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Mindy Carr
Director of Government Affairs |
Commissioner
republishes rule changes
As reported to
you in the August 4 Breaking News, Texas Department of
Insurance Commissioner Mike Geeslin has requested republication of
agenda items that were considered during the 2004 Texas Title
Insurance Biennial Hearing.
With a proposed effective date of
November 1, 2005, these agenda items have been republished in
the Texas Register for comments from the public. The deadline
for comments is
September 12, 2005.
To view items as published in the Texas
Register, click here.
To view the individual agenda items as proposed, click here.
More story
Increase
in filing fees effective Sept. 1
Confusion over the effective date of House Bill 950 by Rep. Carter
Casteel has prompted the Texas Association of Counties (TAC) to
distribute a memo to all its county officials. This bill which passed
during the 2005 regular legislative session and includes a September
1, 2005 effective date, increases the real and personal property
records filing fees to $5.00 for the first page and $4.00 for each
additional page containing a visible mark.
More story
GIVE US THE GOODS! - Donate to the
Online Auction:
tlta-bay
Oct. 31st-Nov.
11th
The
Annual PAC Auction will be held online and we need your help to make
it a huge success. For the past several years, TLTA has asked member
companies to donate an item and because of their support, the silent
auction has been a huge success. We hope to continue the
tradition by hosting this year’s Online Auction which benefits the
TLTAPAC. More story
TLTAPAC
- Investor Recognition Program
The
TLTAPAC has
gone through some positive changes in the last year. We have
increased the size of the PAC
Board of Trustees, updated the
Bylaws, increased fundraising opportunities and created an investor
program. The investor program is designed to reward recognition to
those who invest in the PAC as well as help promote the PAC when
attending TLTA
events.
Click here to view our investor program levels and benefits.
More story
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Special Session Update
Regulars around the capitol began referring to the special sessions
as “Groundhog Day”, referencing the Bill Murray movie in
which the protagonist awakens every morning to exactly the same day
he lived through the day before. By the end of the two special
sessions, the proper movie reference was more like “Weekend at
Bernie’s." All they seemed to be doing was dragging around a
dead corpse, a.k.a. the school finance reform bill.
More story
ON THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL
Legislators to retire
Senator
Jon Lindsay (R-Houston)
announced in June he wouldn’t seek re-election. A former Harris
County Judge, he has served eight years in Senate District 7. So
far, only Rep. Peggy Hamric (R-Houston) has officially
announced her candidacy; however there is discussion of other
candidates assembling their teams and campaign plans. Houston
City Councilman Mark Ellis will announce on Aug. 26. State
Rep.
Joe Nixon
(R-Houston) has announced his plan to run.
More story
Governor’s race draws Democrats
Democrat Chris Bell announced his candidacy to run against
Perry.
Bell,
a Houston lawyer and a former reporter, was a former city councilman
and one-term congressman. He lost his congressional seat after the
Legislature drew his district to his disadvantage. Bell is one of
two Democrats running for governor.
More story
RESPA Roundtable
Meetings Update
HUD wrapped up it
series of RESPA reform roundtable meetings and will now begin
drafting a proposed rule. Representatives from TLTA participated at
two of the 7 scheduled meetings and voiced concerns regarding HUD’s
proposed changes to RESPA.
More story
How many lobbyists does it take to pass a bill?
The
Washington D.C - based Center for Public Integrity recently
published numbers on the nation’s lobbying efforts. As usual, Texas
was among the “big shots” ranking second with total lobbying
spending of $162.1 million, or just over $895,000 per lawmaker.
More story
Builders/Remodelers
cited for registration violations
The
Texas Residential Construction Commission (TRCC) levied 170
administrative fines and approved agreed orders against builders and
remodelers that failed to renew their registrations by their
expiration date. More story
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