InterNACHI Addresses Kansas HI Board Abuses of Authority

[James H. Bushart]

The following letter was sent on Tuesday to the Governor of Kansas with copies to various Kansas newspapers.

Those of you who are dealing with local electronic media outlets in your areas are free to copy and send this to the reporters you are working with.

Please join me and thanking Nick for his support and Mark for his expertise.

THE COHEN LAW GROUP
A Professional Corporation

_________________________________

Mark Cohen Of Counsel
Jeffrey D. Cohen, J.D., LL.M., C.P.A.
Also at The Cohen Law Firm, P.C.
Alison L. Choy Kilmer, J.D., M.B.A.
Sierra K. Swearingen, J.D.

November 10, 2009

Hon. Mark Parkinson
Governor of Kansas
300 SW 10th Ave., Ste. 212S
Topeka, KS 66612-1590

RE: Kansas Home Inspector Registration Board

Dear Governor Parkinson:

We represent the International Association of Certified Home Inspectors – InterNACHI.

InterNACHI is the largest trade association representing the interests of home inspectors in North America, with more than 8,000 members. The IRS has granted InterNACHI tax exempt status under Section 501(c)(6) of the Internal Revenue Code. The two other major trade associations in the industry are ASHI and NAHI (smaller organizations).

I wrote your predecessor several times to express concern about the possible appointment of Jeff Barnes to the Kansas Home Inspector Registration Board – the Board tasked to implement your state’s relatively new legislation governing home inspectors. Unfortunately, Governor Sebelius appointed Mr. Barnes, and since then many of the concerns InterNACHI had expressed about Mr. Barnes have proven to have been prophetic.

Mr. Barnes has used his position to implement and interpret the legislation to the advantage of members of his organization – ASHI:

o Since his appointment Mr. Barnes has demonstrated his bias by ruling that those who passed the ASHI test (not psychometrically evaluated) need not incur the expense of retesting, but those who have passed the InterNACHI test (which is psychometrically evaluated) must pay to take another test.

o Mr. Barnes recently claimed he cannot approve InterNACHI’s courses because he “lost them.”

o Mr. Barnes issued himself Kansas Home Inspector License number 1, and now advertises that he is “Number 1” in Kansas and is “Kansas’s 1st Registered Inspector.” You can see this for yourself at
http://www.benchmarkpropertyinspections.com. He did this even though the law does not allow for registration of inspectors until 2010. Our members believe he did this without any written policies or procedures for registration in place. I am told at least eight other inspectors attempted to register and were unable to do so.

If this constitutes misuse of public office and misleading advertising, it may be criminal.

o It is unknown whether Mr. Barnes paid a registration fee or what accounting procedures are in place for any monies paid by others who applied.

o Mr. Barnes enjoys a B-minus rating from the Kansas Better Business Bureau.

Mr. Barnes is not the only member of the the Kansas Home Inspection Registration Board using his position to further his own interests. An attorney member of the Board, Ed Robinson, is now advertising that his position allows him to help homebuyers navigate the complexities of the new law. He even did it in a story about his law practice it in the Wichita Eagle. See, http://www.kansas.com/657/story/1031963.html.

Since Governor Sebelius signed the home inspection bill into law, much has changed. Kansans are facing hard times and Kansas has severe fiscal problems. The law is not protecting taxpayers. The legislation was a gift to special interests, people such as Mr. Barnes.

Although they failed to demonstrate a need for such legislation, it imposes additional burdens and costs on all home inspectors, and particularly those who do not belong to ASHI. Home inspectors
necessarily pass these costs on to their customers at a time when they can least afford them and when nothing should be done to interfere with the sale of homes.

Moreover, the insurance burdens and educational provisions contained in the law are exceedingly burdensome on the rural inspectors who mostly shun ASHI and prefer the online educational opportunities offered by InterNACHI. The result is to open the rural portions of Kansas for the big city inspectors who charge much higher fees.

Mr. Barnes continues to push forth his agenda and has initiated steps that would favor ASHI and its members over other hard-working and highly qualified Kansas inspectors.

InterNACHI strongly encourages you to take a hard look at the home inspection regulatory scheme in Kansas and the makeup of the Board. Kansans deserve men and woman on the Board who are unbiased and who have not demonstrated bias against inspectors in rural areas.

Governor, we know you face many issues, and that home inspection regulation is but one of those. Your time is valuable, but I would like to ask for thirty minutes of your time so InterNACHI’s Founder and I can meet you in person and explain our thoughts on how to improve the legislation.

Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely,

THE COHEN LAW GROUP
A Professional Corporation
Mark Cohen

MSC:tb MARK COHEN

Copy:
Kansas City Star
Wichita Eagle
Topeka Capital-Journal

[James E. Braun, CMI]

Good letter, thanks Nick and Mark!

