More than thirty Arizona HOA bills died in 2026, almost none by a vote
More than thirty Arizona HOA bills died in 2026, almost none by a vote
2026-09-10 · Arizona · Legislation · Did not pass
Around thirty-five Arizona community association bills were introduced in 2026. Seven became law. The rest died — and only one of them died by losing a vote.
That is the structural fact about this session. Not one association bill was vetoed. More than thirty carry a disposition in the legislature's own records reading “Held in Committees”, “Held in Senate”, “Held in House”, or the flat “No Action” — referred to a committee, never placed on an agenda, deadline passed.
Under the chambers' rules, House bills had to clear House committees by February 20, 2026 and Senate bills by March 27. A bill that misses that date is finished, without a hearing, a debate or a recorded vote.
The money bills
SB 1500 would have cut the annual assessment increase cap from 20 percent to 3 percent, and raised the member override from a simple majority to 67 percent. Held in committees, never heard.1
HB 4050 was the companion to the foreclosure bill that did pass. It would have required a payment-plan offer and, more significantly, set a statutory order for applying partial payments — which dollar goes to assessments, which to late fees, which to legal costs. Never heard. That ordering question remains governed entirely by the declaration, which is where most collection disputes actually start.
HB 2743 would have created statutory damages of $1,000, rising to $2,500, for an association that leaves an unlawful provision in its recorded documents. It had eight sponsors across both parties and was never given a hearing.2
The governance bills
Records access produced two bills from the same sponsor pointing in opposite directions — one expanding owner access to association records under §§ 33-1258 and 33-1805, one narrowing it. Both died in the committee that sponsor chaired.
Elections and voting. Bills on electronic voting, a delegate-vote ban, a cumulative-voting ban and virtual meetings all failed. Arizona's election statutes §§ 33-1250 and 33-1812 are unchanged.
Due process in enforcement. Three bills would have required named-observer violation notices, guaranteed hearings, capped interest at 20 percent, and voided a penalty imposed without following the procedure. None was heard. The only survivor of this cluster was the short, general duty to act reasonably in HB 4011.
HB 2172 was the session's most radical proposal: mandatory expiry of every declaration, and dissolution of the association, at 100 years or on January 1, 2127. Assigned to two committees; heard by neither.3
The near misses
Three bills got far enough that their failure is a genuine surprise.
SB 1582 — voiding association restrictions based on a dog's or cat's breed, size or weight — passed the House 52–2 on June 9, 2026 and died four days later at sine die, “Held awaiting Concurrence or Conference.” The chambers had passed different versions and never reconciled them. It is the closest any failed association bill came, and breed and weight restrictions remain enforceable in Arizona.
SB 1083 — protecting lighted house numbers, with mandatory attorney fees — passed the Senate 29–0, a unanimous chamber, then died in House Government with no action.4
SB 1450, on condominium construction defects, received its first reading on June 12, 2026 — one day before the session ended — and died “Held awaiting Second Reading.” A companion, HB 4045, also failed. That leaves the Arizona Supreme Court's July 2026 decision in Gallery Community Association v. K. Hovnanian as the operative authority on association defect claims, with no legislative gloss on it.
The one bill that lost a vote
HB 4028, on accessory dwelling units, is the exception. It failed in House Appropriations on a recorded vote of 8–9–1, reported February 23, 2026 — the only association-adjacent bill this session to be defeated rather than shelved.5
Its failure leaves an important thing in place. Arizona's ADU preemption at A.R.S. § 9-461.18 requires larger cities to permit accessory dwelling units, but it expressly preserves private covenants. A city must allow a casita; an association's recorded restriction against one remains enforceable. Owners routinely read the state ADU law as overriding their CC&Rs. It does not, and no 2026 bill changed that.
What the pattern means for reading the news
A lopsided floor vote is not enactment. This session produced House votes of 52–2, 52–0, 49–0 and a Senate vote of 29–0 on bills that are not law. Those margins are exactly what gets summarised as an outcome by automated trackers, and at least three of these dead bills are currently circulating as though they passed.
The check is a chapter number. An enacted Arizona bill has one, and a session-law text published at a stable URL. “Held in Committees” means the bill stopped.
Dying without a hearing leaves no record of why. We have reported the procedural fate from the legislature's own bill records and have deliberately not attributed motive to any chair or sponsor. Advocacy sources on both sides do name names; the records show only that a bill was referred and never agendized.
What to watch next
The reconciliation failures are the likeliest returns. A bill that passes both chambers in different forms and dies awaiting conference — SB 1582 — has demonstrated majority support in both. That is legislative history, not a prediction.
No interim study committee is looking at this. Of roughly a hundred interim, ad hoc and statutory committees, none concerns community associations. There is no special session, no carryover, and no 2027 prefile on the subject yet.
No ballot measure either. We found no HOA measure for the November 3, 2026 ballot and no 2026 concurrent resolution on associations. The Secretary of State's ballot-measure page blocks automated retrieval, so that finding rests on the legislature's records rather than on the elections site.
Related Arizona HOA Topics
- SB 1500 (2026) — assessment cap to 3 percent; Held in Committees, no chapter ↩
- HB 2743 (2026) — statutory damages for unlawful covenant provisions; Held in Committees ↩
- HB 2172 (2026) — hundred-year expiration of declarations; Held in Committees ↩
- SB 1083 (2026) — address lights; passed Senate 29–0, Held in House ↩
- HB 4028 (2026) — accessory dwelling units; withdrawn from House Government February 19 and Failed in House Appropriations 8–9–1, reported February 23, 2026 ↩
- A.R.S. § 9-461.18, Accessory dwelling units — the provision preserving private covenants ↩
- SB 1582 (2026) — pet breed and weight restrictions; passed House 52–2, held awaiting concurrence at sine die ↩
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