Teaching Our Lawmakers a Lesson

July 04, 1993

By Willowdean Vance (View author info)
Copyright Willowdean Vance

The showdown started with a single phone call. "This is Betty Anderson, from Assemblyman Bill Morrow's office calling to tell you that AB No. 1793 is going to be passed unopposed if no one speaks," she said.

Betty Anderson is more than a friendly administration assistant. She is a concerned citizen who listens. What's more, she understands the urgent need for reform in the homeowner associations because she lives in a CONDO!

My co-workers, Elizabeth McMahon, Muriel Certo, Pat English and I went into action when the word was received on May 8th.

The decision was made without any thought of cost or expense. Have Betty Anderson contact Holloway, the legislative aid of Assemblyman Dan Hauser and request the four of us (yours truly, and my three associates) be placed on calendar for the hearing on May 12th! Serve notice the bill was no longer unopposed! Count on Orange County to show up for the showdown.

Pat went into action to order plane reservations on Southwest Airlines from Ontario to leave on Tuesday night, May 11th and return back home by the 13th.

Muriel dug out all the non-judicial foreclosure lawsuits from the court house. Elizabeth and I dug out copies of our court index showing thousands of homeowners pushed into foreclosure and bankruptcy through a giant loophole lawmakers granted greedy HOA lawyers.

The homeowner association lawsuit industry lobbyists, California Legislative Action Committee (CLAC), the lobbyists was at it again.

There we were!

Four angry women with four pairs of tennis shoes in our bags, stacks of press kits, rolls of quarters for the parking meter, and lots of determination.....no more foreclosures without due process!!!!!

At 7 am, I was on the phone to Channel 3 and other members of thc local media to tell them they should cover the hearing in Assemblyman Dan Hauser's Committee on Common Interest Developments.

We headed into the Capitol loaded down with our press information and copies of this new bill which was a license for lawyers to steal from unsuspecting homeowners.

The podium for the distinguished members of the hearing was almost empty.

I handed out some American Homeowner Association cards and found myself facing Republican Caucus William Weber. My heart sank.

He was the politician who sold us out last January when we asked for help from Assemblyman Gilbert Ferguson to pass a self-supporting agency bill. "I think we have too many laws already." Ferguson barked.

Weber looked stunned as he called my name, "Willowdean Vance".

How could this woman from Orange County, who accused him of a sell-out in January be standing in front of him? He made himself busy by doing nothing.

By 9 AM the Channel 3 news cameraman walked in and set up his camera...

The legislators tried to say we could not speak at the hearing because no one had notified them that we wanted to be on the calendar.

We reminded them of Anderson's phone call and held our ground. A long day ahead.

Although it was the job of this committee to hear testimony, Hauser, Ferguson and their lobbyists began to duck out the back door to the hallway to hold a private caucus. We knew something was up.

Muriel Certo edged forward to the hearing on AB 1545- one ahead of our bill. If they intend to cut us off, we had to outsmart them.

The bankers and loan officers at the table thought she was one of them. Muriel seized the microphone and quickly announced she was a member of the Orange County Homeowners' grassroots movement and came to tell them her story as a victim of a non-judicial foreclosure.

The dirty word was out.

The several pairs of eyes trained on us suddenly got bigger. The surprised lawmakers made another trip to the hallway and the producer of Channel 3 agreed to keep his cameraman there till we exhausted every chance to kill this bill that would allow HOA's to lien our homes for trivial fines.

Minutes later the Sergeant of Arms of the Assembly approached us with a short statement, reading: "AB No. 1793 canceled at the request of the author."

How sweet it is ... Assemblyman Dan Hauser, the powerful chairman of the common interest developments had too much pride for four angry women to attack his bill!!!!

The meeting adjourned and the elected officials chose to duck out the back door and slip away without speaking to four constituents who had spent their own money to fly to Sacramento to protect 6 million members of homeowners' associations none of the legislators want to protect.

The lobbyists will try again in January to sneak a bill through. We'll be ready. It's not everyday you get a chance to teach some sneaky lawmakers a lesson in passing new laws.

If you are a victim of a homeowners' association, drag out your tennis shoes and plan on helping out when the fight continues in January 1994.

Join us in this important effort to protect all of our property rights.

Editors Note:

Willowdean W. Vance is Executive Director of American Homeowners' Association of Lake Forest, California, and author of " How To Survive A Homeowners' Association", the first book writen to warm homeowners about homeowner association problems.

Elizabeth McMahon, Pat English and Muriel Certo were directors of American Homeowners Resource Center (AHRC) of San Juan Capistrano, California in 1993.

Both Ms. Vance and AHRC did radio shows on KIEV in Los Angeles. AHRC hosted a show called "Homeowner Forum". The public could request faxback information from AHRC's computers between 1993 and 1997. In February of 1997, AHRC started it's website for homeowners.