Almost half of Colorado's population is estimated to live in communities governed by a homeowners association, which are often met with frustration related to the fees they charge.A bill that has passed out of committees in both chambers of the Colorado State Capitol, House Bill 26-1099, aims to create greater transparency for homeowners when it comes to how much HOA fees will cost to maintain the properties in the future.We have to understand what those costs are going to be up in the future, so we can better plan to actually address those costs," said State Rep. Brianna Titone, D District 27, who is one of the prime sponsors of the legislation. "You can't avoid getting into an HOA these days. They're everywhere.No one testified in opposition to the proposal in the Senate Local Government and Housing Committee on Thursday, where HB26-1099 passed on a 5-2 vote.However, Titone said the bill has been watered down since it was first introduced."I want the bill to do more," Titone said. Read more of Denver7's stories on Colorado politics hereThe legislation would require a developer or builder to complete a reserve study, which examines the projected costs of maintaining the community over the next 30 years, before control is handed over to an HOA. It would only apply to new HOAs.Originally, the proposal required a reserve study be done prior to the sale of the first unit, and mandated developers or builders pay the HOA 1.5% of the amount needed to fund the future costs."I don't want builders to build these vanity things to just put additional costs on housing, when housing is not affordable as it is. So, the point was to try to get the developers to do it before they even sell the first unit," Titone said. "What the bill actually does now is just say, you have to have a reserve study when you hand the community over to the new board. So, a lot of what the bill had intended to do to help people save money is not really there anymore, unfortunately.Titone saw the impact of increasing fees for maintenance when she served on the Westwood Villas HOA. Now, the president of that West Arvada HOA is Lynn Clemens.Clemens told Denver7 that a reserve study showed they ought to raise the monthly HOA fees by $100."They were in shock. I was in shock. I wasn't prepared, because many people who live here are on a fixed income. Once you get to be a senior citizen, you're on a fixed income, and it's just a shock to raise the fees that much," Clemens said. I did it in a gradual way, and we just explained to everyone that we weren't going to do it right away. We were going to do it slowly.The reserve funding has been beneficial for the community, which had to paint the buildings within the last few years.When you have a reserve account, then the money that is in the reserve account will go to paying for any of these upkeep things that are big ticket items, basically," Clemens explained. "People don't want to think about the future 10, 15, 20, 30, years ahead of time the reserve study will go into that, what those costs will be projected to be.HB26-1099 passed out of the Senate committee without any changes being made to the legislation. It moves to consideration by the Committee of the Whole next, and if there are no amendments made there, then it heads to Gov. Jared Polis for final approval. ...read more read less