House Democrats Say Senate Has Been Idle on Foreclosure Bills
The Hannah Report - March 30, 2010
House Democrats said Tuesday that Senate Republicans have paid scant attention to legislative efforts to slow the rate of foreclosure. The Democrats called for the Senate to pass some form of prevention legislation quickly so the two chambers can work out their differences and put something into law sooner rather than later.
"There has been no serious attempt to deal with the legislation and put together some kind of common theme to bring back over to the House," said Rep. Mike Foley (D-Cleveland), chairman of the House Housing and Urban Revitalization Committee and bill chief sponsor.
"We are deeply disappointed in that. Some of us are very angry about that," he said.
Foley talked up his HB3, which passed the House in May 2009 and includes a six-month moratorium on foreclosures, licensing of mortgage servicers and a $750 filing fee for foreclosures.
Also at Tuesday's press conference were Reps. Denise Driehaus (R-Cincinnati) and Ted Celeste (D-Grandview Heights), the sponsor of HB9, which is aimed at helping renters whose landlords' properties are foreclosed. It, too, passed the House in May. Both bills got sponsor testimony in the Senate Finance and Financial Institutions Committee in January, but
there have been no further hearings.
Celeste pointed out he was wearing a Salvador Dali-inspired tie featuring melting clocks, a depiction of the artist's "Time Warp" piece.
"We are in a time warp ... this legislation was passed quite a long time ago," Celeste said.
Bill Faith, director of the Coalition on Homelessness and Housing in Ohio (COHHIO), said passing state-level legislation will complement federal foreclosure-prevention efforts, including the $172 million the Obama administration awarded to Ohio on Monday. (See The Hannah Report, 3/29/10.)
"There's nothing about that [federal] money that replaces the need for the state legislation," Faith said, particularly noting the need to fund housing counselors in light of the federal funding to encourage more loan workouts.
"Who's going to guide the homeowner to that process? ... Foreclosure prevention counselors could perform that job," Faith said.
The representatives did offer some more conciliatory words, noting their willingness to incorporate foreclosure mediation requirements from Sen. Shannon Jones' (R-Springboro) SB197 and to give up some elements of their own plans. Faith said he thought the General Assembly could address foreclosure in a comprehensive way without resorting to the
moratorium in HB3.
"I'm more than willing to let them mess around with it ... but there's no consistent message about what their concerns are," Foley said.
However, they said mortgage servicer licensing and tenant protections were critical elements that need to be in whatever foreclosure legislation ends up passing.
In response to Democrats' arguments, Sen. Tom Niehaus (R-New Richmond), the second-ranking Senate Republican, said his caucus is more interested in the bigger picture.
"Our focus in the Senate remains on addressing the underlying problem with foreclosures, and that is jobs," Niehaus said, pointing to issues like regulatory reform and workers' compensation rates as ways to create a better business climate and get people back to work, making them more able to pay a mortgage.
"When it comes to the foreclosure crisis, certainly it is a very difficult situation for those families, and we're very mindful of that," he said.
He said the best thing for homeowners with mortgage troubles to do is call their lender, and he said programs that address the particulars of individual homeowners' problems, such as mediation, are preferable to one-size-fits-all approaches, such as the moratorium.
"The moratorium, all that does is delay the inevitable," Niehaus said, noting the $750 filing fee in HB3 is also likely a nonstarter with his caucus.
He said Sen. Jones, sponsor of SB197, has been working with interested parties and the Department of Commerce to address issues such as mediation and servicer licensing.