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Lawmakers say builders are stacking dispute panel
08/27/2004
Adolfo Pesquera
Express-News Business Writer
AUSTIN — A state Senate committee looking into arbitration reform
had sharp criticism for the heads of the Texas Residential Construction
Commission and demanded the director take steps to provide consumer
and minority representation on its arbitration task force.
The Senate Jurisprudence Committee's demand Wednesday that the state
commission's arbitration task force membership be reconfigured comes
late in the process.
TRCC Executive Director Stephen Thomas protested that a substantial
portion of the task force's work is complete.
The task force serves under the state commission given power to
regulate homebuilders. It was assembled last fall and its report
is due in December. Time is of the essence, Thomas said, and finding
people willing to serve at this stage would be difficult.
But Sen. Robert Duncan, R-Lubbock, said the task force's membership
was so heavily biased in favor of homebuilders that its report would
have no credibility.
Arbitration, a substitute to court action, is almost universally
mandated in home sales contracts. It is sometimes criticized as more
advantageous for builders than homeowners.
At Wednesday's hearing, Thomas tried to emphasize the task force's
role was to collect information about arbitration in construction
defect disputes.
Duncan, who wrote the bill creating the commission, countered that
the legislation also stated the arbitration task force plays an advisory
role.
Thomas acknowledged that he may have "overstated" the research role
and that it had "some advisory input."
"Not some," Duncan said. "That is what it's supposed to do. I helped
put that in there."
Duncan , Sen. Royce West, D-Dallas, and Sen. Jeff Wentworth, R-San
Antonio, each criticized Thomas and Texas Association of Builders
president and commission member Bobby Bowling for pushing through
a set of construction standards that appear biased in favor of builders.
Joe Cobarruvias, Texas chapter president of Homeowners Against Deficient
Dwellings, complained that he and the HADD membership repeatedly
tried to get appointments to the commission and the arbitration task
force, only to be ignored.
Wentworth noted that a consumer perspective was lacking not just
on the arbitration task force but on the commission, which is composed
of four homebuilders, an engineer, building inspector, construction
law attorney, cable company owner and the head of a land title company.
The 2003 legislation creating the commission called for three members
to be of the general public, and the senators said it was their understanding
that those members would be consumer advocates.
Duncan reminded Thomas that while members are appointed by the governor,
they also serve at the "advice and consent" of the Senate. He said
he was not impressed with the commission and declared it appeared
to be operating outside the spirit of the law.
"Somebody is going to want to challenge this (commission) at some
point in time," Duncan said, "and if you want it to pass scrutiny,
you would want it to be more representative."
Under questioning by West, Thomas acknowledged the commission was
also predominantly white and male.
"Are there any Hispanics?" West asked.
"Three," Thomas answered.
"Any African Americans?" West asked.
"No," Thomas said.
Making reference to the coming 2005 legislative session, West then
snapped, "I'll see you in January."
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