Intergovernmental Relations Committee Hears Testimony on Home Owners' Association Legislation

Senator Frank Madla hears testimony during Committee on Intergovernmental Relations

Austin - The Senate Committee on Intergovernmental Relations met this morning before a packed room to consider several pieces of legislation, including Senate Bill (SB) 949 by Senator Jon Lindsay of Houston. The committee, chaired by San Antonio Senator Frank Madla, heard testimony from many witnesses both for and against SB 949, which would provide a number of protections for consumers concerning home owners associations, or HOA's. SB 949 severely restricts the circumstances under which an HOA could foreclose on an individual's home.

The Senate passed a variety of bills in today's session, including two by San Antonio Senator Jeff Wentworth on their third reading. SB 84 would amend the Government Code on public information to define the term "promptly" to mean "as soon as possible under the circumstances, within a reasonable time, without delay."

Another Wentworth bill, SB 89, proposed to add a new section to current legislation to clarify the guidelines for salary amounts, overtime, and compensatory time for state officials.

The following bills were also passed by the Senate today:

• SB 162, sponsored by Flower Mound Senator Jane Nelson, would allow the Texas Department of Health to place health facilities in noncompliance with Texas laws on probation and emergency suspension in certain cases.
• The Committee Substitute to Senate Bill 86, by Senator Kyle Janek of Houston, would require student dropout rates to be computed in accordance with standards adopted by the National Center for Education Statistics of the United States Department of Education.
• SB 197, sponsored by Palestine Senator Todd Staples, would prohibit a voter from challenging another voter's registration beyond seventy-five days before an election, allowing that voter sufficient time to receive and respond to the challenge.
• SB 202, also by Wentworth, would authorize a reorganization of a mutual life insurance company to a mutual holding company as another alternative of reorganization and allow existing policyholders to own the stock in the holding company.
• SB 373, by The Woodlands Senator Tommy Williams, would require insurers to notify policy holders of a premium rate increase sixty days before it takes effect. Current law only requires thirty days notification prior to the effective date of the rate increase.

The Senate will reconvene Thursday, March 13, 2003, at 8:00 a.m. to hear bills from the Local and Consent Calendar and will recess until 10 a.m.

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