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Can’t fix flawed agency

Re: Dec. 26 article “In Texas, it’s illegal to sell an armadillo or trip horses”

It’s also illegal to drive a car or catch a fish without a license. And doctors, lawyers, barbers, hairdressers and tattoo artists need a license, but homebuilders don’t. Go figure.

Rather than license builders and regulate their industry, the Texas Residential Construction Commission “registers” them. They must be 18 years of age, live in Texas, and be eligible to work in the USA. That’s about it.

A recent Sunset Advisory Commission staff report recommended abolishing the ineffective TRCC, saying it “is fundamentally flawed and does more harm than good.” And in 2006, then Texas Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn called the agency “a ‘paper tiger’ that shields builders from responsibility.”

The Texas legislature will decide in this session whether to keep the TRCC – hopefully WITHOUT political influence from the powerful builder’s lobby that caused this mess.

Wayne Caswell
Austin, TX


READER RESPONSES:

From Jim in Liberty Hill
Mr. Caswell, Great letter to the editor in today's Statesman. The Sunset Review Committee is a joke. One of Bob Perry's employees is on that board. He is probably one of the largest builders in this state.

From TheWizard
Excellent letter - right on target! The TRCC is a joke.  It can not and will not enforce the limited regulations it has in place.  Half the so-called carpenters building houses in Texas are illegal aliens.

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WHAT PEOPLE SAY

People who feel they are too small to make a difference, have never spent the night in a room with a mosquito.
-unknown

Power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely.
-Baron Acton (1834-1902)

The Cops are against the Robbers, but the Laws are against the Cops.
-
Hank Williams, Jr.

In Texas you can buy your own state agency, then regulate yourself.
- Rep. Garnet Coleman (D-Houston),one of just 6 Texas legislators to NOT receive money from homebuilders. 

The loss in property values resulting from substandard, incomplete and unsafe construction erodes the local tax base. These are the tax dollars that educate our children and safeguard our communities.
- Rep. Dora Olivo
(D-Rosenberg)

Everybody does better when everybody does better. 
Jim Hightower's dad (Jim is a recovering politician)

"Together we bargain, divided we beg." -Mayor Calvin Tillman, Dish, TX

You can lead a man to Congress, but you can’t make him think. - Milton Berle

THEY ALSO SAY

No other states' public policy poses a greater burden for defective homes squarely on homeowners like Texas.

Stuck with LEMON... need Lemon Law for homes

In Texas LULAC has witnessed a disturbing trend in substandard new home construction, which can be attributed to the lack of adequate inspections during construction, lack of effective new home warranty protection, home durability as well as lack of consumer redress for defective new home construction.

The industry-wide use of Binding Mandatory Arbitration (BMA) clauses in new homebuilder contracts and third party warranties further deny home buyers their constitutional rights of holding a builder accountable through the courts.

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