A message from Janet Ahmad - Texas House State Affairs Committee Holds Home Lemon Law Hearing

A message from Janet Ahmad
Texas House State Affairs Committee Holds Home Lemon Law Hearing
On Monday, March 19, 2007 the House State Affairs will hear testimony on 12 consumer protection bills.  Texas is the first State in the nation to introduce and to hear public testimony a Home Lemon Law.  The Home Lemon Law if passed would give an incentive to builders to build a home right the first time or be forced to buy a house back if the builder failed to make repairs.
 
After years of failed attempt to rein in the steady stream of complaints regarding shoddy homebuilding, the committee will consider how to solve the chronic problem.  One proposed bill if passed would abolish the troubled Texas Residential Construction Commission (TRCC).  Other bills would beef up registration requirements for builders by demonstrating knowledge and financial responsibility and give enforcement powers to the TRCC.

Don’t miss the opportunity to testify
Time: 2:00 PM or upon final adjournment of the House
Place: Texas Capitol Extension Hearing Room E2.108
If you can not attend please send your comments to Committee Members.

Please CC: me at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it and I will be happy to print them out and hand deliver them as well.

Two Model Binding Arbitration Bills were also filed
Leveling the Arbitration Playing Field for Consumers Read more...

This weeks news events are hugely valuable toward exposing the enormity of shoddy homebuilding practices.  Proposed legislative changes and media attention and criminal prosecution of building contractors send a message of hope to many.   If passed in Texas the Home Lemon Law and binding arbitration reforms could spread across the county.    

Don’t miss these two Outstanding Articles:
Outrageous Injustice - Homeowner convicted for reporting Builder to TRCC & the Better Business Bureau
KB & Lennar to build on site of the worst nuclear meltdown in American history

Together we have and will continue to make a difference!  Help us to help you by keeping in touch.

Please take a few minutes to post your comments on the H O B B   F o r u m  and write your elected officials.  Your participation is vital.

Thank you,
Janet Ahmad, President
HomeOwners for Better Building
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NEWS UPDATES:

Homeowner convicted for reporting Builder to TRCC & the Better Business Bureau

Is There Justice for Homeowners in Fannin County?
The Assistant DA produced a list of “crimes and bad acts” of which the Egerts allegedly were guilty. One of these “crimes or bad acts” was that “... the Defendants threatened to and did falsely report the Complainants to the Texas Residential Construction Commission....” --the agency that the Attorney General’s Office recommended the Egerts contact. Without being allowed to produce evidence such as business letters, which showed the professional manner in which they attempted  to communicate with Fines and Leggett and would have countered much of Leggett’s testimony in court, the Egerts were subsequently found guilty of telephone harassment...Fines testified under oath that he had indeed taken “at least up to $41,000” of their money. He could not be accurate concerning the amount, he said during the trial, because he kept “no books or records” of any kind. Read more...

Texas House State Affairs Committee to Hearing on Home Lemon Law
Texas House State Affairs Hearing on Home Lemon Law, First in Nation to be Considered
Monday, March 19, 2007 the House State Affairs will hear testimony on 12 bills.  One is the Home Lemon Law, which would give an incentive to build a home right the first time or be forced to buy a house back if the builder failed to make repairs.  The committee will consider how to solve the chronic problem of substandard building in Texas . One bill if passed would abolish the troubled Texas Residential Construction Commission (TRCC).  Other bills would beef up registration requirements for builders to demonstrate knowledge and financial responsibility and give enforcement powers to the TRCC. Read more...

Two Binding Arbitration Bills Filed
Leveling the Arbitration Playing Field for Consumers
Consumers and state legislators are quite concerned about these practices, but there is an incorrect perception that states can do little about this because of the preemptive effect of the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) and other federal law.  This model law – developed by the National Consumer Law Center – avoids such preemption and significantly limits abuses in this area.  The model demonstrates that states have broad authority to regulate such abuses, despite the preemptive effect of the FAA. Read more...

