Article Courtesy of The Forum
Publishing Group
By FALLAN
PATTERSON
Published March 12, 2009
With the
mortgage crisis looming, finding ways of stemming foreclosures and
mandatory insurance will no doubt be major issues for condo residents this
year. But as they head to Tallahassee this week, legislators have added
other, smaller provisions to these larger proposed bills that will affect
residents just as much.
"Some of the little things cost more money," said Rep. Ellyn
Bogdanoff, R-Fort Lauderdale
. "These are quality-of-life issues."
A bill proposed by Bogdanoff focuses on eliminating mandatory interior
insurance but also includes changes to board elections, mandatory
certification forms for candidates and fire sprinkler retrofit deadlines.
If the bill passes, the changes would go into effect Oct. 1.
"If you're going to do a bill like this, you should include
everything," she said.
Lawmakers
across the state have followed suit, tacking on issues that may affect
fewer people but are equally important to their constituents. Sen. Jeremy
Ring, D-Margate, represents a large condo community and attends town hall
meetings to get a feel for what unit owners want. His bill, which
addresses much of the foreclosure crisis, would exclude e-mail and home
addresses from official records, remove the mandatory condo law
certification form for candidates and revise the hurricane code compliance
impact glass section. Ring said it's important to get every issue passed,
but his main focus is on the mortgage crisis, which he called "the
big monetary issue."
Although some of the issues appear small, even minute adjustments such as
changing a few words can make a world of difference to board members, unit
owners and lawyers. Bill Raphan, the state's assistant condo ombudsman,
said last month the interior condo insurance issue was atop of the list of
topics that callers want to discuss with his office.
The heart of the issue, Raphan said, is the use of vague wording such as
"shall" and "may." Since October of last year, when
many of the current legislative changes went into effect, Raphan said
people have started calling with things they want to change in the
legislation.
State lawmakers have had many opportunities to hear what unit owners have
to say, from various online surveys sponsored by local lobbying and
advocacy groups to town hall meetings attended by hundreds of condo
residents.
Still, local legislators are hopeful this session will end with an outcome
that will be acceptable to both unit owners and community associations.
"In my opinion, we need to do what government is supposed to do,
which is [to] protect the people," said Rep. Julio Robaina, R-Miami.
|