Thirteen association bills died in one session
Thirteen association bills died in one session
2026-09-15 · Pennsylvania · Legislation · Did not pass
What happened. Every community-association bill of Pennsylvania's 2023-2024 regular session died. Not one became law. Thirteen measures covering records, voting, resale disclosure, solar access, EV charging, clotheslines, declaration amendments and manufactured-home rents expired at sine die on 30 November 2024.1
Why they all died at once
Pennsylvania has no carryover. The Constitution makes the General Assembly "a continuing body during the term for which its Representatives are elected" — and those terms run two years, beginning on the first day of December after the election.2 A bill not enacted by the end of the term does not survive into the next one. It must be reintroduced with a new number and start from referral.
The two that got closest
Both died on the table, which in Pennsylvania means reported out of committee, given first consideration, and then parked without a second.
HB 1759 — solar access. An amendment was adopted 25-0 in the Local Government Committee, and the bill was reported as amended 14-11 on 25 September 2024. It was laid on the table on 30 September 2024, two months before the session ended, and never came off. It had been rewritten mid-stream: the printed title shows the original purpose struck and replaced with "AMENDING TITLE 68 …, IN GENERAL PROVISIONS RELATING TO RESIDENTIAL REAL PROPERTY, FURTHER PROVIDING FOR DEFINITIONS AND PROVIDING FOR PROHIBITION OF DEED RESTRICTIONS PERTAINING TO SOLAR ENERGY SYSTEMS."3
HB 1179 — the clothesline bill. Amendment adopted 14-11, reported as amended 14-11 on 21 May 2024, laid on the table the same day, never removed.
HB 2240 — the common-interest community data bill — followed the identical pattern: reported as committed 14-11 on 25 September 2024, tabled on 30 September.
The full list, and what became of each
Nine died in committee without any action after referral: HB 62 (resale disclosure, Rep. Mercuri), HB 805 (manufactured-home rent notice, Rep. Hanbidge), HB 1736 (declaration amendment threshold, Rep. Rader), HB 1808 (community closure notice, Rep. Webster), HB 2361 (EV charging, Rep. Brennan), SB 31 (solar access, Sen. Muth), SB 861 (manufactured-home rent cap, Sen. Schwank), SB 1125 (EV charging, Sen. Kane) and SB 1164 (right to dry, Sen. Cappelletti).
One, HB 2149, was reported with a request to re-refer, 25-0, and then re-referred to a different committee in April 2024, where it died.
Most have returned. HB 1759 is now HB 1239, which passed the House 109-93 in July 2026. HB 1179 is now HB 67, which passed the House 128-75 in May 2025. HB 2240 is now HB 1377 and SB 920. HB 1736 is now HB 2655. HB 2361 and SB 1125 are now HB 2463 and SB 561. SB 31 is now SB 618. HB 1808 is now HB 843. HB 805 was superseded by HB 1250.
The two that did not come back
These are the more interesting absences.
HB 2149 was the most far-reaching association governance bill of the last decade, and nothing like it has been reintroduced. It would have amended 68 Pa.C.S. §§ 5219(f), 5303, 5306, 5308, 5310, 5316 and 5322 together. On records: "All financial and other records, including records of assessments, fines, violations and contracts, shall be made reasonably available for examination by any unit owner and authorized agents." On voting, an independent reviewer who would "tally the results of the vote, certify the results to the executive board and all unit owners and keep the identity of the votes anonymous." And a complaint route: "A unit owner in good standing may file a complaint with the Bureau of Consumer Protection in the Office of the Attorney General in the event of a violation by the declarant or the association of sections 5306 (relating to bylaws), 5308 (relating to meetings), 5309 (relating to quorums) and 5310 (relating to voting; proxies)."4
HB 62 was the resale-disclosure bill, and notably a Republican one. It would have required, in a font four times larger than anything else in the certificate, a purchaser-signed acknowledgment: "I have received a copy of the governing documents of the community to review and I understand the bylaws. I understand that the bylaws and declaration of this community are the governing documents and a binding contract between myself and the community, and I must abide by all bylaws, rules and regulations outlined in the documents. I also understand that this community is governed by an elected board of unit owners…"5
Both addressed the two complaints Pennsylvania owners actually make — that they cannot get records or trust a vote, and that they did not understand what they were buying into. Neither has a successor in the current session.
SB 861 and the promise that was not kept
One more absence deserves naming. SB 861 would have capped manufactured-home lot rent increases at the consumer price index. It died in committee. On 2 December 2024 its sponsor circulated a co-sponsorship memorandum stating: "I will soon reintroduce legislation to amend Section 4.1 of the Manufactured Home Community Rights Act 261 to establish a cap on the amount of yearly land rent increases… This legislation was previously introduced as SB861."6
Twenty-one months later it has not been introduced, while the same senator's two other package bills were both introduced on 3 June 2025.
Why this history is the useful thing to know
Because the current session is running the same course, and the same date is approaching.
The 2025-2026 session ends on 30 November 2026. Four association-relevant bills have passed the House — solar access, clotheslines, manufactured-home rents, and accessory dwelling units — and all four are sitting in the Senate Urban Affairs and Housing Committee, which has reported none of them. Everything else is in committee without a vote.
If nothing moves before 30 November, Pennsylvania will have completed two consecutive sessions in which every community-association bill failed, and Title 68 will have gone four years without amendment. It was not amended at all in 2025-2026; the last substantive change remains Act 115 of 2022.
What to watch next
The House reconvenes 28 September 2026. The question for each of the four House-passed bills is identical and narrow: whether Senate Urban Affairs and Housing reports it. Nothing else can happen until that does, and the committee has now held some of these bills for over a year.
Prefiling for the 2027-2028 session, and the reintroduction of whatever dies, will follow in the winter.
Related Pennsylvania HOA Topics
- HB 2149, 2023-2024 session — bill history ↩
- Pennsylvania Constitution, Article II §§ 2 and 4 (terms of service; continuing body) ↩
- HB 1759, 2023-2024 session, Printer’s No. 3671 — solar access, amended title ↩
- HB 2149, Printer’s No. 2773 — bill text (records, voting, complaint route) ↩
- HB 62, Printer’s No. 51 — resale certificate acknowledgment ↩
- Sen. Schwank, co-sponsorship memorandum on a lot-rent cap (Dec. 2, 2024) — not introduced ↩
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