The Davis-Stirling Common Interest Development Act Is Celebrating Its 30-Year Anniversary: Let’s Celebrate

The following is an excerpt from Community Association Institute’s California Legislative Action Committee’s article, the full text of which can be found here. SwedelsonGottlieb attorney Brian Moreno, Esq. authored the article.

Much has changed over the last 30 years. In 1985, the Dow Jones industrial average was at 1500. The Internet’s domain name system was created, and its first domain name was registered. The cost of a gallon of gas was 93 cents. Ronald Reagan was our President. The world was a different place. In 2015, the Dow Jones Industrial Average is now at about 18,000, there are hundreds of millions of active Internet domain names, and the cost of a gallon of gas is… well, that subject is complicated. More significant to the common interest development (“CID”) industry, the Davis-Stirling Common Interest Development Act, known as the Act, was born 30 years ago.

Remarkably, as signed into law by Governor George Deukmejianin on September 18, 1985, the original Davis-Stirling Act was only 25 pages long. It was a whole lot different than it is today. The original Davis-Stirling Act provided a framework that specifies the various rights and responsibilities of all parties involved with common interest developments. The original Act was amended and revised and added to over 50 times until it was completely redone and reorganized. The Act is now over 100 pages long. For the most part, those additional pages represent the countless hours of collaboration, analysis, research and work that our industry professionals have contributed to improving an already comprehensive and inclusive statutory scheme.