2026-09-07 · Idaho · Legislation · Did not pass

What happened. House Bill 963 was introduced on 27 March 2026, six days before the Idaho Legislature adjourned sine die on 2 April. It was reported printed and referred to the Ways and Means Committee, and no further action was recorded. It died in committee without a hearing.¹

The timing tells you it was never going to pass this session. The content tells you what a serious attempt at Idaho HOA reform might look like, because HB 963 is the most detailed community-association bill Idaho has produced — and roughly half of it is governance housekeeping that no one opposed.

Part one: a rewrite of the administration statute

Section 1 would have substantially rebuilt Idaho Code § 55-3204. The additions:²

• A quorum, at last. A new subsection (4) would have set a quorum of ten percent (10%) of the votes entitled to be cast, represented in person, by proxy, by mailed written ballot, by absentee ballot, or by remote communication as authorised by the board. Idaho's HOA Act currently sets no quorum at all.
• A mandatory annual meeting of the membership each calendar year, in person or — with the approval of a simple majority of members — electronic or hybrid.
• Notice governed by Idaho Code §§ 30-30-501 and 30-30-505, with an opt-in electronic notice process on identical dates and information.
• Minutes of every meeting, membership and board alike, preserved for at least ten years.
• Assessment authority set by the governing documents, or, where the documents are silent, by majority approval of the members.

The bill also carried forward and renumbered existing protections: open board meetings, the enumerated executive-session purposes, annual conflict-of-interest and familial-relationship declarations by directors, the bar on using rulemaking power over common property to expand restrictive covenants as they apply to a member's property, and the prevailing-member attorney-fee award for chapter violations.

Part two: automatic conversion

Section 2 would have added § 55-3204C. Any association ten years old or more as of 1 January 2027 would automatically convert to a “joint ownership association” on 1 January 2030 unless its members voted against conversion; younger and future associations would convert ten years after incorporation or bylaw adoption, then every ten years after any successful vote against.

The voting threshold differed from its predecessor bill's. Conversion would not occur “if a quorum is present and a majority of the votes represented and voting vote against such conversion” — a majority of those voting at a quorate meeting, rather than HB 708's majority of all eligible voters.

1. H.B. 963, 2026 Reg. Sess. — bill status showing introduction 27 March and referral to Ways and Means ↩
2. H.B. 963 as introduced — full text amending § 55-3204 and adding §§ 55-3204C and 55-3214 ↩
3. Community Associations Institute, Idaho 2026 legislative session report ↩
4. Idaho Legislature, 2026 interim committees (no housing or community-association study committee listed) ↩