Hearings have been set for the following legislative bills affecting homeowners in the state of Texas. If you are interested in supporting these bills, call each committee member listed as well as your legislator to register your support for the bills. Phone calls are more efficient and preferred by the legislators over emails and letters if you are unable to testify at the hearings. Give them the number of the bill you support, say you are FOR the bill and give them your zip code. The legislators want to hear from their constituents and all homeowners supporting these bills.

HB 2864 and 2865 – Rep. Stefani Carter – District 102 Dallas – 512-463-0454

HB 2864 – Relating to requirements for mortgage servicers in connection with loans for the purchase of residential property.

HB 2865 – Relating to certain notifications to borrowers required for home equity loans.

(Both bills are supported by the industries affected by this bill—banking . insurance)

Hearing is set for Monday, April 22, 2013, Location Austin Capitol Extension at E2.030.

Committee information below – Investments and Financial Services Committee:

Chair: Rep. Mike Villarreal – phone # 512-463-0532 –District 123, Bexar – San Antonio
Vice Chair: Rep. Dan Flynn – phone # 512-463-0880 – District 2, Hopkins, Hunt, Van Zandt
Members:
Rep. Charles “Doc” Anderson – 512-463-0135 – Dist. 56, McLennan – Waco
Rep. Cindy Burkett – -0464 – Dist. 113 – Dallas
Rep. Jodie Laubenberg – -0186 – Dist. 89, Collin – Parker
Rep. Oscar Longoria – -0645 – Dist. 35, Cameron, Hidalgo – Mission
Rep. Larry Phillips – -0297 – Dist. 62, Delta, Fannin, Grayson – Sherman

HB 1933 – Rep. Alma Allen – District 131 Harris – Houston – 512-463-0744

HB 1933 – Relating to condominium association records and meetings. Please note: Priority of Payments should also be made a part of this bill.

(Condominium homeowners were eliminated from the new 2012 HOA laws last legislative session pertaining to meetings, books and records and priority of payments need to be added as well.)

Hearing is set for Tuesday, April 23, 2013, Location Austin Capitol Extension at E2.014.

Committee information below – Business and Industry Committee:

Chair: Rep. Rene Oliveira – phone # 512-463-0640 –District 37, Cameron – Brownsville
Vice Chair: Rep. Dwayne Bohac – phone # 512-463-0727 – District 138, Harris – Houston
Members:
Rep. Rob Orr – 512-463-0538 – Dist. 58, Bosque, Johnson – Burleson
Rep. Eddie Rodriguez – 512-463-0674 – Dist. 51 – Travis and Austin
Rep. Jason Villalba – -0576 – Dist. 114, Dallas
Rep. Armando Walle – -0924- Dist. 140, Harris – Houston
Rep. Paul Workman – -0652 – Dist. 47 , Travis – Austin

Please click on the link below to find out who your legislator is if you do not know who it is to call:

http://www.fyi.legis.state.tx.us/Home.aspx

Please share this Community Service Alert Announcement with your social media lists, family, friends and business associates.

On behalf of Rep. Stefani Carter and Rep. Alma Allen, thank you for your support of HB 2864, HB 2865 and HB 1933.

The National Homeowners Advocate Group, LLC © 2013. All Rights Reserved.

Texas Rep. Ruth Jones-McClendon’s HB 3803 HOA Oversight Bill – please call and email the following Business and Industry Committee Members on Monday, April 15, 2013 to support this bill and get it out of committee by April 16, 2013 (Tuesday) to get through the legislative pipeline:

Rep. Rene Oliveira 512-463-0640 http://www.house.state.tx.us/members/member-page/email/?district=37&session=83

Rep Dwayne Bohac 512-463-0727 http://www.house.state.tx.us/members/member-page/email/?district=138&session=83

Rep. Rob Orr 512-463-0538 http://www.house.state.tx.us/members/member-page/email/?district=58&session=83

Rep. Eddie Rodriguez 512-463-0674 http://www.house.state.tx.us/members/member-page/email/?district=51&session=83

Rep. Jason Villalba 512-463-0576 http://www.house.state.tx.us/members/member-page/email/?district=114&session=83

