May 03, 2002

By HOA Reports (View author info)

Mr. Bill Powers
Lobbyist
California Congress of Seniors

Dear Bill:

Here's an email from a homeowner who sent you an objection to AB 2289:

I got a return email message from Mr. Powers regarding this bill. In short, he said that I apparently do not understand the bill because I haven't READ it. He added that if it's so bad for homeowners, "why is it being opposed by the associations, collection agencies, and groups responsible for abuses".

The only thing these people were opposing was the $5,000 provision for non-judicial foreclosure. Once they slaughtered that, they, in effect, became supporters of the bill. They have systematically gone through the bill adding more ways to take more money from homeowners. Everybody who represents consumers and homeowners, including the California Congress of Seniors, should be fighting this bill all the way. Those who are fighting the bill are doing so precisely because they have read what is in it. How do you know that the person who sent you the email has not read it?

Please explain how 12% interest for HOA collection lawyers and managers is good for homeowners.

You and Marjorie Murray are the original sponsors of this bill, but in effect, CAI has hijacked it. Murray concealed all information about this bill from other advocates until the day of the hearing on this bill. Do you think that your members would want the current bill if they knew what was in it? Have you asked your members if they would want it. In fact, you should cancel your sponsorship of the bill, and let it be known that you now oppose it - and ask Christine Keogh to withdraw it. As you lobbied other lobbyists (Ron Kingston - CAR - Lupe De La Cruz -AARP - Joan Lee - Gray Panthers -, Betty Perry - Older Womens' League, Norma Garcia - Consumers Union) for this bill, you should now ask them to oppose it.

One of the deeply disturbing facts about this bill is that homeowners and homeowner advocacy groups were deliberately kept in the dark about it. Homeowners are about to reap the bitter fruits of this concealment unless this bill is withdrawn.

In the past, bills have flown through the legislature when the lobbyists who sponsor them and the legislators who author the bills, misrepresented to fellow legislators that these bills were supported by homeowners, even though the bills had been deliberately concealed from homeowners. For example, in 1990 the CAI Amnesty bill (AB 879) was misrepresented by CAI lawyers that it was to the benefit of homeowners, when in fact it was a raid on homeowner reserve and was to cover up past illegal activities by CAI lawyers such as Richard Fiori - the then chair of CAI/CLAC. It PASSED UNANIMOUSLY . CAI lawyers for years were raiding the millions in the homeowner reserves that had been collected for maintenance and capital replacements. Instead they used it to pay themselves their legal fees, even though we told them it was illegal. They wined and dined Dan Hauser, chair of the Assembly Housing Committee, who then misrepresented the law fellow legislators and even included a provision that would allow boards to charge homeowners UNLIMITED assessments to replenish the reserves after they had been raided by the CAI lawyers.

IT TOOK HOMEOWNERS YEARS TO CAP THE ASESSMENTS. Many homeowners lost their homes because of this, and many more lost all their equity.

In Palacio del Mar, San Clemente CAI lawyers Peters & Freedman have used $300,000 from association dues to do a discriminatory lawsuit that would allow them to continue flooding water around a house that was sliding downhill.

In Lake Forest, California the CAI lawyers Richard Fiore et al used $300,000 from association dues to sue a Greek homeowner over the placement of a satellite dish and lost.

These gouging CAI lawyers are the very group you are bartering with , behind closed doors, and without any input or scrutiny from homeowners.

Bartering the public's homes and rights behind closed doors by vendors and allied politicians is wrong.

You do not have the right to use the mantle of seniors to give CAI lawyers and managers such excessive powers and fees, and12% interest on top of it for life. On the contrary, as a paid lobbyist for seniors, you should be doing everything possible to do away with this bill. When a bill grants an exception to the California Constitution to charge your clients higher interest, it is time that you stand up and fight for your clients.


