This Legislative Update is provided by Nick Norman, Director of Landlord Legislative Affairs
You can reach Nick at nicknorman@yahoo.com
Howdee everyone,
Important
Updates:
HB203, Representation
Landlord/Tenant Court
Passed the full house &
is now referred to Senate Judiciary
HB315, 7 Days Eviction
Notice In Certain Circumstances
Passed the full house &
is now referred to Senate Judiciary
SB135, 2015 Lead Law
Changes
Victory!
Passed Senate Finance
and passed full Senate 24-0.
Now it will work its way to
the house.
Action items this
week:
1. If not done already, study
SB135, 2015 Lead Law Changes (full detail below)
This is a very large bill
and yes it requires some study. However, we have a summary and talking points
that walk you through the bill.
Latest version (same as last week) is at http://www.gencourt.state.nh.us/legislation/2015/SB0135.html
See more info in Summaries
& Full Detail for each bill further below which includes property owner
position, contact info, Talking points, and more.
(To jump right to
bill detail, use Control-F, Find).
Hearings this
week:
None scheduled so
far
Hearings next
week:
None scheduled so
far
Further below
is:
Bills Updated
Status summary:
Full details on
all bills above
(Which includes
property owner position, contact info, talking points, and more)
Love &
Light,
Nick
Norman
Director of
Legislative Affairs
==============================================
We only list the
committee reports on the most important bills affecting the real estate
business. If you want to get the
committee report on one of the other bills contact me & I will show you how
to get them on line. It’s not terribly
hard to get but not straight ahead either.
SB135
Title: relative
to lead poisoning in children.
Property Owner
Position: Mostly For, Some Against, Some Neutral, Changes
recommended
House Status:
none
Senate Status:
Ought to Pass with Amendment, Vote 4-0.
Senator Kelly for
the committee.
SB232
Title: exempting
certain leases from the real estate transfer tax.
Property Owner
Position: You Decide
House Status:
none
Senate Status:
SB235
Title: relative
to the condominium act and the land sales full disclosure act.
Property Owner
Position: Limited Impact; You Decide
House Status:
none
Senate Status:
==============================================
Full details on all bills
above:
SB135, 2015 Lead
Law Changes
Title: Title:
relative to lead poisoning in children.
Summary: This is
a very large bill with many different sections all with the intent to reduce
childhood lead poisoning. There has been
stake holder meetings for several months with some landlord representation
resulting in this legislation. The stake
holders continue to meet regularly.
We’re sure that there will be continued push and more lead legislation
for a long time coming. We are mostly
for or are neutral on this bill.
The Conservation
Law Foundation, CLF, specifically, Tom Irwin, has specifically been at the
forefront of pulling together the interested parties hearing all sides and
working with all stakeholders to draft this language. Tom has worked well with us to hear and
incorporate our input.
The bill is large
and is divided into several sections.
Therefore for clarity in understanding the bill, our analysis will walk
you through the bill in order section by section.
Property Owner
Position: Mostly For, Some Against, Some Neutral, Changes
recommended
Link to Committee
Info:
Email to
Committee:
To:
Subject: SB135
Link to Bill
Text: http://www.gencourt.state.nh.us/legislation/2015/SB0135.html
Analysis Stated
in Bill:
Talking
Points:
Section 1: Laboratory Reporting
Property Owner
Position: Neutral
This section
relates to having DHHS, Department of Health & Human Services track and
report screening rates. That is how many
children are being screened (asked questions) and or tested each year. The screening rates have always been way
below long established state guidelines.
Landlords stand
aside on the issue of screening so we have no position on this
section.
Section 2: Capillary Blood Testing
Property Owner
Position: For
“Capillary Blood
Test” is what you might call a finger prick test that draws a few drops of blood
as opposed to a venous test which actually draws blood from a vein using a
needle.
Capillary blood
tests are said to have less accuracy than a venous draw. Partly because the portable test modules are
not as accurate as a sample sent to a lab and partly because the people
operating the capillary test machines are not trained medical staff. Occasionally, lead on the persons finger ends
up in the sample.
We have been a
push for parents and landlords to receive ALL test results of ANY level. This is because earlier detection allows both
family and landlord to take well thought out reasonable measures to prevent the
lead exposure before an entire lead abatement order becomes issued if the level
reaches 10ug/dl.
DHHS is extremely
reluctant to take on the reporting responsibility for values below 5ug/dl
ostensibly because of the expected enormous work load required and no budget for
it. The have to find contact info for
the landlord whereas the parent contact info is already on the reporting
forms. Also past results show there
would be about 1000/y reportings required at 5 and above. We don’t know how many reports would be
required at less than 5. Presumably way
more.
Note that the
version passing the Senate committee adds a duty to the study commission to look
at the issue of reporting results <5ug dl.="" span="">
This provision of
section 2 advises the family to get a venous draw test so they get an accurate
picture and eliminate “false alarms”. It
also recommends that the tenant inform the landlord which is in part
accomplishing what we have been asking for.