Rep. Armando Walle 512-463-0924 http://www.house.state.tx.us/members/member-page/email/?district=140&session=83

Rep. Paul Workman 512-463-0652 http://www.house.state.tx.us/members/member-page/email/?district=47&session=83

Complaints will go to the Attorney General’s office and the bill will allow the Attorney General to seek injunctive and declaratory relief, restraining orders and civil penalties and the discretion to pursue DTPA violations of the Business & Commerce Code. Associations will be required to provide quarterly accounting information (general ledger, balance sheet and income statement) to all members. The bill covers all homeowners (condos, patio homes, town homes and single-family homes).

The National Homeowners Advocate Group, LLC. (c) 2013 All rights reserved.

During Texas 2011 Legislative session, homeowner advocates testified on behalf of “all” Texas homeowners in regard to the various homeowner association bills introduced by various legislators. However, when the Legislative session was over, unknown to the testifying homeowner advocates, the bills pertaining to books and records, meetings, priority payments, etc. did not include “condo” owners. Bills pertaining to roofing material, solar panels and harvesting of water were the only bills that covered Condo owners which, from the perspective of a condo owner, are useless bills for condo owners.

After the 2011 Legislative session was over, many complaints poured into the National Homeowner Advocate Group’s office from condo owners complaining they were being told by board members and Community Association Institute (CAI) attorneys that they were not covered under the new Books and Records, Meetings, Priority of Payments, etc., laws. Basically, none of the new laws pertaining to the aforementioned items covered “condo” owners.

When the various officers of The National Homeowners Advocate Group checked with Senator Royce West (D) (District 23 Dallas County) and other writers of the various HOA (Homeowner Association) bills that had passed into law, they were initially assured by these legislators that “condo” owners were covered. However, after looking into the matter further, it turned out that “condo” owners were not and are not covered under these new 2012 property laws.

While “condo” owners are covered under a different residential code than single-family homeowners, the common thread between “condo” owners and other property owners is that they are owners of property, they pay assessment fees to their homeowner association to maintain common and shared property, they have board members they elect, they attend meetings, they need to see books and records to see how their money is being spent, they need to be assured their monthly assessment fees are being applied to their account properly. In other words, “condo” owners are owners of real estate too and their property rights “must” be protected the same as any other homeowner and the fact current laws are not protecting a “condo” owner’s homestead investment in the same manner as other homeowners can lead to discriminatory lawsuits across the state.

Representative Alma Allen (D) Dist. 131 Harris County has stepped forward and authored a bill (HB 1933) this 83rd Texas Legislative Session to resolve the books and records and meeting “condo” omissions. Condo owners should also be part of the priority payment property code as well. Here is the link to the bill (HB 1933) so that you can read it for yourself: http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/BillLookup/Text.aspx?LegSess=83R&Bill=HB1933

Rep. Allen filed HB 1933 on February 27, 2013 and it was referred to the Business & Industry Committee on March 5, 2013. As yet, the bill has not been set for a hearing. As you may or may not know, not getting a bill out of the committee to be voted on by the House and then the Senate, essentially kills the bill before it has an opportunity to become a property code. Just because a bill is filed does not necessarily mean it will become law if it is not supported, a hearing set and it moves out of the committee. More details on the legislative process of creating law can be found on the legislative website:
http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/resources/FollowABill.aspx

Condo owners interested in protecting their property rights by being able to get their association books and records without a long, expensive and time consuming event and who want the right to attend their meetings without a hassle should contact the Business & Industry Committee’s Chair and each member directly to let them know you support Rep. Allen’s HB 1933 “condo” bill. Below are the links to assist you with doing just that:

http://makehoasaccountable.org/tx-hoa-legislative-committees/house-committee-on-business-industry/house-committee-on-business-industry-chair/

http://makehoasaccountable.org/tx-hoa-legislative-committees/house-committee-on-business-industry/house-committee-on-business-industry-members/

Following is the form you can use to send a support letter/email for HB 1933 directly to Rep. Alma Allen:

http://www.house.state.tx.us/members/member-page/email/?district=131&session=83

A special thank you to Wesley Summers with http://makehoasaccountable.org/levels/level-1/

The National Homeowners Advocate Group, LLC. © 2013 All rights reserved.

