CBIA Honors Six State Officials for Their Commitment to Homeownership
October 17, 2005
Contact: John Frith, Public Affairs Director
(916) 443-7933, ext. 332
jfrith@cbia.org
or
Deana Vladic, Communications Specialist
(916) 443-7933, ext. 346
dvladic@cbia.org
SACRAMENTO - The California Building Industry Association has honored six state officials for their efforts to increase homeownership and reduce housing costs in 2005.
Awards were presented to five legislators and a top Schwarzenegger Administration official for their efforts to make California more housing-friendly.
CBIA's top honor, the Outstanding Legislator of the Year Award, was presented to Assembly Member Joe Canciamilla, D-Pittsburg, for his leadership role in efforts to defeat numerous "dream killer" bills - legislation that would have increased housing costs and made homeownership even less affordable for California families.
CBIA's 2005 President, Steve Doyle, a homebuilder from San Diego, said there was a record number of these bills introduced this year, and many would have passed if it weren't for a group of moderate Democratic Assembly Members who understood the destructive impact these bills would have on meeting the state's housing needs.
"Fortunately for prospective homebuyers, there were enough members of the Assembly who saw through the smokescreens used by lawmakers who oppose new-housing production despite the need and were willing to go against some of their constituencies to do what was right," Doyle said. "There were just enough objective-minded members of the so-called Moderate Democratic Caucus who understood the difference between politically inspired policy and good policy - and voted 'no.' These lawmakers voted based on facts, not politics.
"At CBIA, we don't care if you're a Democrat or a Republican. Indeed, we're happy to build homes for both parties. At the state Capitol, we just care about housing - and we care that lawmakers listen and understand before they decide. That's what we got this year from Joe Canciamilla and his colleagues."
CBIA also presented four Legislative Leadership Awards, to Senators Kevin Murray, D-Los Angeles, and Joe Dunn, D-Santa Ana, and Assembly Members Tom Umberg, D-Santa Ana, and Guy Houston, R-Dublin, and a special award to State and Consumer Affairs Secretary Fred Aguiar.
Senator Murray was honored for carrying legislation this year designed to reduce NIMBY lawsuits and increase infill housing opportunities.
"Senator Murray recognizes that his district and other urban areas would benefit from new housing on land that is now often sitting vacant," Doyle said. "That's why the senator agreed to author SB 948, CBIA's 'short form EIR' proposal - a long-overdue reform to the California Environmental Quality Act," Doyle said.
He added that Senator Murray has shown independent thinking and political courage many times before, pointing to his key role in 2004 in getting CBIA-sponsored legislation passed to increase development on former industrial sites known as brownfields once the land is cleaned up to the satisfaction of state and local officials.
Senator Dunn was recognized this year for brokering an important agreement between homebuilders and trade contractors over indemnity provisions in construction contracts.
Doyle noted that in previous years, as chair of the Senate Housing Committee, he authored several housing reform bills and was instrumental in helping pass SB 800, the landmark reform measure in 2002 that gave builders a chance to work with homebuyers to resolve construction disputes before lawsuits could be filed - despite the fact that Dunn is a trial lawyer and the trial lawyers vehemently opposed this common-sense reform.
Assembly Member Umberg was recognized for authoring AB 1460, a bill to end the practice of local governments holding on to money that homebuilders pledge to ensure the completion of project infrastructure.
"Homebuilders simply wanted to get the money back when the improvements were done, and Tom's bill now ensures that it will happen," Doyle said. "This reform is not just about money, it's about fairness and accountability."
And Assembly Member Houston was honored for introducing AB 108, a bill to require trial lawyers soliciting homebuyers to sue their builders to inform homeowners that lawsuits weren't their only option - that they could simply ask their homebuilders to come in and repair any problems they had - and to disclose the potential downsides of filing suit.
"Though few could argue with this consumer-friendly idea, a bare majority of the Assembly Judiciary Committee couldn't argue with the trial lawyers who were strongly lobbying against the bill, and it was defeated," Doyle said. "But Assembly Member Houston will try again, because you just can't keep good ideas down."
Doyle said Secretary Aguiar was presented with a special award for helping to engineer the reversal of a terrible decision by the Davis Administration - to adopt the unknown and unused NFPA 5000 building code. State and local building officials as well as homebuilders were almost unanimously against adopting the untested code, which would have been extremely costly to implement and would have caused major disruptions for years. A state panel this year voted to rescind its previous decision and to use the time-tested International Building Code as the model for state codes.
