Home Construction Bill Missing its Mark (Feb. 2003).

SB 383 Bogged by Industry Clout, Creates 'Toothless' Inspection

A bill filed in the Texas Legislature Feb. 6 would draft homebuilding codes and channel consumer disputes into an administrative process, but consumer advocates cautioned that the proposal would draw-out already complicated procedures and put homeowners' litigation under a biased commission made up of six construction industry reps, two public agents and one engineer.

"Although it contains at least a kernel of a good idea, consumers already have miles of procedural hurdles to overcome under current laws," said Consumers Union Director Reggie James. "This proposal would lengthen the process for homeowners and allow an industry-dominated commission to set the standards."

The legislation, sponsored by Sen. Robert Duncan, R-Lubbock, would create a governor-appointed Texas Residential Construction Commission. The commission would, in turn, appoint inspectors to evaluate construction sites, find fault and establish procedures for resolving disputes before a consumer could go to court. The case loser would pay the yet-to-be-set inspection fee.

"The problem is that consumers' disputes about flawed or unsafe homes would be investigated and resolved by inspectors handpicked by the industry-heavy commission," James said. "The people writing the rules and choosing the players will already have a dog in the fight."

He said the bill has elements of a lemon law for homes — and that some may try to label it so — but it lacks fairness to the homeowner and powers to enforce its recommendations.

The auto lemon law provides a good model for how SB383 could be changed to work for homeowners, James said.

"Consumers typically choose to use the auto lemon process rather than court because it's faster relatively simple and unbiased," he said. "SB383 differs in that it just adds a biased process on top of the already cumbersome procedures in court."

He said it's good that the bill incorporates international building standards for Texas builders, whom have no such code, but that inspectors need to have enforcement capabilities to "send a signal to the industry."

The legislation would tack a $125 fee on to homes to support the proposed commission — a fee James said might be reasonable if the legislation created a balanced commission and had the authority to enforce its recommendations to builders.

The bill's lopsided commission and biased process would add cost, time and complexity to an already convoluted law that gives builders the upper hand in consumer disputes, James said.