Socialist endorsed Democrat Sen. McEwen also introduced a bill that would create a new government Paint Contractor Board of 5 members for the purpose of regulating and licensing the activity of painting. If Sen. McEwen’s bill become law, the sale of solvent-based paint materials would be restricted to only licensed painters in quantities that exceed a single gallon. Providing the service of painting would be restricted to only license holders who must complete a written and oral exam and have 3-years experience of apprenticeship training.
This bill is seriously impressive in Sen. McEwen’s attempt to combine useless spending, unnecessary regulation, and corrupt preferential treatment to unionized labor all in a single 7-page bill. I'd almost give Sen. McEwen a hat-tip for creativity in conceiving the valueless idea of such utterly useless regulations if this wasn't a real bill presenting real hurdles to Minnesotans seeking to enter the workforce, or consumers looking for affordable options to improve their home. Minnesotans DO NOT need to be licensed to paint their bedroom!
MORE MANDATES FORCING FURTHER RENT INCREASES
In the Senate Housing Committee last week, numerous bills were heard seeking to thrust more and more new regulations on housing providers, both property owners renting out there homes and apartment complexes alike. The Democrat majority seeks to pass a plethora of new regulations that will ONLY increase the cost of rent tenants pay.
SF 2448: Would allow tenants to take it upon themselves to contract for non-emergency repairs and deduct the cost from their rent. In committee I brought up the example of a tenant creating a burn mark on a laminate countertop by putting a hot pan onto the counter. I asked the question if the tenant, after having created the damage due to negligence, could then get a bid for a granite counter and a quartz counter to “repair” the counter by selecting the lower of the two bids. The bill’s author admitted YES, that could happen.
While it is important to ensure compliance with Minnesota's building code, compliance with the terms of a lease, and safety of residents, the vagueness of the bill creates incredible opportunity for abuse by a potentially unreasonable tenant. The poorly defined notification, time, and satisfactory requirements do not provide sufficient opportunity for housing providers to ensure their tenant's units are in good repair, and the inevitable abuse by unreasonable tenants the bill would provide will cause rent hikes for all tenants.
SF 4015: Restricts a housing providers’ ability to perform criminal background of potential tenants. A housing provider may only check a criminal background after spending time reviewing other eligibility criteria and investing substantial time into an applicant and can only deny an application for criminal convictions of arson, human trafficking, or criminal sexual conduct. Housing providers will be forced to sign leases with convicted felons, thieves, and violent criminals who have not committed these specific crimes potentially jeopardizing the safety and security of peaceful tenants if the felony conviction is more than 365 days ago. For many felony convictions, the lapse of a single year is not enough time to ease safety/security concerns. If the bill becomes law, peaceful tenant and children may be forced to live next door to violent criminals.
SF 3807: Requires housing providers to complete expensive professional radon tests every 3 years, even if a radon mitigation system has already been installed. Not only will the cost of the tests increase rent despite much cheaper options being available that can help determine if more extensive testing is necessary, the bill requires a housing provider to spend thousands-upon-thousands of dollars within 90-days to mitigate. Housing providers will be forced into expensive renovations in a limited amount of time despite health authorities recommending action to be taken within a year for the vast majority of cases of elevated radon levels within a home. The costs will be passed to tenants.
Many of the bills coming through the Housing Committee may initially sound good for renters on the surface. However, these bills are often so poorly written due to a lack of understanding from Democrats of the work housing providers do to sign leases with tenants for the best price possible.
LUCERO ON THE MOVE
