By Carolyn McCullough, President

Fayette County Board of REALTORS®

As we work to help protect private property rights, one of the important tasks of the Fayette County Board of REALTORS® is to work in conjunction with the Georgia Association of REALTORS® to keep up-to-date on the progress of proposed legislation affecting our industry and our clients.

During the General Assembly session, we receive Legislative Bulletins from the state association, and keeping abreast of the issues is the responsibility of our local association's Political Communications Committee, headed up this year by Kathy Murphy of Tri-City Realty & Mortgage.

Here are examples of measures which have already been introduced and which are of interest to our industry and our clients.

One of our legislators from Fayette County, Rep. Lynn Westmoreland, has introduced a package of bills related to codes and licenses. House Bill 50 would require counties and municipalities to notify permit holders of the existence of local amendments to state minimum standard codes at the time building permits are issued.

House Bill 151 would provide that registered professional engineers could conduct inspections to determine code compliance. House Bill 152 would provide for the licensing and regulation of home inspectors. House Bill 154, which relates to electrical contractors, plumbers, conditioned air contractors, low-voltage contractors, and utility contractors, would provide for licensing and regulation of these contractors and provides for an additional Division of Residential Contractors within the State Construction Industry Licensing Board.

Senate Bill 4 and Senate Resolution 4 revive the Land, Water and Wildlife Heritage Fund proposal which was defeated in the voting on amendments last year. The objectives of the heritage fund are to acquire, conserve, manage and preserve Georgia's natural and historic areas, water resources and wildlife habitats.

Last year, while we favored the objectives of the proposal, we opposed passage of the amendment because funding would come from doubling the real estate transfer tax, meaning that the monies would come only from that small percentage of our population which buys or sells real estate. Under the newly-introduced measures, which once again depend on passage of an amendment, the monies would come from the state's general revenue.

The Georgia Real Estate Commission 1999 Legislative proposal seeks the authority to reduce paper forms, applications and documents in the filings of applications and fees by using new and existing technologies.

It would also allow the Georgia Real Estate Commission the option to deny an application from a person convicted of three or more misdemeanor criminal offenses other than minor traffic violations; and allow the commission to issue citations for minor violations of the license law not appearing to result in immediate harm to the public. More serious violations or multiple minor violations would still be dealt with through the existing hearing process that can result in such sanctions as suspension or revocation of license. Other proposals include House Bill 12, which would provide for a misdemeanor criminal penalty for persons who knowingly and without authority enter the dwelling house of another; House Bill 153, which would authorize magistrate courts to impose 12 months' imprisonment for violations of county and state ordinances dealing with criminal trespass;and House Bill 33, which would eliminate certain recording fees with respect to preferential or current use assessment of tangible real property devoted to agricultural use, bona fide conservation use property, and bonafide residential transitional property. Also being considered are House Bill 58, which provides for the issuance of a housing affordability impact note for any legislation or rule that affects the cost of constructing a residential unit of housing; House Bill 112, an attempt to prevent large commercial timber growers from circumventing the forestry licensing law; House Bill 120, which would provide that leases shall not be considered in establishing the fair market value of real property; House Bill 125, which would eliminate the mobile home decal issuance and display requirements; and House Bill 136, which would expand the rights of an owner of property to bring and action for money damages or other relief against the owner of property upon which certain conduct, including pollution, impairment or destruction of a natural resource, occurs. (The Fayette County Board or REALTORS® is one of more than 1,800 local boards and associations of REALTORS® that comprise the National Associationof REALTORS®. As the nation's largest trade association NAR is "The Voice for Real Estate", representing nearly 750,000 members involved in all aspects of the real estate industry. The Fayette County Board of REALTORS®can be contacted by calling (770) 461-2401.)