KB & Lennar to build on site of the worst nuclear meltdown in American history
Dust in the Wind - Simi Valley still looking for answers about Runkle Canyon radiation
Most impressively, these newly minted, mostly Republican activists convinced the city to take a fresh look at the Runkle Canyon EIR that they say ignores the obvious: the adjacent Rocketdyne facility may have polluted the place with radiation. The residents contend that more comprehensive tests of the soil must be done before construction commences. Home building giants KB Homes and Lennar plan to construct hundreds of homes about one-and-a-half miles away from the infamously polluted Santa Susana Field Laboratory, commonly known as Rocketdyne, site of the worst nuclear meltdown in American history. Beginning in the late 1940s, the lab conducted over 30,000 rocket engine tests and developed experimental nuclear reactors, one of which partially melted down in 1959 releasing hundreds of times more radiation than Three Mile Island did in 1979. Rocketdyne’s legacy has been grave chemical and radiological contamination. Read more...

Amazing: Just When We Think We've Heard It All
See New Community Website Developed to protest KB Home and Lennar
Home building giants KB Homes and Lennar plan to construct hundreds of homes about one-and-a-half miles away from the infamously polluted Santa Susana Field Laboratory, commonly known as Rocketdyne, site of the worst nuclear meltdown in American history. Beginning in the late 1940s, the lab conducted over 30,000 rocket engine tests and developed experimental nuclear reactors, one of which partially melted down in 1959 releasing hundreds of times more radiation than Three Mile Island did in 1979. Rocketdyne’s legacy has been grave chemical and radiological contamination. StopRunkledyne.com

KB & Lennar Building on Toxic Soil? 46 times higher?
Building on Toxic Soil?
What happens when a big developer wants to build hundreds of homes within the shadow of Rocketdyne? When the radiation readings in the soil are high and the developer and City of Simi Valley discount them in their drive to build a new neighborhood in Runkle Canyon, controversy happens. Runkle Canyon has repeatedly tested high for the leukemia-causing radionuclide strontium-90 (Sr-90), which residents contend came from Rocketdyne. In 1999, a lab hired by a former developer sampled Runkle’s dirt and found that it averaged six times the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) “preliminary remediation goal” for Sr-90, a level that is presumed safe for residential development and nearly 46 times above the typical EPA background level for strontium-90 in the area. Read more...

28 Unlicensed Contractors Arrested
Unlicensed Contractors Targeted In Escondido Sting
Over two dozen unlicensed operators were arrested in Escondido this week as result of a statewide undercover sting targeting illegal home construction, officials said. During operation "California Blitz" the 28 operators were invited to a home and bid over $500 on various phony construction projects, ranging from painting and tile work to landscaping, exterior lighting and masonry. The contractors were taken into custody and given notice to appear before a Superior Court judge to answer to misdemeanor charges of contracting without a license, as well as illegal advertising in some cases. They face a maximum of six months in jail or a $1,000 fine for the first offense. A second offense means a mandatory 90-day jail sentence. Read more...

2 Unlicensed Contractors Convicted
Unlicensed contractors convicted
Two local residents were convicted of contracting without a license in two separate cases last month, according to the district attorney's office. Manuel Martinez, 50, of Camarillo contracted with a homeowner in Somis to do home improvement and additions. Martinez claimed to have a contracting license but gave the homeowner the license number of another, legitimate contractor. After receiving more than $36,000 from the victim, Martinez abandoned the job and refused to refund the money. Roy Dale Dickerson, 55, of Thousand Oaks contracted with a homeowner in Simi Valley to build a swimming pool complex. Dickerson was paid more than $29,000 but failed to make progress on the pool. The homeowner filed a complaint with the California Contractors' State Licensing Board after Dickerson refused to refund the payments. Dickerson was sentenced Feb. 21 to 15 days in jail and 36 months' probation. He was ordered to pay full restitution. 

Shoddy subdivision- 40 homeowners sue
NewsChannel 3 Investigation: New DHS homes built improperly
The 40 residents in Hacienda Heights filed suit against their homebuilders and their subcontractors, saying the hoes they bought were built in violation of state and local building codes. Fortner also says mold inside the home has now made him so sick that doctors told him he couldn't live there anymore. And he says what's worse of all is that the homebuilders aren't doing anything about it. Read more...

Builder exposed to penalties for illegal immigrants on the jobsite
Builders adjusting to new immigration laws
Since stiffer state immigration laws went into effect earlier this year, the level of fear has risen among those in the local construction industry who worry they could be penalized for illegal immigrants on the jobsite, said Dave Koons, a custom home builder and president of the Summit Home Builders Association. "For me, as a builder who subcontracts a lot of work, I realize that certainly I'm more exposed to the danger of being criminally prosecuted for having unknowingly hired illegal immigrants through a subcontractor, and that would be terrible - but it's not going to strip me of my livelihood," Koons said, adding that some small local subcontractors could lose everything in a similar situation. Read more...

