We seem to be caught in a sort of time warp when it comes to the foreclosure statute rewrite in H. 403. Although I was away on Friday attending a New England regional bar meeting, the House Judiciary Committee spent some time again reviewing the bill and taking testimony from Judge Teachout. She was critical of some of the language and wanted the bill to cover some things that were not and are still not included. So, the Chair asked our ad hoc group to meet yet again to amend the amended language of the amended draft to the bill as introduced; yes, I meant to say that! So yesterday the VBA hosted yet another meeting where we continued to narrow down the issues and I think now we’ve resolved all but one: the owner occupied language that appears in non judicial foreclosure. I don’t think we’ll find agreement there and the Judiciary Committee will just have to make that policy decision. Later this afternoon we’re back before the Committee presenting and explaining our amendments yet again.
Also, the Vermont Bankers’ Association is hosting a noontime meeting to try to resolve the issue of extending mediation to all foreclosure cases, not just to those mortgages covered by HAMP (since that program is set to expire at the end of this year). There is no bill yet introduced that will make the extension but Vermont Legal Aid and the AG’s Office have it among their priorities for this session.
Later this week the House Commerce Committee will begin testimony on H. 565, the licensed lender bill. I hope all of you that are interested in this issue will take a look at the bill and get any comments to me before Thursday. At this point I have one of our members who wants to come in with some comments and suggestions to make the exemption language a bit more clear.
Action on H.272, the private roads maintenance bill has been delayed until next week due to the unavailability of witnesses.
There was an introductory explanation of H. 553, the conservation easement bill. At the conclusion of the limited time available to the committee the chair said he was not sure when or if they will return to hear more. I know there are many of you with some real reservations about the bill and I will track it and keep you informed in this blog.
Later this week the Senate Judiciary may well complete its work on H. 203, the child support enforcement bill along with S. 116 the probate bill. The House Ways and Means Committee will return to work on the proposal for the Tax Dept. to collect the education portion of our property tax. I know this is an issue of great concern to title searchers and we are approaching the time when I may ask you to start contacting your legislators and informing them of what this change could mean.
Finally, I will be presenting the report of the Post Irene Property Law Task Force to the Speaker of the House tomorrow and to the governor’s Irene Recovery Officer Sue Minter on Friday.
More as the week goes on. Thanks for reading.
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