Following up on the remainder of the Legislative process for Nevada, here are several more items and issues the 2011 Legislature covered.
This one is a good one. A new permit under the umbrella of the real estate division requires the registration and permitting of asset management companies and employees. The bill removes the ability of the banks to waive the Sellers Real Property Disclosure. This has been a major complaint of agents since all this foreclosure stuff started. We brought it forward over and over. So it got done. We can now get some kind of information for a buyer which will provide them with some knowledge and fall back position for the future. It also protects us in the process of listing and selling such properties for material facts about the property.
There were several interesting and important Lake Tahoe issues that can be call historic. The biggest one is the TRPA, known as the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency. This bi-state agency, funded by California and Nevada has been a bitter sweet pill for years. If you have what you want then you feel TRPA is the Save Lake Tahoe from those heathens. If you want to build something or improve a residence or commercial building or tear down a blight on the land, you hate TRPA. Previous attempts to change TRPA had failed....at least until 2011. This time the dynamic has made it different.
With the second had closing down and less than 5 minutes on the clock before the 1 AM deadline to pass bills, SB271 made it out of the legislature. What this bill does is to provide Nevada with the ability to withdraw from the TRPA compact. The bill says if the agency does not adopt an updated Regional Plan and the proposed amendments are not approved by October 1, 2015, Nevada will withdraw from the compact effective on that date. Now the Nevada Governor could issue a proclamation extending the deadline for withdrawal until October 1st 2017. Some of you may know that TRPA has been creating issues with property owners around Lake Tahoe and the proposed changes to the compact would hopefully resolve those. But the compact cannot be changed without the approval of the State of California as well as the United States Congress. This was a hard battle to insure the legislation passed. The lobbying effort from opponents of the bill and last minute gutting attempts by certain legislators sympathetic to environmentalists and instead create a study of potential withdrawal from the compact and to review the existing problems surrounding the agency was intense. However the bill passed the Assembly 28-16 after passing the Senate by a vote of 19-2. This was the second to the last bill to be passed as the session closed.
So you might ask well now what? There is much work to be done but the clear message has been sent. Regardless of the chatter and efforts to muddy the water the message has been sent to California and the US Congress that Nevada's voice needs to be heard and our opinions need to be considered if the agency is to move forward. Otherwise we will go it alone and take care of our side of Lake Tahoe.
One of the most complex bills had to do with common-interest-communities. Homeowners associations another words. The bill was contentious from day one and eventually failed to pass out of the Senate Finance committee. An effort to revive the bill on the Senate floor also failed. So in a last ditch effort by collection companies, with the most onerous provisions to which we as Realtors objected to the most, was the effort to make collection fees a part of the Superpriorty Lien. Our legislative team worked for hours and against sizable odds to beat back the effort, which they did with success in the late and last hours of the session. This is a huge victory for homeowners all over Nevada, and a huge loss for collection agencies.
But typical of the last minute drama of Nevada Legislature Sessions. However our legislative team said this one took the cake and will be remembered, especially for those who fought the battle.
THERE WILL BE ONE MORE BLOG ON THE 2011 NEVADA LEGISLATURE SESSION. MORE OF A RECAP WITH MORE DETAILS.
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