April 30, 2026 | Mark Luis Foster

It was a marathon House session that started around 4 p.m. today and went well after 6 p.m. before a vote on this HOA reform bill was taken. Rep. Kristin Bahner (DFL), who is the bill’s author and has since craftily dubbed this legislation an “HOA Bill of Rights”, got her way after nearly 2.5 years of wrangling.

A variety of chewy amendments were addressed first in the session, with two failing (A14 and A8) and two passing (A5 and A7).

Rep. Bahner purported that the bill was further modified (some 13 times) so that “anyone can understand this language, including volunteer board leaders” (which is interesting in and of itself, given that’s who it is intended for). In her closing comments, Rep. Bahner brought up the $56 foreclosure example again that was used all last session, which alleged that a Minnesota HOA foreclosed on some poor old lady over a $56 fees discrepancy (a story long ago busted as twisted and largely untrue; but no matter, when it comes to getting votes).

Rep, Bahner provided other “egregious” examples of poor HOA behavior to make her point, which of course do exist, but do not exactly exhibit a repeating trend. Again, in the big arena of politics, bloviating is a highly effective and recommended strategy.

In the end, SF 1750 handily passed in the House by a vote of 100 Ayes and 34 Nays. I must say I’m a bit surprised that it won by that wide of a margin.

It now gets transmitted to the Senate. If members feel changes are still needed, they can call for a reconciliation in a conference committee). While Rep. Bahner calls this a victory for homeowners, we would tend to call it a victory for politicians. This bill is ill timed — and unnecessary.