2007 - Kansas Home Inspector Bills

[Dan Bowers, CMI]

In Kansas 2 Bills are being introduced. Both are pushed by the Realtors (KAR). One would prohibit a home inspector from "limiting or disclaiming any type of liability in a RE transaction". That was introduced this week.

The 2nd Bill to be introduced next week is a registration/licensure act.

Stay tuned.

[Marcel R. Cyr]

Originally Posted by dbowers

In Kansas 2 Bills are being introduced. Both are pushed by the Realtors (KAR). One would prohibit a home inspector from "limiting or disclaiming any type of liability in a RE transaction". That was introduced this week.

The 2nd Bill to be introduced next week is a registration/licensure act.

Stay tuned.

Dan, exactly what is this about, another venture by the RE to dispose some of their own liabilities or what?

Seems like the Home Inspector will have to swallow more liabilities.

Marcel

[Paul Sabados]

As per discussions with several inspectors, Mr. Bell stated that no inspection legislation would be introduced by KAR. That statement was made to Mike Greenwalt, KARCI lobbyist, also to the lobbyist from NAHI. Mr. Bell as not returned any calls or emails from myself or other KARCI members to this date.

What is very interesting is that people from outside of the state knew about the upcoming proposal.

So KAR is in fact sponsoring this bill and is also supporting another Bill that was introduced last week by the Trial Attorney's which specifically is targeted at home inspectors being able to limit the amount of liability and disclosure of terms and conditions.

[Paul Sabados]

It appears that the final version of a licensing bill has been introduced on the House floor today.