Richard McKinley
HOA Reports
AHRC News Services

cc: Members of AARP, Consumers Union, Grey Panthers, Older Women's League, Congress of California Seniors, National Media


Related articles:
AARP, Consumers Union, Grey Panthers and Congress of California Seniors Lobby for A Bill That Will Multiply Homeowner Foreclosures

AB 2289, as it is now written, can only benefit CAI scoundrels - I would like to address Committee Members

AB 2289 Analysis & Request for Amendment From Homeowners

CAI Lawyers Slaughter Homeowner Protection Bill

Bill author:
Assemblymember Christine Kehoe: Dem-76 (916) 319-2076 Email Assemblymember Kehoe
Author consultant: Amy King ... Email consultnat King

Bill Sponsor:
Congress of California Seniors: (916)442-4474 Bill Powers Email Bill Powers
Hank Lacayo (805)498-7679 Email Hank Lacaya

Lobbyists who lobbied on this bill:
American Association of Retired Persons -AARP(916)556-3036: : Lupe Dela Cruz Email Lupe Dela Cruz
Consumers Union (916)431-6747 Norma Garcia Email Sacramento Lobby Office
Jim Guest and (914)378-2000 Email Jim guest
Gray Panthers : Joan Lee (916)739-1540
Older Women's League-Betty Perry 9916)444-2526

Homeowner Association Vendor Lobbyists involved:
Community Associations Institute (CAI) - lobby group for HOA lawyers
Executive Council of Homeowner Organizations (ECHO) - lobby group for lawyers
California Association of Community Managers (CACM) - HOA managers trained by CAI lawyers
(Misc. per Author's office: Allied Trustee, title ompany lobbyist, lender lobbyists who lend to HOAs)
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California State AssemblyCommittee on Housing and Community Development Voted Unanimously for AB2289 on April 24, 2002
Committee's primary jurisdictions are Subdivision Map Act re: housing, structural fire safety, rent control, and redevelopment.

Committee Member District Phone E-mail
Alan Lowenthal, Chair Dem-54 (916) 319-2054 Email Assm Lowenthal
Dennis Mountjoy, Vice Chair Rep-59 (916) 319-2059 Assemblymember. Email Assm Mountjoy
Dave Cogdill Rep-25 (916) 319-2025 Email Assm Cogdill
George Runner Rep-36 (916) 319-2036 Email Assm Runner
John A. Dutra Dem-20 (916) 319-2020 Email Assm Dutra
Howard Wayne Dem-78 (916) 319-2078 Email Assm Wayne
Darrell Steinberg Dem-9 (916) 319-2009 Email Assm Steinberg
Christine Kehoe Dem-76 (916) 319-2076 Email Assm Kehoe
Simon Salinas Dem-28 (916) 319-2028 Email Assm Salinas

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Set for Hearing in the California State Assembly Committee on Judiciary
Primary jurisdictions are family law, product liability, tort liability, Civil Code, and Evidence Code (excluding criminal procedure).

Committee Phone: (916) 319-2334 Committee consultant: Drew Liebert: Email Drew Liebert
Committee consultant Drew Liebert had taken bill file home on May 2, 2002. Homeowners attempts to find support and oppostion ignored by both consultants Drew Liebert and Amy King.

Committee Member District Phone E-mail
Ellen M. Corbett, Chair Dem-18 (916) 319-2018 Email Assm Corbett
Tom Harman, Vice Chair Rep-67 (916) 319-2067Email Assm Harman
Patricia C. Bates Rep-73 (916) 319-2073 Email Assm Bates
Rod Pacheco Rep-64 (916) 319-2064 Email Assm Pacheco
Robert Pacheco Rep-60 (916) 319-2060 Email Assm Pacheco
John A. Dutra Dem-20 (916) 319-2020Email Assm Dutra
Hannah-Beth Jackson Dem-35 (916) 319-2035 Email Assm Jackson
Howard Wayne Dem-78 (916) 319-2078 Email Assm Wayne
Darrell Steinberg Dem-9 (916) 319-2009 Email Assm Steinberg
John Longville Dem-62 (916) 319-2062 Email Assm Longville
Juan Vargas Dem-79 (916) 319-2079 Email Assm Vargas>
Kevin Shelley Dem-12 (916) 319-2012 Email Assm Shelley