On April 7, 2017, Gov. Jerry Brown issued executive order B-40-17, formally ending the drought emergency. The order is not only confirmation of good news for California but also immediately changes the applicability of two important statutes in the Davis-Stirling Common Interest Development Act. The Declaration of Drought Emergency was issued by Brown on Jan. 17, 2014, the culmination of several water conservation orders. Shortly after that declaration, the California legislature swiftly passed emergency legislation, adding certain protections to the Davis-Stirling Act regarding water conservation. Civil Code 4735(c) prohibited associations from fining or assessing an owner who let their yard “go brown” by not watering it during a declared state of drought emergency. Now that the statewide emergency declaration is rescinded, the statewide prohibition against enforcing landscape maintenance obligations against owners who refused to water their yards also has ended. This section still may apply if a local jurisdiction (city or county) has its own declaration of drought emergency still in place, so managers and boards would be well advised to check with their local jurisdiction for any such local declaration. Civil Code 4736 rendered…