Bill was introduced in Sep/25, but I only got a whiff of it in the last couple of weeks
See House Bill HB1878: https://fastdemocracy.com/bill-search/pa/2025-2026/bills/PAB00038963/
Are there any other states/countries taking similar initiatives?
Summary:
Pennsylvania homeowners deserve the right to choose native plant species they desire for landscaping around their homes. However, work is needed to remove bottlenecks for homeowners to select native vegetation for their desired landscaping.
This legislation will prevent homeowners associations (HOAs) from unreasonably prohibiting the use of native plants for landscaping on private property. This ensures homeowners residing within an HOA the same ability to choose native landscaping as other homeowners.
Native plants provide many beneficial functions that many homeowners desire. These include being aesthetically pleasing and providing habitat for pollinators while being adapted to the site and typically requiring lower maintenance than non-native plants. [...]
That's not a contradiction. HOAs suck but they're a contractual relationship that you enter voluntarily.
"voluntarily"
Somehow I've managed to avoid being forced to buy a house at gunpoint.
and you've never run afoul of an HOA in a property you rent? my first time getting an HOA infraction was in an apartment i was renting for $400 a month because i put my clothes out on a drying wrack while i was at work because i couldn't afford to run the drier
it's just that any development built after Clinton requires you to enter that contract or the bank won't approve your loan
Which is needed in developments since the houses are closer together and it just takes one person turning their front yard into a used car lot to drive down property values and annoy everyone else.
Sane countries handle this with local public authorities.
If your garden becomes a tip in the UK the council will step in
Your example of a sane country is the UK? One of the largest surveillance states in the world...
What's that got to do with HOAs?
A. Thats what zoning board is for.
B. If you dont want bad neighbors, dont buy near neighbors
If you don't want an HOA don't buy in an HOA.
somehow my point has been again lost so let me state it more clearly this time:
most people subject to HOAs are so because being picky about housing is a privilege it's rare to have access to
Oh no, not the poor upper middle class homeowners who were forced to buy in a neighborhood that has a strict HOA whose primary purpose is to keep property values high.
and the lower middle class homeowners, and the lower class renters. any development after around '98. you will deal with an HOA.
yes. HOAs primarily exist to serve capital, but they don't always act as rules enforcement against the homeowner. often who gets the rules enforced against them is someone who picked that neighborhood based on it was what they could afford near enough their work for their whole life to be affordable.