First of all, thank you to Wesley Summers with Make HOAs Accountable who has setup an easy and quick way to send a support letter to Rep. Ruth Jones-McClendon regarding her HOA Oversight Bill HB 3803 in time for her office to prepare the letters for the voting on her bill in the month of April. The National Homeowners Advocate Group ask that every homeowner that wants the Texas Attorney General to have the authority to take action on our homeowner association complaints pertaining to our fees and have the authority to issue a penalty if a violation is found and to have better protection for our senior citizens in these HOA communities to send their support by following each step that Mr. Wesley Summers created for supporters of Rep. Ruth Jones-McClendon’s bill HB 3803. Please take a few minutes to perform this very important property rights preservation activity immediately upon reading this article …. Thank you:

Step 1: http://www.house.state.tx.us/members/member-page/email/?district=120&session=83
On the subject line put “Letter of Support – HB 3803” then write your message and send.

You can also to Rep. McClendon’s Staffer assigned to work on this HOA Reform: michael.simpson@house.state.tx.us

Step 2: Email Committee Chair of Business & Industry Committee:
Rep. Rene Oliveira: rene.oliveira@house.state.tx.us and
her Chief of Staff Bradley Pepper: bradley.pepper@house.state.tx.us

Step 3: Email the rest of the Business & Industry Committee Members:
State Rep. Rob Orr: Rob.Orr@house.state.tx.us and Legislative Aide
Landon Young landon.young@house.state.tx.us

State Rep. Eddie Rodriguez: eddie.rodriguez@house.state.tx.us
Legislative Director Carlos Calle: carlos.calle@house.state.tx.us

Rep. Jason Villalba: jason.villalba@house.state.tx.us

Rep. Armando Walle: armando.walle@house.state.tx.us
Legislative Director Laura Martin: laura.martin@house.state.tx.us

Referenced from http://makehoasaccountable.org/levels/level-1/

The National Homeowners Advocate Group, LLC © 2013. All rights reserved.

On March 8, 2013, Texas Rep. Ruth Jones-McClendon filed her proposed HOA oversight HB 3803 bill, which relates “to the municipal and county regulation of and the oversight by the Attorney General of Property Owners Associations and Unit owners’ associations, providing penalties.”

If this proposed bill passes, this will be the first time non-profit HOA corporations will be monitored by the attorney general’s office. This is exactly where the oversight should take place as this is who homeowners first contact when they have a homeowner association complaint. Currently, however, the Texas Attorney General’s Office has no authority to intervene in homeowner association issues and homeowners end up seeking a solution in the court system which is costly. This will change January 1, 2014, if this proposed HB 3803 bill passes.

This proposed bill will also protect senior citizens still living in their homesteads, regardless of whether or not they live in single-family dwellings or condo facilities. Not only will the attorney general be empowered to “institute an action for injunctive or declaratory relief,” “the attorney general may institute an action for civil penalties against a property owners’ association and its agents.” A civil penalty assessment may not exceed “$20,000 per violation; and if the act or practice that is the subject of the proceeding was calculated to acquire or deprive money or other property from an owner who was 65 years of age or older when the act or practice occurred, an additional amount of not more than $250,000” can be assessed.

The National Homeowners Advocate Group, LLC is asking all homeowners living in the state of Texas to contact your legislator and ask them to support this proposed HB 3803 bill when it comes up for a vote. Legislators want to know how they can better serve their constituents and are here to serve us better. It would also be advisable to ask other legislators to support this proposed bill as well.

Additionally, the national group is asking each reader of this article to share this article with your family members, business associates, friends and your mail list and social media friends to spread the word on this new proposed HB 3803 bill to ensure its successful passage into a new 2014 law.