From: office@karei.org
To:
Sent: Saturday, January 27, 20079:38 AM
>Subject: Legislation Update
>
>
> > Well, its done. The language for the home inspection bill has been
> > finalized. This is not a draft or a scare tactic as some in the Kansas
> > City have been trying to portray over the last few weeks. We don't play
> > those games. Our time and your time is to valuable and truthfully we just
> > don't have free time to spew the hateful derogatory dribble which has been
> > going around. What we have been doing is spending countless hours making
> > sure those who want to regulate us, but don't have a clue about our
> > industry, don't have a free hand to slap us down. Most of you have seen
> > the Tom Sloan language and I even sent out a note about it a few days ago.
> > As you may remember, that language was, for the most part, taken from a
> > proposal we reviewed at our annual membership meeting in 2005 at Royals
> > Stadium. Some have been spreading the story that this language came from
> > KAR, but if you were at the meeting at Royals Stadium, pull out a copy of
> > what we discussed and check for yourself. We can actually back up what we
> > tell you with facts here at KAREI. WE don't have to make stuff up. Rep.
> > Sloan put his own spin on it which made it very harmful for our industry.
> > Due to the legislatures business schedule a dead line of last Wednesday
>was
> > place on the introduction of all new legislation for this session.
> > Unfortunately, apparently no one knew this but the committee chairs so we
> > were cut out of presenting our preferred language. All is not lost. We
> > spent many many hours and into the early hours of the morning both
> > Wednesday and Thursday on the phone and with e-mails to amend Rep. Sloan'
> > bill into a bill which was acceptable. We had two choices, fight a bill
> > which already had enough positive attention to get the votes to pass both
> > houses, or fight to fix the bad bill. We were able to work with Rep.
> > Sloan and Rep. Steve Brunk the chairman of the Commerce and Labor
> > committee, which is where the bill will be place to make corrections. We
> > have developed and fostered many friendly relationships with key
> > legislators over the summer including Rep. Brunk which has greased many
> > wheels. All summer long we have been battling over unacceptable
> > requirements on limits of liability which KAR and the legislature wanted
> > to be at $15,000, but we were able to defeat this ridiculous amount. Over
> > the last few days we have gone over dozens of revisions back and forth
> > between us, KAR, Rep. Sloan and Rep. Brunk and have come up with a very
> > favorable bill. We were able to lower all of the requirements for
> > financial responsibility including general liability, which went from
> > $300,000 to $250,000, bond requirements, which went from $15,000 to
> > $10,000, and the big one, liability limits which went from $15,000 of
> > mandatory liability limit per inspection to $1,000 with no strings. No
> > requirement to offer increased liability for an additional fee, no $1,000
> > per system, simply $1,000 period. What this does is helps us to keep the
> > trial attorneys off of our back because there is no money in it. They
> > wont be trying to defeat the "cost of the inspection fee" language in your
> > pre inspection agreement because it wont be there. What will be there is
> > the maximum liability limit per state law which is $1,000. What this will
> > cost you is this. You will have to present, prior to the inspection a
>"pre
> > inspection notice" not a pre inspection agreement. The original language
> > required a pre inspection agreement be signed before the inspection could
> > start. We argued that many times the client is not present or was planing
> > to attend and at the last moment had to stay late for work, etc., so this
> > language was not practicable in the real world. Although we all agree a
> > pre inspection agreement is very important to provide the inspector with
> > contractual protections, what we agreed to was a pre inspection notice
> > which simply lists the limits of the liability, scope of the inspection,
> > and the standards of practice you are following. This can be a generic
> > document developed by the Registration Board which all Realtors can have
> > and provide at the time the purchase contract is signed. No prevision was
> > made that "WE" had to get it to the client, only that it had to get to
> > them. If the Realtor agrees to deliver the form for you this will satisfy
> > this provision.
> >
> > Many items were traded out of the bill but only those items which the
> > Inspector run Registration Board can put into place as administrative
> > items.
> >
> > Look it over and read it carefully, some areas are tricky and require
> > reading the entire section to get the picture of the whole concept for the
> > section. The bill should be available on the legislatures web site on
> > Tuesday, we don't have a bill number yet, but we will let you know. I
> > have attached the final language with this note, but the final copy will
> > have some structural changes to make it fit the states standard.
> >
> > It has been a long hard road with literally thousands of dollars spent,
> > most of which was not the memberships, and hundreds of hours spent in
> > research, discussions, meetings, and travel. With this bill we are not
> > protected and will always have to be vigilant against those who want to
> > harm us, but it does give us many protections which will give us a solid
> > platform to fight from.
> >
> > Key elements of the bill are:
> > (1) If you are a current active inspector have taken a nationally
> > recognized exam, have been in business for at least 3 years and have
> > completed 300 inspections and are a member of NAHI, NACHI, or ASHI you
> > will only need to comply with the financial requirements, which are
> > $250,000 general liability, $25,000 fidelity bond (less than $200), and
> > pick your choice of a $10,000 surety bond, bank letter of credit or escrow
> > account.
> >
> > If you are a current active inspector or a newbie and have not taken a
> > nationally recognized exam and have not been in business for 3 years or
> > completed 300 inspections than you will need to complete 80 hours of class
> > room study with educators approved by the Registration Board by July 1,
> > 2008. This can be at a single class or at weekend classes. You must also
> > join one of the national associations listed above which is set up to
> > monitor continuing education activities and provide other benefits the
> > state cannot offer and meet the same financial protection requirements.
> >
> > (2) The limit of your liability as mentioned above is $1,000, and has a
> > statute of limitations of 12 months from the date of the inspection.
> >
> > (3) You can choose the standards of practice you desire from NAHI, ASHI,
> > or NACHI and your pre inspection agreement may include additional
> > restriction on your scope of service. The only restriction is if your
> > restrictions differ in scope from the Bord published restrictions it must
> > be provided before the inspection.
> >
> > (4) Specific restrictions have been listed to insure tradesman,
> > contractors or other professionals which may desire to do home
> > inspections, such as engineers follow the same rules as the rest of us.
> > This was not done to pick on any particular group, only to insure a
> > minimum standard is followed by all.
> >
> > (5) The bill provides the teeth needed for the Board to in-force the
> > rules and regulations and adopt additional regulations as needed to grow
> > with the industry.
> >
> > That's it, very simple. We will publish the bill on the KAREI web site as
> > soon as this process is completed.

A meeting that was schedule with KARCI's president elect Mike Greenwalt was cancelled by representative Sloan. Mr. Sloan stated to Mr. Greenwalt that he is only interested in discussing regulations with the ASHI people.
More to follow as things unfold, Missouri inspectors you're next. Things are again happening behind the scenes in deep secrecy

Paul

[James H. Bushart]

Paul - While the bill's sponsor has chosen to limit his discussions with strictly ASHI representatives (where he knows his strength lies), would any of his political foes on the other side of the aisle consider joining forces in a fight against this bill?

[Dan Bowers, CMI]

Another bill hit today in Kansas. Something along the lines of you can't do pest inspections unless licensed to apply pesticide or similar language.