On Monday, the Florida Senate passed out a messy piece of legislation that proponents blithely assert will help usher in a new age of prosperity and economic growth.
YIPEE! POP THE CHAMPAGNE! HOORAY!
But the legislation is badly flawed in so many different ways. I’ve documented them in detail, but all of those problems have thus far been ignored. One of my favorite problems that still exists is the massive increase in attorneys fees that the bill will force judges to hand out to the banks. Ha ha, be careful what you ask for…you might just get it! Here’s where that comes in:
line 412″ƒState that if the mortgage provides for reasonable attorney attorney’s fees and the requested attorney attorney’s fees do not exceed 3 percent of the principal amount owed at the time of filing the complaint, it is unnecessary for the court to hold a hearing or adjudge the requested attorney attorney’s fees to be reasonable
Got that? So on a $500,000 mortgage, that would be whooping $15,000 in attorneys fees that a judge could award. Yipee! Foreclosure Mill field day, sponsored by the Florida Legislature.
There’s so much more that’s wrong here, but I say, “Pass the damn thing out already, let’s get Florida’s economy moving!” That was the general tone in the Senate with lots of comments about how foreclosures were a major drag on the economy and how they, “Need to do something, Now!” Well, this ain’t it, but what the heck, let them just go right ahead…..the thing has so many bad parts about it, that I’m not even sure major tweaking will make it functional. But maybe we should all just shut up, let it pass, then have a little looksie back at this time in our state’s legislative history in the Year of Our Lord 2013.
From a news story:
” I think it’s a joke that they call it the Fair Foreclosure Bill because there’s nothing fair about it to the consumer,” Dellutri said.
The bill advanced 5-2, along party lines. The measure goes next to the Senate Banking and Insurance Committee, chaired by Sen. Garrett Richter, R-Naples. The House bill goes to the Judiciary Committee.
Richter, who is also a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee and president of a Naples bank, voted yes Monday. ” The state of Florida needs to get its arms around all the abandoned properties,” get them cleaned up and get them back on the market, he said. ” It’s not a perfect piece of legislation,” he said. ” But it’s moving toward meaningful legislation.”
