THE POWER OF CAI’s POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEES PAUL RAETSCH Horizons at Woods Landing
CAI PAC is a political action committee formed to support the interests of common interest communities (CIC). Both the Keystone and New Jersey CAI Chapters have a PAC to advance the interests of the chapters in Harrisburg or Trenton, respectively.
Why contribute to a CAI PAC? Because “We the People” won! A CAI PAC NJ & NJ LAC Success Story With the overwhelming support of CAI members and residents of CICs in New Jersey, the New Jersey Legislative Action Committee (NJ LAC) was able to accomplish a daunting task: enactment of a law protecting CICs from Covid related lawsuits. Daunting first, because of the odds. This legislative session in New Jersey saw 10,853 bills introduced, 540 passed, and only 336 (3.1%) signed by Governor Murphy, one of which was an immunity bill.
Also daunting? The majority party in the legislature and the governor were reported to be firmly opposed to immunity. Other than an early bill to protect health care workers (now proposed to be repealed), no other immunity bill even had a hearing.
But, the problem of community associations not opening amenities another year demanded the LAC’s attention. NJ LAC and its lobbyist, Michele Jaker of the MBI firm, worked the halls of the State Capitol in Trenton on our behalf and residents of New Jersey’s CICs spoke up loudly.
In November 2020, Assemblymen Mazzeo and Armato from Atlantic County heard my community’s plea for relief and introduced A4979.
Needing a companion bill in the Senate, we participated in a Zoom call with Senate President Sweeney. We discussed that 84% of CICs in New Jersey did not open pools last summer. He politely listened to our plea, and mentioned that his first elected office
was to his HOA board; but, firmly informed us that the word “immunity” was “difficult” for his caucus and thus would be a challenge. However, I’m certain he recognized the uniqueness of our problem and his stance softened.
In LAC meetings I heard, “chance of passage is slim at best,” and ‘it’s not going anywhere.” However, Senator Linda Greenstein, who has a several large CICs in her district, was aware of the problem and in April, she introduced S3584.
Now, with companion bills, on April 2 NJ LAC sent a Call for Action to all CAI members in NJ. It is an automated email generator which sends a personal request to support the bills to Assembly members and Senators based on the sender’s address. Thousands of emails were sent. On June 3 S3584 passed the Senate 35-0.
The next obstacle was educating Assembly leadership and working to address the Speaker’s concerns which the sponsors were able to address through amendments.
Knowing Governor Murphy was not looking favorably on immunity legislation, another Call for Action was sent on June 9, aimed at informing the Governor of strong public support for the bill and educating him on the nuance of this legislation.
On June 24, the Assembly passed the bill, 75-0, the Senate voted 35-0 to concur with it on June 30, and Governor Murphy signed the bill July 1.
Most important to its success was the grassroots campaign of CAI members and CIC residents notifying members of the New Jersey legislature and the Governor of how important it was to residents throughout the state. A total of 6,272 advocates sent 25,207 emails to legislators for the campaigns on behalf of the bill. Our lobbyist told me, “Your communities were not only emailing,
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they were also making phone calls, talking to the representatives at events, and getting their boards involved. It was the combination of all those things that really made your voices heard.”
It is also important to highlight the role that CAI PAC and our contributions played in helping set the stage for this legislative victory. The New Jersey and Pennsylvania PACs are independent IRS 527 organizations which enable contributions to our elected officials who support the CAI Chapters’ legislative priorities. They receive no funding from CAI or from your CAI membership fees.
CAI PACs have allowed members to have a strong presence at fundraising events for key legislators, enabling us to personally discuss the importance of our communities in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Through your contributions to CAI PACs, we are able to gain access to key decision makers in Harrisburg and Trenton and lend our financial support to our friends in those legislatures who repeatedly stand with CAI.
So when you receive requests for contributions to the CAI PACs or if the New Jersey or Keystone Chapter LAC asks you take action and call your elected officials, remember these are all important tools in our advocacy toolbox that help us get the attention of lawmakers on your behalf. CAI-PACs are funded solely by private contributions.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR Paul Raestch is former Board President at Horizons at Woods Landing, an age restricted single family home community in Mays Landing. Paul additionally serves as a delegate to the NJ LAC, member of Keystone CAI’s New Jersey Regional Council, member of Keystone CAI’s Homeowner Leaders committee, and is a dues paying member of both CAI’s Keystone and New Jersey chapters.
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