So as you now know, Florida condominium law is amended to make it a crime for board members to:
- forge a ballot envelope or voting certificate used in a condominium association election; and
- destroy official records or refuse to allow inspection or copying of an official record of a condominium association… in furtherance of any crime.
There was a lot of talk this legislative session that these new laws would scare volunteer board members from running for the board out of fear of now facing criminal prosecution. I just don’t get it.
Unless a director plans on forging or destroying ballots or deliberately blocking an owner’s access to records in order to cover up a crime, I just don’t understand why they would be frightened from now running for or serving on the board.
News flash……….it is also illegal to use the association’s funds as your personal piggy bank. If you do, you will face arrest and possible incarceration. That has always been the law and certainly that hasn’t deterred people from running.
Last I checked, attorneys can get arrested and incarcerated for stealing from their trust accounts. Doctors can get arrested for Medicare fraud. Yet, the medical schools and law schools are packed.
People who have no intention of breaking the law should not be deterred from running for the board. Instead, they should be happy that tampering with condo elections is now a crime. They should be happy that directors who hide records to conceal a crime may have time to think about it from their prison cell.
People who want their livelihood or profession to be respected are not scared or dissuaded when regulations are put in place that require them to be professional and maintain certain standards of professional conduct. On the contrary, those standards dignify the profession and should be welcomed by those who enter the profession with only the very best of intentions.
Who agrees? Or did some of you already resign?