3 sentenced to prison in $1M Builder/Drug Scheme
Jackson resident, others disguised alleged drug money by paying others to send money orders to homebuilder
The main player in an elaborate scheme to disguise more than $1.1 million in cash payments to a Texas homebuilder will spend the next three years in a federal prison. No one knew at the time of Jackson resident Adrian Wilson's arrest the reasoning behind the scheme to disguise the cash payments. "He admitted it was drug money," said Assistant U.S. Attorney Cindy Eldridge. Read more...

Who is Bob Perry and Why Should Voters Care?
What Bob Perry's Politicking Says About Campaign Finance Rules In America
But, Ahmed says she thinks the busloads of elderly lobbyist were in fact brought in, fed breakfast as well as slanted information, educated, by Pro court reform coaches connected to the Texas homebuilder industry about the so-called frivolous lawsuits, in what Ahmed believes was a clear case of smoke and mirrors politics meant to promote tort reform specifically favorable to home builders and developers. Ahmed says the Austin tort reform blitz was organized by the group Texas For Lawsuit Reform (TLR), run by Richard Weekly. Richard Weekly is the brother of another Texas homebuilder/developer, David Weekly. Ahmed and others have also said that the Texas Tort reform efforts were bankrolled by Developer Perry and Weekly's generous financial support for homebuilder friendly legislative, gubernatorial and judicial candidates. Read more...

Code enforcement in county
P&Z to revisit county building codes
The biggest danger in building homes not to code in rural areas is dangerous or improper electrical wiring. The homes not built to standards in the rural areas may also have structural, plumbing or other mechanical problems, Mohave County Planning and Zoning Director Chris Ballard told the commissioners. Improper grading is also another issue, creating excessive dust and dangerous conditions. Some homes are being built on unstable housing pads that have been graded. Builders also sometimes block stream washes after grading, potentially causing flooding for a neighbor. Read more...

Unsafe Housing makes headlines
City regulations target unsafe housing conditions
While unsafe housing hasn't made big headlines recently, the death of a Simi Valley man and injuries to his girlfriend and infant two years ago sparked a political call to action. Whether with a sophisticated, three-agency program like Simi Valley's or a rental inspection program that is awaiting implementation in Moorpark, cities are responding to that call. Read more...

Builder blames everybody but himself
Virginia Beach officials hammer builder over shoddy work
First, Steve Bishard built a house too wide. Then he built a house too tall...On Friday, Bishard answered his critics. He said the mistakes weren't his fault. He blamed engineers and surveyors. He said the board's ire is misplaced Read more...

Older Home Better Built than Brand New
Plaintiffs claim homes poorly constructed, sue for repair costs
John Pinto thought his days of playing Mr. Fix It were over when he sold his 27-year-old house and moved into a brand new subdivision. But months later he discovered what he says was the first of many problems in his new home. An off-kilter bathroom floor sloped downward, measuring an inch higher at one end. Read more...

Trouble Worsening for American Homeowners
As rates soar, 2.2 million Americans risk losing homes this year
In the heady days of the US real estate boom, it seemed like a safe bet to use her house as collateral for a loan. Today, Sharon Edwardsen risks losing her Staten Island, New York home, trapped by spiraling payments. Edwardsen, a 47-year-old assistant optician, was tempted to take out a special high-risk loan targeted at people with low credit ratings. Today her monthly repayments have soared to 2,800 dollars, yet she only takes home 1,600 dollars. She is among 2.2 million people across the US who risk forfeiting their homes by the end of the year as they struggle to meet monthly repayments swollen by rising interest rates, and triggering fears that a financial crisis could sweep US lenders. Read more...

Build Without Environmental Reviews - Why Not?
New Corps of Engineers rules irk environmentalists, builders
The Bush administration will allow some construction of homes, shops, schools, prisons, hospitals and other buildings in flood plains without formal environmental reviews, despite the lessons of Hurricane Katrina...The waivers will apply only to developments that fill in less than 300 feet of a stream or less than a half-acre of wetlands, ponds or other waters. Another part of the regulations, approved in coordination with other federal agencies and the White House, waives the formal environmental reviews entirely for coal companies when they bury or reroute streams with their mining wastes. Read more...