SB 1016: Common interest developments: EV-dedicated TOU meters.

The Davis-Stirling Common Interest Development Act defines and regulates common interest developments, which include community apartment projects, condominium projects, planned developments, and stock cooperatives. The act provides that any covenant, restriction, or condition contained in any deed, contract, security instrument, or other instrument affecting the transfer or sale of any interest in a common interest development, or any provision of the governing documents of a common interest development, that effectively prohibits or restricts the installation or use of an electric vehicle (EV) charging station in an owners designated parking space is void and unenforceable. The act authorizes an association, as defined, to impose reasonable restrictions on those stations, as specified, and imposes requirements with respect to an associations approval process for those stations. If the station is to be placed in a common area or an exclusive use common area, the act requires the homeowner to pay for the electricity usage associated with the charging station and to be responsible for various costs associated with maintaining and repairing the station, as well as costs for damage to common areas and adjacent units resulting from installation and maintenance of the station. Existing law requires the owner and each successive owner of the charging station to, at all times, maintain a homeowner liability coverage policy in the amount of $1,000,000 and name the association as a named additional insured. Existing law requires the award of reasonable attorneys fees to a prevailing plaintiff in an action to enforce these provisions.

This bill would, with respect to an EV charging station placed in a common area or an exclusive use common area, require the homeowner to agree to pay the costs associated with the installation of the charging station. The bill would instead require the owner of the charging station, wherever located within the common interest development, to maintain a liability coverage policy, and provide the association with a corresponding certificate of insurance, as specified. The bill would instead require the award of those fees to a prevailing plaintiff in an action by a homeowner requesting to have an EV charging station installed.

The bill would also provide that any covenant, restriction, or condition contained in any deed, contract, security instrument, or other instrument affecting the transfer or sale of any interest in a common interest development, or any provision of the governing documents of a common interest development, that effectively prohibits or restricts the installation or use of an electric vehicle charging station within an owners unit or of an EV-dedicated TOU meter, as defined, is void and unenforceable. This bill would extend specified existing authorizations and requirements to these meters and certain wiring and would require the award of reasonable attorneys fees to a prevailing plaintiff in an action by a homeowner requesting to have an EV-dedicated TOU meter installed and seeking to enforce compliance with those requirements.