Following is the link to the bill so that you can read it for yourself—go to the Text tab next to history once on the legislative webpage—all the information pertaining to this bill is located at the link below:
http://www.legis.state.tx.us/BillLookup/History.aspx?LegSess=83R&Bill=HB3803

If you do not know who your legislators are, please go to the link below and insert your address into the “Who Represents Me?” section of the webpage–third column, toward the bottom:
http://www.legis.state.tx.us/Home.aspx

Bringing a proposed bill into law takes some action on homeowners’ part. We, as homeowners, must not only let our legislators know that we want them to vote on the proposed bills we prefer, we also must show up at hearings as witnesses to testify before a committee to give our reasons for the support. Just like we vote to ensure the legislators we want in office get into office, we also must physically become a part of the hearing process for the proposed bills we want to become law.

If we are unable to attend the hearings in Austin at the Capitol, you can write the committee holding the hearing or fax a letter of support to the chairperson of the committee.

The National Homeowners Advocate Group, LLC will do its best to keep the public aware of future hearing times for the proposed HB 3803 bill. However, the public can set up their personal alerts from the following link by setting up a “login” account on the legislative website so that they can be added to the alert list and bill list of the proposed HB 3803:
http://www.legis.state.tx.us/BillLookup/Actions.aspx?LegSess=83R&Bill=HB3803

Together we can make a big difference in what laws governed our homesteads in the state of Texas. This is another legislative session in which we can put forth a little effort for a big outcome.

We look forward to seeing you at the future hearing for Rep. Ruth Jones-McClendon’s proposed HB 3803 bill. Let us continue to protect our homesteads. Homeowners United!!

The National Homeowners Advocate Group, LLC © 2013 All rights reserved.

This type of behavior happens on the street and in the courtroom. The fact this happened in a community with a homeowner association leads me to my next point.

The ground work for allowing “self help” in planned, sustainable communities has been put in place across the country during legislative sessions. In Texas, the seed was planted in the HB 2869 bill introduced by Rep. Linda Harper-Brown (R) District 105, for Las Colinas, Texas. This seed bridges the gap between “self-help” laws and “stand-your-ground” laws discussed in greater detail later in this article.

What was specifically alarming to me in that bill was the use of the word “self-help”. Since homeowners in Texas lose their homes through homeowner and property owner association foreclosures and homeowners also lose money via fines assessed on the way they treat their property, it was a bit perplexing to contemplate the next step being taken to protect property values in Texas, which appeared to be a final solution type action leading to bodily harm or loss. Even though the question was put to the legislative committee hearing HB 2869, the intent behind why the word “self-help” was in the bill, a response was never received.

In an Advocacy Review Report 04, Page 3, the concern for a hidden agenda behind the use of the word “self-help” was also voiced. The bill passed with the feel-good affect that it was only pertaining to this particular area—Las Colinas, Texas—which is a mixed association with businesses and houses. In 1987, a case concerning a handful of homeowners who were delinquent in their maintenance fees (in the early days, assessment fees were called maintenance fees) was granted by the Texas Supreme Court that ushered in the nightmare we have now in our homeowner and property owner associations. While the case concerned one homeowner association, the concept of allowing homeowner associations to foreclose on our homesteads in Texas was given birth and that concept has spread across the country in various forms.

Then in Texas, one of our legislators, Senator John Carona, during an eleventh hour process with then Governor Bush’s blessings gave birth to another blood sucking scam concerning our property rights allowing fines to be assessed against the way we live in our houses.

When I saw the words “self-help” in Rep. Harper-Brown’s bill, I saw “self-help” as another seed being planted in our communities under the guise of another innocent baby living among us. The bill describes “self-help” to mean “the process by which a property owners’ association takes remedial action with regard to property governed by the association after the exhaustion of traditional enforcement efforts.” My concern in my Advocacy Review Report and at the legislative hearing was “What exactly does that mean? What else does this bill want our legislators to do to property owners?”

My immediate thoughts about this were “Something that has been rumored and noted for years is a property owner association’s ability to bring in the police into our communities and not necessarily to protect owners and their property but to keep us in line at our own meetings. This bill is seeking complete control and force beyond foreclosures over homeowners and their property. It has a New World Order fill to it and a subtle foundation for a police state in our communities. “

It appears with the first shooting of its kind by Mr. Zimmerman, this seed has grown into a full-scale attack on people who do not fit the mold of the neighborhood which, needless to say, was the true purpose of the various new bills across the country ushering in this type of “self-help”.

