatives have concluded their 2012 legislative session in Tallahassee.

While House Bill 319 was overwhelmingly approved, Senate Bill 680–the companion to HB 319–never came before the Senate for a vote, thus effectively preventing either of these bills from becoming law.

Whether the failure of either bill to make its way out of this legislative session is good or bad is a matter of opinion. 

However, managers and board members in cooperatives should be reminded that, at least for the immediate future, the "status quo" will continue–as will important differences between Florida’s statutes governing cooperative associations and those provisions governing condominium associations (and in many cases, the statutes governing mandatory homeowners associations), including the following:

Newly elected or appointed board members in cooperatives are still not subject to the certification/education requirement found in Chapter 718.

The statutes governing cooperative associations continue to have no "safe harbor" provisions for first mortgagees that take title to a unit through foreclosure or assignment in lieu of foreclosure.

Finally, certain privacy protections recently afforded to owners and employees in condominiums and mandatory homeowners associations were once again not extended to members of cooperative associations and the employees in cooperative communities.

I suspect we’ll be discussing these issues again at the same time next year.  

If you’re attending the PM-EXPO on March 27 at the Charlotte County Harbor Event & Conference Center in Punta Gorda, please stop by our booth and say hello to us!