Brown signs bill reversing bans on clotheslines

California is now a “right to dry” state after Gov. Jerry Brown signed a bill Thursday restricting homeowners associations from banning clotheslines, which the groups deemed unsightly additions to neighborhoods.

Assemblywoman Patty López (D-San Fernando) announced Brown signed her bill, AB 1448, which will allow line drying for people once restricted by their property management organizations.

"Growing up, my family and many of my neighbors used clotheslines as the way to dry their clothes and other laundry,” López said in a statement. “Californians can now do their part for the environment while saving money on their electric bill by using the sunlight to dry their laundry.”

The bill, titled “Personal energy conservation; real property restrictions” is meant to serve as a victory to conservationists and frugal Californians alike by allowing them to save money and energy.

Now, the law states landlords must allow tenants to air-dry their clothes in their own backyard if they wish, as long as “the clothesline or drying rack will not interfere with the maintenance of the rental property and the use of the clothesline or drying rack does not violate reasonable time or location restrictions imposed by the landlord.”

The law was long-awaited in a state with a history of energy issues. At the height of the 2001 energy crisis, conservationists such as Mindy Spatt, spokeswoman for The Utility Reform Network, which also backed the bill, scratched their heads in disbelief as associations continued to prioritize aesthetics. At that time, the majority of the 35,000 homeowners associations in the state banned tenants from drying their clothes in the sunlight.

Spatt said the battle has still carried on today.

“There were tenants in Chinatown — right here in San Francisco — that were facing eviction for line drying,” she said. “It actually is a serious issue.”

She called it “unconscionable” that a progressive state would allow homeowners associations to shun such a cost-effective, energy-saving tool.

“This is a way that we can extend benefits of solar power,” Spatt said. “It’s shocking that in a state like ours, that does have abundant sunshine, that people don’t use clotheslines.”

California joins Florida, Maine, Utah, Vermont, Colorado and Hawaii as air-dry positive states.