It also states in the Harper-Brown bill on Page 11, Sect. 215.008. Restrictive Covenants (1)(c ) “Unless prohibited or restricted by municipal ordinance or county code, an association may use self-help to enforce its restrictive covenants against a residential or commercial property owner as necessary to prevent immediate harm to a person or property, or as otherwise reasonable. If a property owner commits a subsequent repeat violation of the restrictive covenants within 12 months of the initial violation, the association is not required to provide the property owner with advance notice before the association implements self-help.”

When you legislatively give homeowner or property owner associations or whatever you want to call them ambiguous authority to do something, you are going to end up with a Trayvon Martin situation.

Community associations should never be given the authority to interact with the public on the same level of police and other law enforcement agents who are trained in the use of their weapons. The public is not surprised by an authorized law officer with a weapon and if law enforcement step outside of procedure and injure someone, there are regulations in place to deal with it. When you allow a community watch group to police itself as though it were trained law enforcement, you will have chaos such as with the Trayvon Martin incident.

The United States is supposed to be a country for all people, “with equal justice and liberty for all”; however, and regrettably, we are also a country that operates in the shadow of bias and inequality on all levels of life when it pertains to people of color, financial status, or ethnicity.

If this notion that community associations have the right to police themselves is not immediately stopped, more Trayvon Martin incidents will occur.

This is the best time before more incidents like this occur for the Federal government to step in and regulate the millions of community associations spread across the United States. Their practice of foreclosing on homes, assessing fines against homeowners’ properties for the way they use their own property and restricting community associations from creating “self-help” laws or grandfathering the “Stand-your-ground” laws into community associations by watch group individuals allowing private communities to police themselves in the same manner as a bona fide police would, must be reassessed. Homeowner and Property Owners Associations must be regulated, listed and monitored throughout the United States. They have absolutely too much power to be so loosely controlled and monitored by both the State Government and the Federal Government. Once these laws are enacted in our communities giving these associations the right to do this and that, these laws will eventually be misconstrued and taken to another level not intended when the bill was originally enacted such as the “Castle Doctrine” or “Stand-Your-Ground Law” created for people to protect their homes and/or themselves, now being used by Mr. Zimmerman in his killing of Trayvon Martin.
According to Wikipedia, “Many states have some form of Castle Doctrine or Stand Your Ground law. {{Alabama,[6] Alaska, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa[7], Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island,[8] South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah,[9] West Virginia and Wyoming have adopted Castle Doctrine statutes, and other states (Iowa[10], Montana,[11]Nebraska,[12] New Hampshire, Virginia,[13] and Washington) are currently considering “Stand Your Ground” laws of their own.[14][15][16]
Some of the states that have passed or are considering “stand your ground” laws already implement “stand your ground” principles in their case law. Indiana and Georgia, among other states, already had “stand your ground” case law and passed “stand your ground” statutes due to possible concerns of the case law being replaced by “duty to retreat” in later court rulings. Other states, including Washington, have “stand your ground” in their case law but have not adopted statutes; West Virginia had a long tradition of “stand your ground” in its case law[17] before codifying it as a statute in 2008. These states did not have civil immunity for self defense in their previous self defense statutes.
A stand-your-ground law states that a person may use deadly force in self-defense when there is reasonable belief of a threat, without an obligation to retreat first. In some cases, a person may use deadly force in public areas without a duty to retreat. Under these legal concepts, a person is justified in using deadly force in certain situations and the “stand your ground” law would be a defense or immunity to criminal charges and civil suit. The difference between immunity and a defense is that an immunity bars suit, charges, detention and arrest. A defense permits a plaintiff or the state to seek civil damages or a criminal conviction. More than half of the states in the United States have adopted the Castle doctrine, stating that a person has no duty to retreat when their home is attacked. Some states go a step further, removing the duty of retreat from any location. “Stand Your Ground”, “Line In The Sand” or “No Duty To Retreat” laws thus state that a person has no duty or other requirement to abandon a place in which he has a right to be, or to give up ground to an assailant. Under such laws, there is no duty to retreat from anywhere the defender may legally be.[1] Other restrictions may still exist; when in public, a person must be carrying the firearm in a legal manner, whether concealed or openly.
“Stand your ground” governs U.S. federal case law in which self-defense is asserted against a charge of criminal homicide. The Supreme Court ruled in Beard v. U.S. (158 U.S. 550 (1895)) that a man who was “on his premises” when he came under attack and “…did not provoke the assault, and had at the time reasonable grounds to believe, and in good faith believed, that the deceased intended to take his life, or do him great bodily harm…was not obliged to retreat, nor to consider whether he could safely retreat, but was entitled to stand his ground.”[2][3]
Texas:
In 2007 Texas passed House Bill 1815 (now codified in Texas Penal Code Article 46, Section 2) which made Texas a Castle Doctrine state.[28] The bill also allowed persons to carry concealed weapons in their vehicles and to and from them, subject to certain provisions. Chapter 9, Section 31 and 32 of the Texas Penal Code comprises Texas’ Stand Your Ground law. “

