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Monday, 25 April 2005 |
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IS YOUR STATE NEXT?
ATTENTION: NEW HOMEBUYER LEGISLATION MAY BE COMING TO YOUR STATE SOON!
Texas Monthly - Home Buyer Beware
Texas
Observer - The Agency that Bob Perry Built
TRCC & Texas A&M Scandal Brewing
Construction Science Department gets $40,000 to draft TRCC Substandard Standards
Has the close association of Texas Home Building Industry with Texas A&M begun to
tarnish the time honored reputation of the University?
Texas & New Jersey follow parallel paths and common troubles
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Texas A&M University
Texas A&M Influence
Construction Science Department gets $40,000 to draft "Substandard Standards"
"The Texas Residential Construction Commission on Jan. 12 adopted a set of standards that will — for the first time in Texas — detail how the components of a newly built home should perform under warranty. Faculty from the Department of Construction Science at Texas A&M's College of Architecture assisted with the development and review of the new standards…" Texas A&M article...Joe Horlen is the assistant professor of the Construction Science Department and co-principal investigator of the project. Debra Ellis is a department lecturer who served with Horlen as co-principal investigator on the A&M residential standards team. Both attorneys that headed the project specialize in Business Risk Management, are responsible for writing the drafts and recommendations that were eventually adopted as the State Building Standards and Statutory Limited Warranty. See report: Standards tarnishing the image of a fine University
Texas A&M’s First Draft:
Shameful Warranty/Builder Disclaimer and Standards attributed to Texas A&M. The first draft recommnded by A&M looks very similar in format and language to a KB Home Warranty.
See report:TRCC Proposed State Limited Warranties/Standards And Unreasonable Exclusions
New Jersey Influence
Texas & New Jersey follow parallel paths and common troubles
New Jersey’s corrupted system influenced creation of Texas TRCC
Texas implemented a similar program that failed in New Jersey. In 2003 Texas Legislators established the Texas Residential Construction Commission (TRCC) fashioned after the New Jersey State Department of Community Affairs (DCA), a program which was the only one of its kind for years until Texas adopted a similar program. Ironically while Texas was creating TRCC, the New Jersey’s DCA was embroiled in an investigation of waste, fraud, shoddy workmanship and documented structural flaws in new home construction across the state.
Texas consumers continue to protest the state’s lack of consumer protection and the failure of TRCC to safeguard the interest of new homebuyers. New Jersey on the other hand, after an exhaustive investigation, state official’s issued a report that recommends sweeping changes and a New Home Lemon Law. See New Jersey: New Jersey Investigates TRCC & Texas A&M Scandal Brewing
Building Industry Influence
How the Home Building Industry created the Texas
Residential Construction Commission
Texas Observer - Capitol Offenses
The Agency that Bob Perry Built
For nearly a decade, homebuilders had steadily eroded consumer rights in Texas: Buyers who moved into brand-new houses and found cracked foundations and leaky roofs had little recourse. Some couldn’t file a lawsuit even if they wanted. They had signed housing contracts that forced them to resolve complaints through binding arbitration hearings notorious for favoring builders... Homebuilders are some of the state’s heftiest contributors to political campaigns. Their interests so dominate the TRCC that the new agency is little more than a tool to help the industry win disputes against consumers...Since 2001, the industry has donated more than $8.9 million to candidates, parties, and political action committees, according to an analysis by the campaign watchdog group Campaigns for People. That includes $744,562 to Gov. Rick Perry... Read more...
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The Residential Construction Liability Act and the New Residential Construction Commission
An in-depth look at the Texas Residential Construction Commission Act (Builder Right-to-Repair) and amendments to the Residential Construction Liability Act. Presented by: Cheryl C. Turner ... The laudatory words of the RCLA’s proponents belie their intent to create blatant special interest legislation that would protect good and bad builders alike...TRCC - Manage a mandatory pre-suit, state-sponsored inspection and "dispute resolution" process for claims between a homeowner and contractor. The process is a prerequisite to filing a lawsuit or demand for arbitration..."Dispute resolution" is surrounded by quotation marks in this article and with good reason: the Commission does not resolve disputes between homeowners and contractors. PDF/Adobe Acrobat
State Affairs House Committee to regulate homebuilders
Texas Residential Construction Commission was created by the Homebuilding Industry and serves the Industry
More Industry Influence
Unregulated Texas Homebuilding Industry Fact Sheet and Proposed State Limited Warranties/Standards
August 8, 2004
The homebuilding industry can continue to fool the people with shoddy building practices most of the time but not all of the people, no matter the shade of the lipstick on TRCC. Bad will be bad, no matter the cosmetic fix.
See TRCC Proposed State Limited Warranties/Standards And Unreasonable Exclusions
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Audacious Quote of the Year:
Toy Wood, CEO of the Greater Houston Builders Association boosting.
"And although our reasons for creating the TRCC and the various associated processes were very worthy, we were creating another bureaucracy," she wrote. "While we maintain control of the commission, we must be just as vigilant with the TRCC as we are with any other agency or commission." Toy Wood
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