DATELINE AUSTIN
October
27, 2004
page 2
What’s happening on school finance?
The legislature has been waiting all summer for the courts to decide
on whether or not the Texas school funding system is constitutional.
Travis County Judge John Dietz ruled that the
state's school finance system fails to provide an adequate, suitable
education as required by the Texas Constitution.
The ruling reinforces hundreds of Texas school districts' claim that
the state
is not
putting enough money into the system to produce the quality of
education demanded in its own laws and constitution. The districts
also argue it is
forcing too many of them into a de facto state property tax,
which is unconstitutional.
Judge Dietz
did say that it would be possible to fix the constitutional problems
in school finance with more state money and less local
money. So what does this mean for the title insurance industry?
Governor Perry has publicly said he would call the legislature back
before the regular session begins in January if there was a
consensus between the House and the Senate. More than likely, this
battle will be fought in January. Since the courts ruled that the
State needs to find more money to fund public schools, you can be
assured the real estate industry will be a target!
TLTA’s 2005 Legislative Agenda
Legislative Committee Chair
Bruce Boyer proposed recommendations to the Board on possible
legislation to be sponsored by TLTA. The board approved several
items to be considered by the legislature when they convene in
January. Proposals include making changes to the Confidentiality
Notice that was passed last session – SB 1559. Our intent will be to
only require the notice on those documents that contain social
security and/or driver license numbers and clarify that the
County Clerks
cannot reject documents that do not comply. We also will be looking
at changes to the probate code, manufactured housing, judgment liens
and child support liens. We feel there are a number of issues that
will be debated during the session that will affect the title
insurance industry such as privacy, county clerk fees, transfer fee
tax and mandatory sales price disclosure. Pre-filing for the 2005
Legislative Session begins November 8th. Watch for the
November Dateline for a full report on TLTA’s Legislative Agenda. If
you know of any potential legislation that may affect the industry,
please contact Mindy Carr at
mindy@tlta.com.
Basic Manual Update Effective Nov. 1,
2004
The Texas
Department of Insurance recently approved updates to the Texas Title
Insurance Basic Manual effective Nov. 1, 2004. These changes
include updates to P-27 and T-37A. Many of you have already ordered
your update, but if you have not sent in your order, please do so as
soon as possible!
In order to get
these changes to you quickly, we have developed a simple order form
and procedure.
Click here to download the order form. Please complete and sign
the form and fax it to the TLTA office at 512.472.5931. The cost of this update is $2.50 each, but we’ll include
this amount in the billing for the next update that we anticipate in
the Spring of 2005. There is no need to pay now, simply fill out
the form, fax it to us and we’ll ship your order to you right away.
Political Kudos . .
.
Austin Dishman, Golden Triangle Title Services, Inc. attended Rep. Allan
Ritter’s (D-Beaumont) fundraiser.
Bruce Boyer,
Ameripoint Title in New Braunfels, played in Rep. Edmund Kuempel’s
(R-Seguin) annual golf fundraiser. Denise McCue, Crossroads Abstract
& Title, attended a fundraiser for Sen. Ken Armbrister (D-Victoria).
ON THE FRONTLINE
Mindy Carr attended the
House Ways and
Means Committee meeting to hear presentations on sales tax and other
tax related issues. TLTA CounselRobert Sneed and Mindy Carr met with Rep. Jim
McReynolds (D-Lufkin) in
Austin
to discuss some of the issues affecting the real estate industry. He
currently serves on the House Local Government Ways and Means
Committee. Jack Rogers and Eric McNeese both with AmeriPoint Title
along with TLTA Legislative Counsel Allen Place and Mindy Carr met with Senator Jeff
Wentworth (R-San Antonio) to discuss issues related to electronic
document charges. Mindy Carr also met with representatives from the
Community Development Corporation to discuss possible legislation
affecting the title insurance industry.
Don’t Forget to VOTE on November 2
This is a very important election year and I encourage you to review
the list of legislators the
TLTAPAC
has contributed to in both the primary and general election.
In addition, we would like to urge members to re-elect our friend
Jan Patterson for the Texas 3rd Court of Appeals. The 3rd Court of
Appeals is the primary appellate court for both civil and criminal
cases in 24 Texas counties. Justice Patterson
is active in bar organizations and currently serves on the Supreme
Court Advisory Committee. If you would like to read more about
Justice Patterson please click
here.
If
you have a recommendation regarding PAC contributions, please
contact Mindy Carr at
mindy@tlta.com or call
800.472.1711. Also, if you have not yet contributed to the
TLTAPAC
this cycle, please do so today.
Click here, for a
TLTAPAC
Contribution Form.
Click here, for a list of
TLTAPAC
Contributions to Legislators.
TLTA Board approves positions on 2004 Agenda
Items
The TLTA
Board of Directors recently adopted recommendations from the Rates,
Rules and Forms Committee for the 2004 Texas Title Insurance
Biennial Hearing. Chair Sheri Asbell presented the committee’s
recommendations to the Board at their October meeting. The
rulemaking phase of the 2004 Texas Title Insurance Biennial Hearing
will take place on December 15, 2004 at
10:00 a.m. in Room 100 of the
William P. Hobby
Jr. State Office Building, 333 Guadalupe Street in
Austin. The
ratemaking phase is currently set for December 31, 2004 at 9:30 a.m.
Additionally, agenda items relating to P-53 will be discussed at a
special hearing on
Tuesday,
November 2, 2004, at 10:00 a.m. in Room 100 of the Texas Department
of Insurance in Austin.
For a complete list of agenda items and TLTA’s positions, please click here.
RESPA: Update
Small Business Committee Chair, Donald Manzullo (R-IL) recently sent
a strong message to HUD Secretary Alphonso Jackson. The letter
warned Jackson that a repeat of last year’s release of a proposed
RESPA rule while Congress was not in session would not be tolerated.
Manzullo stated, “Failure to comply with this request will result in
the Committee being forced to take whatever action it can to enforce
the promise made in the letter of withdrawal.”
To view the full text of Manzullo’s letter, please click here.
Capitol Hill - Washington D. C.: Bills, Bills, Bills
EFFECTIVE:
Check Clearing for
the 21st Century Act, or Check 21 Act - Sets forth a statutory
framework under which a substitute check is the legal equivalent of
an original check for all purposes, if the substitute check: (1)
accurately represents all of the information on the front and back
of the original check as of the time the original check was
truncated; and (2) bears the legend: "This is a legal copy of your
check. You can use it the same way you would use the original
check."
To view the full text of H.R. 1474,
click here.
INTRODUCED:
Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) has introduced legislation to
reduce identity theft by restricting the sale and display of Social
Security numbers used by government agencies and businesses and
prohibiting companies from requiring consumers to provide their
Social Security numbers.
To view the full text of S. 2801,
click here.
PASSED:
The House Financial Services Committee successfully moved three
pieces of bipartisan legislation to: protect military personnel from
unfair financial products and bad sales practices; extend the
terrorism reinsurance program for two years; and implement the
recommendations of the 9/11 Commission.
To view the full text of HR 4634,
click here.
To view the full text of HR 5011,
click here.
Texas Land Title Association
1717 W. 6th St. Suite 120
Austin, Texas 78703