Monday, May 16, 2005
Duncan Duels with Homebuilders
A testy exchange broke out this afternoon in, of all places, the Senate Nominations Committee. That noted revolutionary, Sen. Robert Duncan (R-Lubbock), had it out with the homebuilding industry, er, the Texas Residential Construction Commission--it's so hard to tell the difference these days. The TRCC--the new state agency tasked with regulating the homebuilders--is run by and for the homebuilding industry. In fact, Bob Perry's right-hand man, John Krugh, wrote much of the bill that created the TRCC and was appointed as one of its commissioners by Gov. Rick Perry (no relation to Bob Perry, at least genetically). You remember ol' Bob, the Houston homebuilder and Republican sugar daddy (more than $4 million in 2004 campaign contributions). Krugh and his eight fellow mostly builder-affiliated commissioners are up for Senate confirmation and hence their appearance before the nominations committee.
Duncan said he was upset that his TRCC reform bill, SB 1390, never even got a committee hearing. He blamed the homebuilding industry and "members of the commission" (read: Krugh) for killing SB 1390. Krugh conceded that he didn't like 30 percent of the bill, including a section forcing homebuilders to disclose when new homes haven't been inspected.
Duncan shot back at Krugh: "I'm asking you to take off your builder hat, if you can. When you're sitting on this commission...you have to make decisions based on what's in the best interest of the state of Texas, not just what's in the best interest of the builders. Now, taking off your builder hat...do you not think it's a good thing for a consumer to know that their house hasn't been inspected?"
Krugh: "Once you put it that way, I agree with you, yes sir."
Duncan: "But you opposed that provision in the bill?"
Krugh: "'Opposed' is awfully strong. I had objections to portions of it."
Duncan: "Seems to be opposed, to me." The Lubbock Republican then launched a general broadside against the TRCC, saying that the commission was "stacked" in favor of industry. "[TRCC] appear[s] to the public to be a regulatory body, when in fact, the people really being regulated are the consumers, not the builders," Duncan said. This elicited a sharp response from Commissioner Paulo Flores, who insisted that he is, in fact, not "in the pocket of the building industry."
That didn't sway Duncan, who fired off a warning shot, "I'll say this before I go. I've got a poll of [Senators] who have concerns." It would take 11 "no" votes on the Senate floor to kill any of the nine commissioners' nominations.
Duncan said he was upset that his TRCC reform bill, SB 1390, never even got a committee hearing. He blamed the homebuilding industry and "members of the commission" (read: Krugh) for killing SB 1390. Krugh conceded that he didn't like 30 percent of the bill, including a section forcing homebuilders to disclose when new homes haven't been inspected.
Duncan shot back at Krugh: "I'm asking you to take off your builder hat, if you can. When you're sitting on this commission...you have to make decisions based on what's in the best interest of the state of Texas, not just what's in the best interest of the builders. Now, taking off your builder hat...do you not think it's a good thing for a consumer to know that their house hasn't been inspected?"
Krugh: "Once you put it that way, I agree with you, yes sir."
Duncan: "But you opposed that provision in the bill?"
Krugh: "'Opposed' is awfully strong. I had objections to portions of it."
Duncan: "Seems to be opposed, to me." The Lubbock Republican then launched a general broadside against the TRCC, saying that the commission was "stacked" in favor of industry. "[TRCC] appear[s] to the public to be a regulatory body, when in fact, the people really being regulated are the consumers, not the builders," Duncan said. This elicited a sharp response from Commissioner Paulo Flores, who insisted that he is, in fact, not "in the pocket of the building industry."
That didn't sway Duncan, who fired off a warning shot, "I'll say this before I go. I've got a poll of [Senators] who have concerns." It would take 11 "no" votes on the Senate floor to kill any of the nine commissioners' nominations.