H 319 -- ANOTHER BANKERS' BAIL-OUT BILL |
OPEN LETTER TO GOVERNOR RICK SCOTT AND ALL FLORIDA LEGISLATORS February 27, 2012
Dear Florida Governor, Dear Lt. Governor, Dear Florida Legislators:
Florida's
homeowners and condo owners living in community associations are always
asking: Why do Florida legislators fall over each other trying to protect
bankers against liabilities they created, but when owners ask for much
needed legislative help, they are plainly being ignored? The
latest example: House Bill 319,
sponsored by Rep. Moraitis. What started out as a pretty good bill (as you
can see in the still intact companion bill S680)
was destroyed by amendments filed by the sponsor at committee stops. H319
is now another bail-out bill for bankers and mortgage lenders, who really
caused the whole financial disaster in our community associations. The
still paying owners have to make up for the budget shortfalls caused by
the so-called If
the banks want strengthened protections against legal fees, they should
give something in return. Quid Pro
Quo! Make it just 12 months of unpaid dues and eliminate the "1% of
original mortgage" clause. Why should the owners always carry the
financial burden to pay for the maintenance of the banks' collateral? The
wording of H319 has a lot more flaws, from more or less legalizing
election fraud -- owners have no chance to get election documents in 60
days, short of using armed robbery -- and sitting board members can
suspend voting rights of foes, but don't have to suspend voting rights
of friends. Is that what our country is all about? Why
bail out bankers even more? In case you want to take a look to see why we are seeing more and more foreclosures? Owners, who fell behind in dues, are getting fleeced. I call it legalized Highway Robbery.
Look
at this example of a SETTLEMENT
STIPULATION I heard about last Friday. $1,664 in
unpaid dues mushroomed to $9,237.43 in total demand -- or foreclosure on home. No Here
is our suggestion to save this bill: S680 is still
more or less intact as filed -- without Have a little compassion for the homeowners that got involved in this financial misery. Don’t pass more laws that will create even more financial turmoil for your constituents. Please pass some laws that will help them to resolve urgent association problems!
Warm Regards,
Jan Bergemann, President
Cyber Citizens For Justice, Inc. NEEDED
CHANGES FOR OBVIOUS REASONS (Common Sense): 1.) Election Challenge FS
718.112
Lines 324 -- 325 FS
719.106
Lines 1171 -- 1173 FS
720.306(9)(a) Lines 1974 --
1976 324
c. Any challenge to the election process must
be commenced 325 within 60 days after the election results are announced.
This
stops any election challenge since there is no way in this world to force
boards to hand over election documents within 60 days. Believe me, bad
boards don't mind paying $500 from association funds after 61 days in
exchange for staying in power for another year after cheating with the
election. It has to be changed to 60
DAYS AFTER turn-over of election documents.
2.)
Suspending Voting Rights: FS
719.303(5) Lines
1587 -- 1601 FS
720.305(4) Lines
1868 -- 1882 The
word MAY should be replaced with the word SHALL: It
shouldn't be up to the board members whose voting rights they chose
to suspend. This language allows boards to suspend voting rights of foes,
but not the voting rights of friends. Removal of the requirement
of deducting the number of suspended voting rights from the number of
total voting interest can cause serious problems: In communities with
lots of suspended voting rights it will be impossible to amend the
governing documents or recall members of the board of directors. I doubt
that is the intention of the bill sponsors. |