House bill targets builders who fail to repair defects
The Texas House tentatively made it a crime for a builder to fail to register with the state, but rejected an attempt to require contractors to buy back houses with serious defects. The sponsor of House Bill 1038, Rep. Allan Ritter, D-Nederland, said the Texas Residential Construction Commission has had problems...By 83 to 60, the House rejected an amendment to require builders to buy back houses with defects that create a safety hazard or reduce the home's value 5 percent or more if the defect can't be fixed. Rep. David Swinford, R-Dumas, chairman of the House State Affairs Committee, said the amendment would add to the cost of everybody's house, but Rep. Senfronia Thompson, D-Houston, shot back: "I'm not trying to protect unscrupulous builders."

80th LEGISLATURE
House bill targets builders who fail to repair defects
Construction agency would get tools to help protect home buyers.

By Laylan Copelin
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Click-2-Listen
 The Texas House tentatively made it a crime for a builder to fail to register with the state, but rejected an attempt to require contractors to buy back houses with serious defects.

The sponsor of House Bill 1038, Rep. Allan Ritter, D-Nederland, said the Texas Residential Construction Commission has had problems ever since it was created four years ago at the request of builders. The builders wanted an agency to help resolve disputes between them and consumers to prevent lawsuits.

Ritter said the legislation would give the commission more tools to take action against bad builders without burdening the industry.

The 138-1 vote, however, masked sharp divisions on several amendments.

By 83 to 60, the House rejected an amendment to require builders to buy back houses with defects that create a safety hazard or reduce the home's value 5 percent or more if the defect can't be fixed.

Rep. David Swinford, R-Dumas, chairman of the House State Affairs Committee, said the amendment would add to the cost of everybody's house, but Rep. Senfronia Thompson, D-Houston, shot back: "I'm not trying to protect unscrupulous builders."

The House also rejected an amendment to increase the number of public-interest members on the construction commission.

On a 92-to-47 vote, the House refused to make the state dispute resolution system voluntary for homeowners, after Ritter said it would gut the purpose of the commission.

In its first four years, the commission has had trouble getting some builders to register. Also, although homeowners won more than 90 percent of their complaints, the commission has had no way to force a builder to make repairs.

The legislation tries to address those problems.

It gives the commission more authority to discipline builders who don't register; it makes failure to register a Class A misdemeanor, with a penalty of up to one year in jail. The bill requires every builder to take five hours of continuing education each year.

The legislation also gives the commission more authority to discipline builders who fail to repair a defect. The commission can levy up to $100,000 in fines if a builder defrauds a homeowner, and the agency can order the builder to stop constructing houses.

Rep. Craig Eiland, D-Galveston, objected, saying the commission couldn't enforce those penalties until a builder exhausted his appeals through the courts.

"A builder commits fraud (and) the TRCC agrees the builder stole money from a homeowner," Eiland said, "but the commission can't do anything" until the builder exhausts his legal appeals.

"I can't imagine a lot of people who are defrauding people will want to take it to court," Ritter said.

http://www.statesman.com/business/content/business/stories/other/04/25/25trcc.html