Senate Bill 191 is designed to block HOAs from requiring houses to have green lawns during a drought.
Sponsored by Sen. Wayne Harper, who says that even with Utah facing an ongoing drought and the continuous shrinking of the Great Salt Lake, he keeps hearing homeowners complain about strict HOA requirements. Harper says that homeowners have been fined by their HOAs for having yellow spots in their lawns and through this bill, those fines can’t be placed on homeowners trying to conserve water.
During Friday’s Senate Business & Labor Committee, Harper described SB191 as a bill of “common sense” and that by passing it, it sends the message that “we support conservation.”
In recent years, the Utah legislature has explored different options banning HOAs from requiring turf, with some communities restricting the usage of non-functional turf in future developments of housing. This year, the legislature has provided incentives for getting rid of grass, but have resisted outright banning nonfunctional turf.
SB191 earned a unanimous vote from the committee and will move onto the full Senate for a vote.
