Texas State Representative Ruth Jones McClendon files outstanding bill – HB1686
The bill would effectively ban the use of mandatory arbitration agreements in contracts for homes or home repairs, require all builders to be registered with TRCC and to carry insurance.  The bill would also regulate home improvement contractors for any repairs costing more than $2,500 and much more...  Read responses to bill and add your comments

ABC 13 Houston Reports - One bill would remove binding arbitration clauses from new home contracts
When Cohn learned about the problems she says she called her builder, but the builder would not fix the house. Cohn then learned she could take her case before the Texas Residential Construction Commission, but discovered the TRCC had little power to force the builder to make repairs. "TRCC from what I experienced and have heard so far is their hands are really tied," Cohn lamented. But that may change soon. The state legislature is considering several bills that would strengthen the TRCC. One bill would remove binding arbitration clauses from new home contracts and create a fund to pay homeowners for claims when builders can't. The TRCC would recoup the money from a builder's insurer.

Did Iraq contractor fleece American taxpayers?
New revelations have emerged about how tens of millions of taxpayer dollars have been wasted in Iraq. A new report by government watchdogs singles out a big American contractor — Parsons — for shoddy work. Investigators charge that Parsons managed to turn a flagship project to help train Iraqi police into a hall of horrors using taxpayer money...the American construction company turned it into a disaster from the start: incomplete and substandard designs, shoddy construction and no real quality control. "This is the worst project that my inspectors have visited," says Stuart Bowen, inspector general for Iraq.

DOJ Launches KB Home Stock Options Probe
The Department of Justice has launched a probe into the handling of stock options at KB Home, one of the nation's largest homebuilders, although it is not targeting the company directly, KB Home said Friday. As part of its inquiry, the Justice Department is interviewing current and former executives of KB Home, a company spokesman said. The company last month acknowledged that the Securities and Exchange Commission had launched a formal investigation into its options practices.

Texas State Representative Ruth Jones McClendon files outstanding bill – HB1686
The bill would effectively ban the use of mandatory arbitration agreements in contracts for homes or home repairs, require all builders to be registered with TRCC and to carry insurance.  The bill would also regulate home improvement contractors for any repairs costing more than $2,500 and much more...  Read responses to bill and add your comments

Press Release - Bills Would Protect Homeowners from Shoddy Construction
AUSTIN – Representatives Jessica Farrar and David Liebowitz have filed the first two bills intended to amend the Texas Residential Construction Commission (TRCC) in the upcoming 2007 Legislative Session.  Since its creation in 2003, the TRCC has repeatedly come under fire for its inability to successfully assist homeowners in resolving home construction defects, and for the lack of enforcement powers to make builders comply with the conclusions of the commission. 
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