Board won't share history of rule making with returning board member

I have recently started my second non-contiguous stint as a board member with our HOA. A number of rules and policies do not make sense to myself and numerous homeowners I have spoken with. I have asked the other board members for some background on these rules/policies (e.g. how they came to be the way they are) to help fill in the blanks in my knowledge base. Yet the other board members are less than forthcoming. What recourses do I have?

Where where these filed? Do you have the latest copy? I would look at the records of the filing of these records. Plus any notes that may exist in the archives. Is there a reason why you and the rest of the board can't change them?

So, Paul, these are new/different rules than those you fully understood during your first service as a director?

The HOA (or COA?) must have documentation, right?

Paul,

Creation of Rules is different in California than many other states. Board are the body that create rules, as long as they are reasonable and have some legal basis that are derived from the CCRs. Prior to voting to implement new rules they must be distributed to all owners who then have 28 days (used to be 30) to comment on the new rule(s). If any changes or additions are made, the process starts all over. Once a rules is adopted, the association has 15 days to re-dist=ibute the newly adopted rules.

Now I keep an excel spreadsheet of when rules were adopted, the minutes they were proposed and the minute they were adopted. I include the dates when documents were distributed to owners. The cover sheet of the rules will include when rules were created and when they were updated. Rules in California are not required to be recorded but they can. If an association does record them, the packet should also include the minutes in whech they were formally adopted for reference purposes.