According to www.motherjones.com “What happened to Trayvon?
Martin, a Miami native, was visiting his father in Sanford and watching the NBA All-Star game at a house in a gated Sanford community, the Retreat at Twin Lakes. That evening, Martin walked out to the nearby 7-Eleven to get some Skittles and Arizona Iced Tea. On his return trip, he drew the attention of Zimmerman, who was patrolling the neighborhood in a sport-utility vehicle and called 911 to report “a real suspicious guy.”
“This guy looks like he’s up to no good or he’s on drugs or something,” Zimmerman told the dispatcher. “It’s raining, and he’s just walking around looking about.” The man tried to explain where he was. “Now he’s coming towards me. He’s got his hand in his waistband. And he’s a black male…Something’s wrong with him. Yup, he’s coming to check me out. He’s got something in his hands. I don’t know what his deal is…These assholes, they always get away.”
After discussing his location with the dispatcher, Zimmerman exclaimed, “Shit, he’s running,” and the following sounds suggest he left his vehicle to run after Martin.
“Are you following him?” the dispatcher asked. Zimmerman replied: “Yep.”
“Okay, we don’t need you to do that,” the dispatcher warned.
Several minutes later, according to other callers to 911 in the neighborhood, Zimmerman and Martin got into a wrestling match on the ground. One of the pair could be heard screaming for help. Then a single shot rang out, and Martin lay dead.
Are the 911 recordings available to the public?
Yes. After public pressure, the city of Sanford played the tapes for Martin’s family, then released the audio recordings. Here are some excerpts. You can also read a full transcript of George Zimmerman’s initial police call here, along with an examination of whether he used a racial epithet, as some listeners have suggested.”

It is sad we are still at this stage in life that Trayvon Martin lost his life in a country in which the goal has or should be for and toward equality for everyone. While it may be on the surface an equal playing field for all, it obviously is not. Regardless of our Constitutional tools in place to equalize the playing field for everyone, African-Americans are still being judged by their appearance and being racially profiled not only in our communities but in the courtroom where justice is suppose to be equal and blind. Every day in the life of most African-Americans a little bit of self suffers a death, whether it is a spiritual death, a self-esteem death, a right to justice death, a right to get a job death, a right to be treated the same death, a right to jog and/or walk our dog in our neighborhood death, a right to litigate your court case without bias as a pro se litigate death, a right to be treated as an equal death, a right to enjoy an event on the same level as others death, and on and on and on.

Trayvon’s death has triggered more hate from various sources and at a time of year when we soon will be celebrating the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, who is our Lord and Saviour. If mankind continues to fail to respect the systems created for all in regard to African-Americans, then not only will Trayvon’s death be resolved by God but all who bring pain and suffering to their neighbors will be held accountable for their behavior for their failure to embrace the teachings of Jesus Christ “’You shall love your neighbor as yourself’” (Mathew 22:39). Hate . Hate. Hate must be replaced with Love Love . Love. As long as we judge others by the color of their skin, we are contributing to our own Spiritual death. Justice has its way of rising to the occasion and bias is always the loser.

Harvellajones1234@sbcglobal.net
The National Homeowners Advocate Group, LLC © 2012.