Is Rick Perry getting good advice from his staff?
Will Governor Perry veto a wasteful piece of legislation borne of lobbying by Texas Real Estate Commission Commissioners and Administrator?
Texas Consumers are left to fend for themselves while the Texas Real Estate Commission works to grow their fiefdom.
Imagine this… Subsequent to the hiring of TREC Administrator Douglass Oldmixon there has been unprecedented lobbying by TREC officials for laws that benefit the very state agency that they work for.
TREC successfully lobbied to become an autonomous, self-funded state agency. In exchange, TREC agreed to pay the state of Texas roughly one million dollars a year for the privilege.
Now, if the idea of TREC becoming a self-funded agency was such a great idea, why did they have to bribe the legislature with a seemingly impossible amount of money?
Wait, who says ‘impossible’? With a little creativity, anything is possible.
Imagine this… Subsequent to Oldmixon’s hiring the test scores required for acquiring a real estate Inspector’s License has been lowered from 75 to 70.
Imagine this… The Commission can circumvent the education and experience necessary to become an Inspector by arbitrarily deciding that an applicant’s experience as a pest control licensee or his/her experience as a roofer qualifies the applicant to test for and become a Professional Inspector.
Imagine this… The Commission tasks the Inspector Committee with altering the Inspection Standards from one where Inspectors report the condition of items in and around the home, to a standard that allows the Inspector to arbitrarily decide that the consumer doesn’t need to know about certain conditions and doesn’t have to report those conditions.
Imagine this… TREC formulates a Penalty Matrix for Inspectors that allows for fines that are upwards of ten times what an Inspector earns in a day.
Imagine this…TREC successfully lobbies in this most recent Session to allow TREC to pay the $1,000,000 dollar a year ransom from fines collected from Inspectors.
So… Where does this leave the consumer?
The Inspectors are now less thoroughly trained, can bypass the experience requirements to become a Professional Inspector, can pass the Inspector Exam with a lower score, and are then set loose to plague consumers.
It gets better. TREC can now license more unqualified Inspectors, fine the crap out of them when they make mistakes and the make the TREC ransom payments.
This, all at the expense of the consumer.
There is NOTHING in this latest TREC ‘wish list’ piece of legislation that is vital to consumer protection. There is every reason for Perry to Veto this bill.
Well Governor? It’s your move. Will you rely on your staff for this one or will you take a close look at this latest consumer rip-off and Veto it?
Next up: As a result of this latest legislation, TREC wants to and will require criminal background checks of all Inspectors, including those Inspectors who have already had criminal background checks and possess a Concealed Handgun License. That’s right, the criminal background check for the Inspector who holds a CHL, is not enough. How much money can TREC cost their licensees and consumers before the legislature shuts them down?