[Erby Crofutt]

The wordsmith is at it again. I hope the governor grants their request for time to discuss the issues.
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[Gary Farnsworth]

There are two active CMI's in Kansas; me and Dan Bowers. Between the two of us, our phone has not been ringing at all. Due to the new Kansas laws, RE agents, insurance agents, engineers are all exempt from the laws. If you do one or two "system checks", those persons are also exempt. I believe that the contractors, roofers, plumbers, etc. are all doing system checks for free. I know for a fact that a real estate company in Missouri are doing radon testing in Kansas cheaply, and for "discounts". Apparently, all of the KCRAR, MAR, Luke Bell, and any other agent and their associations now could care less about home inspectors.

The Governor and the lawmakers feel the same; all they care about is the next election. I am voting for the one who is NOT in office, no matter what.

[David Moriconi]

Great Letter

Lets us now if you get a response.

[David Moriconi]

Gary the RE office you speak is that Reality Executives in LS,MO

[Gary Farnsworth]

Yep. An "independent" RE office in Overland Park is doing home condition evaluations for free, since one of their agents is a former contractor. I do radon checks, but have used the Air-Chek kits for years without an issue. I have heard some concerns for RE agents doing radon tests with electronic equipment; you can program electronics to do and say anything; I heard they only charge about $75.

[James E. Braun, CMI]

In Columbia, MO there is a Realtor that owns his own environmental company. He does not know his butt from a hole in the ground when it comes to mold. He even does mold remediation and performs his own clearance testing. Realtors love him. For some reason he never finds anything wrong with a moldy house. He charges half of what I do. Sad but true.

[Dan Bowers, CMI]

Radon Testing -

I've done radon testing since 1992. I've used cannisters and electronic monitors for tests. I've set 2 different brands of electronic monitors up in my own house ALONG with different brands of cannisters on several occassions to check them for accuracy against each other.

On any time I've tested like this I've never had a spread of more than 0.7 of a spread between the group. Therefore I'm comfortable with the ability of both types of tests to produce accurate results.

HOWEVER, the cannisters can be cheated on easier than the electronics.

[James H. Bushart]

Posted on Sat, Nov. 28, 2009
Some home inspectors say new Kansas law doesn’t pass the test

By DAVID KLEPPER

The Star’s Topeka correspondent

TOPEKA |


For years, anybody with a stepladder and a flashlight could work as a home inspector in Kansas.


There were no state licenses for inspectors and no state agency to complain to if inspectors failed in their job.


But a new law imposing regulations on Kansas home inspectors has set off a firestorm in the industry. Some inspectors argue that the law will drive good inspectors out of business, hurting the very public the law intends to help.


“I’m worried about my business right now,” said Gary Farnsworth, an Olathe inspector who has deluged lawmakers with requests to reconsider the law. “I don’t want somebody running my business. This gives the (regulatory) board absolute power to control the industry.”


Under the law, inspectors must register with the state and abide by professional standards derived from national inspector associations. They must be trained and meet continuing education requirements. The law also requires inspectors to have insurance and caps liability for inspectors who are sued at $10,000.




Of particular concern to Farnsworth is a provision that allows the licensing board to examine the work records and reports of inspectors under investigation.


Lawmakers who pushed for the new law argue that homebuyers deserve to have protection from inspector negligence. They said most inspectors already abide by the new standards voluntarily. And they note that real estate agents, architects, appraisers and mortgage brokers already are regulated.


“It’s a basic consumer protection,” said Rep. Steve Brunk, a Bel Aire Republican and one of the prime advocates of the legislation. “We felt there needed to be some minimal standards.”


But Farnsworth and some other inspectors are fighting the new rules.



They accuse the man charged with implementing them of abusing his position for personal gain.


Jeff Barnes, a Wichita home inspector, serves as the chairman of the state’s fledgling Home Inspector Registration Board. Barnes said he got involved to ensure whatever regulations the state adopted were fair to inspectors and the public.


Barnes registered himself before any other inspectors and claimed the first registration as his own. His professional Web site proudly declares him to be “Kansas’s 1st Registered Inspector.”


And the registration board’s official address is Barnes’ own address.
All this has raised some eyebrows.



“He’s using his clout to help his own business,” Farnsworth said.


But Barnes said he gave himself the first registration because he was testing the system before registering other inspectors.


“This is a whole new agency,” Barnes said. “We had to test out the process.”
Barnes said that because of budget woes, the state can’t afford an office for the board yet, so he had to use his own address.


But the International Association of Certified Home Inspectors was so concerned about Barnes that its lawyers wrote to Gov. Mark Parkinson, asking him to investigate. A spokeswoman for Parkinson said he would take the request under advisement.


Farnsworth also questions why the new rules are even needed. He thinks real estate agents wanted to shield themselves from liability, so they pressured lawmakers to make home inspectors liable for up to $10,000 for mistakes.



Previously, inspectors could limit their liability to the cost of the inspection.


Brunk, the main advocate of the new law, is a real estate broker.


But Brunk said that the law won’t help his business and that nothing in it prohibits homebuyers from suing anyone — inspectors or agents — if they feel cheated.


If anything, he said, the new law’s cap on inspector liability shields inspectors from potentially devastating lawsuits.
To reach David Klepper, call 785-354-1388 or send e-mail to dklepper@kcstar.com.