AB 1061 - Requires Compliance With Local Water Ordinances

Feldsott & Lee
A Law Corporation

Assembly Bill 1061 (hereinafter “AB 1061”) makes association landscape regulations that interfere with water-efficient landscaping void and unenforceable. AB 1061 adds to Civil Code Section 1353.8, which already restricts architectural guidelines from prohibiting or providing conditions that hinder or prohibit use of low water-using plants as a group. This bill prohibits such provisions in all the association’s governing documents, not just architectural guidelines.

Further, AB1061 specifically requires compliance with local water ordinances. In doing so, it resolves the potential conflict between the common interest development law allowing boards to regulate foliage, and water conservation ordinance requirements that may be more strict. If water ordinances require water-efficient landscaping from some landowners, but cannot affect other landowners, then complaints may be prompted about inequities of enforcement, causing resistance to landscaping modifications that improve water-use efficiency. In an effort to support greater urban water conservation, AB 1061 eliminates the conflict in favor of enforcement of water conservation laws and regulations.