Status of Condominium Association Manager Certification Sunrise Review

On April 22, 2005, I reported on a Hearing on the resolution for sunrise review of mandatory condominium association manager certification. The resolution passed out of committee, was approved by the Senate. Since the resolution was previously approved by the House, the resolution is adopted.

HCR 204 Under Hawaii law, before the state can implement a new scheme regulating a profession, it must first have the Auditor conduct a sunrise review. A sunrise review is a study evaluating the need for the regulation of the profession.

This resolution would direct the Auditor to conduct a sunrise review of condominium association managers based on a bill introduced in 2003. SB 1454 contemplated a scheme for certification of condominium association managers. Under the bill, the Real Estate Commission would be authorized to designate an entity to certify condominium association managers. Under the bill, certain condominium association managers would be grandfathered. I believe that the only certification program for community association managers is the Certified Manager of Community Associations® (CMCA®) which is offered by the National Board of Certification for Community Association Managers (NBC-CAM).

At this point, however, all that the resolution would do is direct the Legislative Auditor to conduct a sunrise review. After the review, the legislature would need to consider whether it would approve a bill mandating certification of condominium association managers.