Homeowner protections approved by Assembly panel

CARSON CITY - A bill intended to protect home buyers from unscrupulous developers and contractors has been approved by the Assembly Judiciary Committee.

SB32 was endorsed Thursday after going through substantial changes and amendments.

Originally, the bill required that builders with a history of complaints about shoddy construction post bigger bonds to work in Nevada.

It was amended in the Senate Commerce and Labor to include a preamble stating that all licensing boards must protect consumers and not the licensees. And any board member who violates the preamble could be removed.

But both provisions were cut from later versions of the bill. It now simply clarifies that home buyers can sue the "master developer" as well as contractors and subcontractors when they file a construction defect lawsuit.

It also provides an arbitration mechanism so buyers, developers, contractors and subcontractors have the opportunity to work out a solution before engaging in expensive court battles that can drag on and on.

SB32 also requires that home owners must disclose to prospective buyers any construction defect lawsuits they have filed in the past - even if the problems were repaired.

Committee members seemed uncomfortable voting for the bill, despite assurances from trial lawyers, developers and contractors that the amended version of SB32 was a good compromise that all parties are happy with.

"I have some concerns that this is not going to do what witnesses say it's going to do," said Assemblyman John Carpenter, R-Elko. "I hope it works out, but I have my doubts."

Assemblywoman Barbara Buckley, D-Las Vegas, called the bill confusing even after repeatedly asking for clarification from representatives of the Nevada Trial Lawyers Association, the Nevada Home Builders Association and a subcontractors group.

Buckley later called the bill a "leg-o-matic," meaning that provisions from different bills were mixed together to draft SB32 - now a completely different piece of legislation than it was when first introduced.

"Everything in the original bill was replaced and just the bill number was used," she said.

Assemblywoman Sharron Angle, R-Reno, voted against the bill, saying she thought forcing disclosure of defect lawsuits was an unfair burden on home owners.

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