It further
recommends the tenant contact the landlord rather than do anything regarding the
lead hazards on their own. This moves
again in a direction we have been asking for.
It makes some movement toward solving the issue of tenants creating the
lead hazards.
Section 3: Child Lead Screening
Property Owner
Position: Neutral
This section
stresses health care providers are responsible for screening for lead and to
follow state guidelines. If they don’t
meet the guidelines by 2017 then DHHS will adopt rules to require them to do
so.
Landlords stand
aside on the issue of screening so we have no position on this
section.
Section 4: Property Owner Notification of Elevated
BLL
Property Owner
Position: For
The latest
revision as the bill leaves the Senate committee is that landlords are only
notified of venous draw tests and not capillary tests. This is a little watered down from the
original bill where we would be notified of both venous and capillary test. (See below about DHHS’s resistance to the
work load of giving these notices).
Something is
better than nothing and presently we are not getting any notices in the range of
5-9.9ug/dl so this section is quite good for us in that when we are notified of
low levels of lead we can work with the tenant family and be proactive at taking
all precautions to eliminate the poisoning in a common sense way before it
escalates to higher levels which will more greatly harm the child and trigger a
lead abatement order. Many times the
tenant family and the landlord can work together in a common sense way before an
order is triggered and solve the issue easily before the extreme expense of an
order is triggered.
The back ground
for this is that there has been a request for DHHS to notify property owners and
parents at ANY level. The thinking which
we agree with is that the earlier everyone is notified the sooner everyone can
take measures to be sure the child’s BLL does not rise and only goes down from
here. DHHS wants to be able to give
notice at any level but their old software system and some test methods are not
as reliable when readings are <5ug actually="" an="" behind="" but="" data="" dl="" does="" get="" have="" it.="" like="" not="" number="" says="" simply="" something="" span="" style="mso-spacerun: yes;" the="" they="" where=""> They are working towards a software change to
update their systems and be able to accurately give notice at lower levels. We say why not just create a simple modern
spreadsheet to hold the data. Almost
anyone could do that in an hour’s time.
Because capillary
testing at low levels is less reliable and because of the data complications
expressed in the above paragraph, there is language like “the data is deemed
reliable by the department”. When their
systems are updated in the future this language allow them to report lower
numbers with out having to make yet another change in the state
law.
Also DHHS is
extremely resistant to notifications below 5ug/dL primarily because they can not
handle the work load. Part of the issue
is the unreliability of capillary tests, (operators of test are often not
medical staff and actually introduce lead to the skin surface before the pin
prick is made).
Part of the
issue, harder to solve, is the extra time spent for DHHS to find the owner of
the property. There are about 1000 BLL
levels reported per year from 5-10 ug/DL.
Less than 5 is believed to be a much larger number.
All landlords we
have spoken to are for this section.
Section 4: Parent Notification of Elevated
BLL
Property Owner
Position: For
This section is
quite good for us as well in that when parents are notified of low levels of
lead they will usually become proactive at taking all precautions to eliminate
the poisoning before it escalates to higher levels which will more greatly harm
the child and trigger a lead abatement order.
Many times the tenant family and the landlord can work together in a
common sense way before an order is triggered and solve the issue easily before
the extreme expense of an order is triggered.
Notice that the
parents get reporting of both capillary and venous testing while landlords only
get notification of venous testing.
All landlords we
have spoken to are for this section.
(Similar notes as
section on Landlord Notification above).
Section 6: Civil Suits
Property Owner
Position: Against
May be upgraded
to Neutral if amended.
Technically, this
section does not change the understanding of civil liability so we’re not sure
why it is needed.
The Senate
committee amendment does add a sentence to address the subsequent repairs
concern. (Previously flagged as an issue).
We are suggesting
the following change to the tenant responsibility side of this
section.
"Evidence of
disturbance of lead based substances by the tenant, his guests, invitees, or
anyone else he or she brings into the leased premises, or the tenant’s pets
shall be admissible evidence. Failure of the tenant to notify the landlord, as
required in written lease or rental agreement, of any peeling, chipping,
chalking, cracking or disturbance of lead based substances shall also be
admitted into evidence."
If both of these
changes survive in the amendment we would upgrade our position from against to
neutral.
Section 7: Lead Screening Commission & Essential
Maintenance Practices Task Force
In the amendment
both would be combined into one commission with subcommittees one for Lead
Screening and the other for
Essential
Maintenance Practices Task Force
Lead Screening
Commission
Property Owner
Position: Neutral
Essential
Maintenance Practices Task Force
Property Owner
Position: For
Basically, the
committee would set up a standard of care to be followed by all owners of such
property. The committee is to study similar programs in other states, Vermont is
the primary example, work with public health officials in formulating such a
program, and look into incentives for compliance. 14 people are to be appointed
to the committee from various occupations related to public health and rental
housing.
