TRCC: It’s the Uneducated Consumers’ Fault
September 23rd, 2008 at 8:26 pm
The Texas Residential Construction Commission defended itself today during a Texas Sunset Advisory Commission hearing. Just last month, the Sunset Commission’s staff made the unusual recommendation that the agency be scrapped because it did “more harm than good” for Texas consumers.
Today, the representatives from the TRCC who testified before lawmakers did all they could to avoid taking blame. The general consensus of the TRCC commissioners was that Texas consumers needed to be more educated about the home building process.
They argued for the survival of the agency and said that HB 1038, which made changes to the agency, needed time to take effect. The legislation was passed in 2005 by Rep. Allan Ritter, D-Beaumont, who also authored the original legislation.
TRCC Commissioner John Krugh, general counsel and VP for Bob Perry Homes, who helped craft the legislation that created TRCC, said he felt the agency was “fair and unbiased” toward consumers.
He said there were a number of misconceptions about the agency such as the idea that TRCC blocks or delays court access. (Arbitration can take up to two years with TRCC before homeowners can pursue their cases in court). “We are light regulation and heavy reconciliation,” he told the Sunset panel.
Commissioner Lewis Brown said he “totally disagreed” with the Sunset staff’s recommendation that the agency be scrapped. He called TRCC the voice of the consumer. “If you take away their voice, then shame on you,” he admonished the legislators.
Rep. Dan Flynn, a member of the Sunset Commission that will help decide if the agency survives, wondered why, if TRCC was fair and unbiased, was there such a disconnect between consumers and the agency?
Krugh remained silent on the issue. The executive director of the agency chimed in. He said consumers were very upset, because they already felt abused and cheated by the builder. Once they start working with TRCC, consumers felt the process was taking too long so they started to believe the agency was on the builder’s side. He also blamed the news media for portraying the agency on the side of home builders.
The “don’t blame us” argument from the agency didn’t sit well with consumers.
Carol Hemphill, a home buyer testified that she had 215 defects in her new home. Hemphill said she contacted TRCC who acknowledged the defects but said they were powerless to do anything about it. Hemphill said no attorney would take her case because construction defect cases were too expensive and took too long to pursue.
Hemphill said a lawyer had told her that “too many roadblocks had been put up by the Legislature to successfully pursue a case for a consumer.” She said she would probably lose her home because there was no way to sell it. “It would cost $25,000 to $50,000 to see it through arbitration,” she said.
It’s difficult to believe in the agency’s independence when wealthy home builder Bob Perry, the state’s largest campaign donor, donated $17,000 to Ritter’s campaign in 2006, the author of TRCC legislation. And when Perry’s VP and general counsel serves as an agency commissioner.
The Sunset Commission will make a recommendation in December on whether the agency should be abolished.
September 24th, 2008 at 8:50 am
Krugh just sat there with an incredibly stupid look on his face, frozen in place. He eventually got bailed out by Duane Waddill, the Executive Director, who is fighting to keep his job. Duane simply blamed it on ignorant Texans.
Why the disconnect?
There is a huge disconnect because those who created the commission (John Krugh) never consulted with the consumers or consumer organizations to understand the problem they were trying to solve. It should come as no surprise that this commission helps the builders and not the consumers.
September 24th, 2008 at 10:35 am
[…] that the TRCC was the consumers best friend and was being unfairly attacked. From the TO Blog, TRCC: It’s the Uneducated Consumers’ Fault: TRCC Commissioner John Krugh, general counsel and VP for Bob Perry Homes, who helped craft the […]
September 24th, 2008 at 1:17 pm
Listening to Lewis Brown had me wanting to put my boots on and walk out the door. One could see the victims seething as he spoke. I guess he would like to keep his position.
Here is another reason for the disconnect. When one pays a builder and entrusts them to do the right thing but they lie to you, about you and could not care less in regards to the mess they have made for you why would anyone want them to come back into your home and fix it. They obviously do not know what they are doing.
The thought of my so called builder coming back on my property is not doable under any circumstances.
The hearings yesterday were very questionable. What I walked away with was the thought that the coins and bills the homebuilders have contributed to the elected officals warchest are more important then laws with teeth that would really protect consumers. One elected offical has her crooked contractor in jail for 99 years, the rest of us still see ours building and scamming others; yet the state does nothing.
TRCC needs to go and so do the elected officals who have done nothing to help victims get justice.
September 25th, 2008 at 7:12 am
We should either get rid of the Texas Residential Construction Commission or get rid of the Sunset Commission.
September 25th, 2008 at 2:22 pm
It is time to get rid of the old and get some new blood in our Capitol. We really do need that
Blue Blood in Austin.
October 6th, 2008 at 2:02 pm
[…] A local representative, Allan Ritter, authored the bill, carried it to passage, and has recently argued that it should survive. What has come out as of late through the work of the Sunset Review Commission is that the TRCC […]