Protecting Homeowners in 2010! 09/20/2010
Because of the extensive and expensive remediation that my husband and I had to do on our under ten-year-old home, I have been researching what is available to protect homeowners from residential construction defects and stumbled upon Pennsylvania House Bill No. 1467 [HB 1467]. On May 2, 2005, HB 1467 (Session of 2005, Printer’s No. 3588 – Prior Printer’s Nos. 1785, 2559, 3261, 3558, and 3577) was introduced into the General Assembly of Pennsylvania by T. Stevenson, Dally, Argall, Baldwinn, Barrar, Boyd, Bunt, Caltagirone, Cappelli, Clymer, Creighton, Denlinger, Fairchild, Gergely, Gillespie, Gingrich, Gress, Hanna, Herman, Hutchinson, Killion, Kotik, LaGrotta, Leh, Lescovitz, Levdansky, Mackereth, Mann, Micozzie, R. Miller, Mustio, Nailor, Payne, Petronee, Phillips, Reed, Roberts, Ross, Rubley, Saylor, Schroder, Semmel, B. Smith, Solobay, Sonney, R. Stevenson, E.Z. Taylor, Tigue, True, Turzai, Walko, Wilt, Geist, McGill, Frankel, Buxton, Reichley, Pyle, and Allen. HB 1467 was an Act “Providing for dispute resolution procedures relating to residential construction defects between contractors and homeowners or members of associations.” Click this link to read the bill: http://www2.legis.state.pa.us/WU01/LI/BI/BT/2005/0/HB1467P3588.pdf. Jeff Gelles, who covered consumer news for the Philadelphia Inquirer from 1996 to 2006, and who wrote the Consumer Watch Column from 2001 to 2006, had this to say about House Bill No. 1467 http://www.phillyfuture.org/node/2822. He stated in his column dated Monday, March 6, 2006, “If nothing else, HB 1467 deserves much more scrutiny – and opportunity for the public to comment – than it has gotten.” This bill was vetoed by Governor Edward G. Rendell on March 17, 2006, which set up some very interesting comments by the Pennsylvania Bar Association (in favor of Gov. Rendell’s veto) and the Pennsylvania Builders’ Association (against Gov. Rendell’s veto of this bill). The Pennsylvania Bar Association issued this press release from Harrisburg, PA on March 17, 2006: “The President of the Pennsylvania Bar Association today lauded Governor Ed Rendell’s veto of House Bill No. 1467, which would have created new provisions of law to favor home builders and contractors involved in disputes with consumers over construction defects. “This legislation clearly would have tipped the scales in favor of builders, at the expense of consumers who may have valid claims for construction defects,” said PBA President William P. Carlucci. Click the following link to read the rest of the press release. http://www.pabar.org/public/news%20releases/pr031706.asp, The Pennsylvania Builders Association issued their own press release from Lemoyne, PA also on March 17, 2006: “Brad Elliott, the 2006 President of the Pennsylvania Builders Association, today issued the following statement about Gov. Edward G. Rendell’s veto of House Bill 1467: The Pennsylvania Builders Association and its 11,000-member-companies who keep our state economy strong and strive to provide affordable housing for Pennsylvania family are extremely disappointed by Governor Rendell’s veto of the Residential Construction Dispute Resolution Act [HB 1467]. This decision hurts not just homebuilders across the state, but also new homeowners who have lost a helpful alternative to costly and time-consuming lawsuits when a construction defect occurs.” Click link to read the rest of the press release: http://www.pabuilders.org/displaycommon.cfm?an=1&subarticlenbr=372 To the best of my research, no one has introduced another bill of this kind into the Pennsylvania State Legislature. If any of you know differently, please email me at kathy@buildhomesright.com. CommentsLeave a Reply |  Kathryn M. Barto AuthorHi! ArchivesOctober 2010 Categories |
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