The fundamental
idea here if such a program would be put in place is likely that rental property
owners would need to submit an annual report stating that they have inspected
the rental property and fixed any lead hazards using lead safe techniques. Also there could easily be a program
requiring old leaded windows not yet replaced to at least be fitted with a
system of simple vinyl strips and window will inserts to eliminate the friction
surfaces of the leaded portion of the windows.
In exchange for
this standard of care the property owner would receive a reduction in liability
in lead law suits. At the stake holders
meetings, an attorney representing interest of trial lawyers said the legal
protection for landlords will be killed by the trial lawyers. So the “carrot” portion of this proposal
definitely needs substantial work.
At one of our
landlord meetings it was suggested that to get a limit in liability landlords
should just keep a maintenance log and that the
landlord’s property maintenance log be admissible evidence in defending
landlord liability. This idea eliminates the beauracracy and still give us
possibility of some protection.
Also what if
tenant denies us access to make repairs. Law should state that tenant has to
give landlord access, similar to bedbug provision.
Some
background:
As of late, I
have been involved with the lead stakeholders meetings that resulted in this
legislation. Most of the stake holders
wanted to simply put an Essential Maintenance Program in place with this
bill. My strong comment to them was that
more time was needed to analyze and come up with a plan that landlords could
agree with. They decided to take my
advice and create a task force instead.
Most but not 100% of the landlords I speak with are in favor of this
section because it will give landlord’s voice in the process & more time in
designing the Essential Maintenances Program.
Forcing in place a program that was not well thought out could have been
very detrimental to landlords.
The commission
membership at our recommendation was raised from 1 to 4 landlord representatives
which addresses our major concern.
The Child care
member was amended to be from a property pre1978. Which is one of the concerns
we raised.
We recommend a
few modifications to this section of the bill.
Should an in home
day care be included from a property pre1978?
Since there most
likely will be a proposed essential maintenance practices program coming from
the committee that may become law, we should have some way to review the
proposal and have input on it before the committee makes its final
recommendation to the legislature. We
ask that the meeting minutes and proposed essential practices be posted on a
website of the general court & the general public be allowed to make written
comments to the committee and such
comments be reviewed by the committee before it makes any recommendations to the
legislature.
We also recommend
that a minority report option be made available for the final
report.
There is also one
change we will be asking for on the appointing of a landlord
representative.
Notes some other
good things.
This version as
amended by the Senate committee adds some duties to the commission
including:
VI. The
commission shall explore and examine options for assisting property owners in
the abatement of lead-based paint hazards.
VIII. The
commission shall assess the feasibility and benefits of requiring the department
to provide notice to landlords and parents pursuant to RSA 130-A:6-a and RSA
130-A:6-b when a child has been found to have a blood lead level less than 5
micrograms per deciliter.
Previous Section
on Child Care License/Permit Suspension, Revocation, Denial
has been
removed.
Previous sections
related to RSA 540-A prohibited acts
has been
removed.
Previous section
related to Building Permits To Require RRP If Applicable
has been
removed.
Section 8: Repeal
commission on Completion
Section 9: Effective Dates For Different
Sections
=====================
SB232, Exempting
Certain Leases From The Real Estate Transfer Tax
03/02/2015 at
09:30 AM SH 103
Title: Title:
exempting certain leases from the real estate transfer tax.
Summary: This
bill would exempt from the transfer tax any lease, including any sales,
transfers, or assignments of any interest in the leased property, where the term
of the lease, including all renewals, is less than 99 years.
Property Owner
Position: You Decide
Link to Committee
Info:
http://www.gencourt.state.nh.us/Senate/committees/committee_details.aspx?cc=S07
Email to
Committee:
To:
andrew.hosmer@leg.state.nh.us; jeanie.forrester@leg.state.nh.us; 0;
chuck.morse@leg.state.nh.us; dalas@leg.state.nh.us; john.reagan111@gmail.com; ;
Subject: SB232
Link to Bill
Text: http://www.gencourt.state.nh.us/legislation/2015/SB0232.html
Analysis Stated
in Bill:
Talking
Points:
This bill seeks
to clarify that a real estate transfer has not taken place with leased
property.
=====================
SB235,
Condominium Sale Recording & Financial Disclosure Requirements
03/18/2015 at
11:00 AM LOB 102
Title: Title: relative to
the condominium act and the land sales full disclosure act.
Summary: This
bill makes revisions to the condominium act in regard to recording requirements
and financial disclosures.
Property Owner
Position: LimitedImpact; You Decide
Link to Committee
Info:
http://www.gencourt.state.nh.us/Senate/committees/committee_details.aspx?cc=S27
Email to
Committee:
To: 0;
dboutin1465@comcast.net; bette.lasky@leg.state.nh.us;
nancy.stiles@leg.state.nh.us; molly.kelly@leg.state.nh.us; ;
Subject: SB235
Link to Bill
Text: http://www.gencourt.state.nh.us/legislation/2015/SB0235.html
Analysis Stated
in Bill:
Talking
Points:
The bill does not
seem to have any direct effect on the residential rental market.
==============================================
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