FINAL
REPORT ON THE 2004 LEGISLATIVE SESSION
Written by Christopher J. Kyler, Esq.
UAR, Director of Government Affairs & General Counsel
March 18, 2004
Election-years make politics predictably unpredictable, and 2004 has been no exception. The 2004 Legislative Session was extremely busy and wildly political. During the short forty-five days of the legislative session, the legislators found time to introduce 694 new bills. As they wound their way through the legislative process, an additional 352 formal amendments and substitutions were made, for a grand total of 1,046 different bill texts. It wasn't, however, the sheer number of bills that made this year important, rather, it was the grave impact certain bills would have had on our industry.
Acting
as the Voice for Real Estate® in Utah, the Utah Association of REALTORS®
Legislative Committee worked tirelessly to protect private property rights
and free enterprise principles. Here's a numerical breakdown of our work during
the session:
1. We read all 694 bills to determine their subject matter and relatedness
to our industry
2. After sifting through the original 694, we then thoroughly analyzed 66
of those bills.
3. We then refined our position on 40 final bills where we took a "support"
or "oppose" position. We were successful in defeating each of the
bills we opposed and in passing all but one bill we supported. It was a banner
year!
The reason REALTORS®
were so successful is clear: our political strategy is working and our organizations
and membership have never been stronger. Over the past several years,
the elected leadership of the UAR and our local boards have been working to
craft political programs and strategies to become the most powerful political
influence in Utah politics. As part of this strategy, our leaders have hired
expert staff and have appointed sophisticated committee members at the state
and local levels to refine and carry out that mission.
The following sampling of bills we lobbied this year highlight the need for
our continued efforts and persistence:
Residential Property
Tax Exemption Elimination
This proposal sought to raise tax revenues for the government by eliminating
a portion of the residential property tax exemption presently enjoyed by all
homeowners. Currently, primary residences and apartments are taxed on 55%
of their assessed value. This proposal would have significantly reduced or
eliminated the existing 45% exemption, thereby raising taxes on primary residences.
The residual effect would have been devastating to our affordable housing
efforts and would have hit those on low and fixed incomes the hardest. This
proposal was successfully defeated.
S.B. 8 - Local Referendum
Amendments
This bill would have tormented the development community by giving small groups
of individuals extraordinary judicial-like powers. Here is the scenerio .
. . a developer submits plans for a housing subdivision, presents the plans
at the requisite public hearings, receives final planning commission and city
council approval, and then has a few individuals upset with the final determination
who file a petition to enjoin the project. Instead of using the current avenue
of seeking a formal judicial determination of procedural unfairness to enjoin
the project, this new power would allow those individuals to enjoin the project
automatically (by simply filing a petition with the city) until a vote could
be taken by the general public in the next municipal election, which election
might not occur until two years later. This bill was successfully defeated.
S.B. 9 - Property Rights
Amendments
This bill secured greater protection for all private property owners by reconstituting
the power of the Property Rights Ombudsman to ensure fairness in property
rights disputes. Specifically, this bill reestablished the Ombudsman's power
to require arbitration, at the request of the landowner, in cases where cities
exercise their power of eminent domain. Also, this bill requires condemning
authorities to provide the landowner with early notice that they have the
right to request a second appraisal and seek arbitration before being sued
by the condemnor. The UAR and was successful in helping pass this bill.
H.B. 56 - Local Government
Lien For Service Charges
The UAR was successful in helping the legislature close a loophole in the
legislation that we passed last year which prevented cities from holding new
home owners hostage for past-due water bills incurred by previous owners.
This new bill applies the same law to public and private water companies who
provide culinary water services to residences.
H.B. 123 - Drug Lab
Cleanup and Disclosure
This bill protects REALTORS®, sellers, buyers, and the general public
by establishing standards for dealing with contaminated property. Namely,
this bill sets clear standards for determining when a property is contaminated,
allows for public access to a list of contaminated properties, sets forth
steps for cleaning a property, removing it from the list, and receiving a
certificate of decontamination. The bill also provides an incentive to clean
by offering liability protection to Realtors® and sellers by tying decontaminated
properties to Utah's existing "stigmatized property statute" which
states that the prior contamination and clean-up efforts are not a material
fact and need not be disclosed at sale. The UAR worked all year with other
interested parties in drafting this bill which was unanimously supported by
the Legislature.
H.B. 230 - Property
Tax Levy For Education
The UAR strongly supports education funding when done in the open and after
proper process is followed. Unfortunately, this bill sought to improperly
fund education by instituting an automatic and perpetual property tax increase
which was designed to circumvent the truth-in-taxation process. The UAR and
others were successful in defeating this effort.
H.B. 281 - Toxic Mold Disclosure
Have you ever had moldy bread in your refrigerator or mildew in your
tub? If so, this bill would have required you to provide written notice of
such prior conditions to all future inhabitants of your house - regardless
of how much cleaning you did. To make matters worse, if you forgot to provide
such notice, and the future inhabitant became ill, this bill would have provided
them a statutory right to "actual damages." In other words, plaintiffs
lawyers would make easy money and lots of it. This unbelievable bill was successfully
defeated.
S.B. 52 - Insurance Amendments
In anticipation of a growing difficulty in obtaining affordable insurance
for our clients, the UAR worked to ensure fairness in the insurance process.
This bill states that customer "inquiries" (where an insured calls
the insurer and asks a question but does not make a claim for payment) cannot
adversely effect that customer's eligibility or rate for insurance. Also,
"loss histories" (where a claim is made and the insurer pays the
claim" cannot adversely effect an individual property's eligibility or
rate of insurance on a new policy. The insurer can, however, use the loss
history information as a reason to go and inspect the property to ensure that
the repairs were actually made before issuing a new policy of insurance to
a new owner.
In
sum, the Utah Association of REALTORS® was very successful in the 2004
Legislative Session. The UAR has been given notice that many of the harmful
bills we defeated this year will be reintroduced during the 2005 session.
In order for us to continue to be successful in protecting your business,
and the rights of landowners throughout Utah, we need your help. Here's what
we need you to do:
1. Legislative Efforts: continue to respond to our calls-to-action, get to know your legislators, get involved with your local board government affairs committee, and attend REALTOR® Day at the Legislature.
2. Fund Raising Efforts: continue to contribute to the Political Survival Fund (PSF) so the Realtor Political Action Committee (RPAC) Trustees have funds to support Legislators who support REALTORS® and REALTOR® issues.
3. Election Efforts: get involved in the political party of your choice, look for our list of REALTOR®-friendly legislators, vote for those legislators at convention, at the primary elections in June, and during the general election in November.
If REALTORS® don't act as the voice for real estate in Utah, nobody else will!
If you have any questions about these new laws or would like to get involved in the government affairs process, please contact Chris, Kaci, or Curtis at (801) 268-4747.