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Regular Legislative Session Wrap Up
LOUISIANA REALTORS • June 9, 2020
Louisiana REALTORS® was once again successful in advocating on behalf of the real estate industry and defending the rights of property owners in the 2020 Regular Legislative Session. While the atmosphere was a little different at the Capitol, your advocacy team defeated bills that would have harmed the industry and moved the ball forward with others. Below is a summary a few of the items in which you may be interested. We will provide a final report after the governor’s veto period expires.
The Louisiana Legislature is currently in special session, and Louisiana REALTORS® continues to monitor legislation and advocate on your behalf.
Remote Online Notarization
House Bill No. 274, Representative Garofalo
Status: Sent to the Governor
This bill seeks to authorize the performance of notarial functions remotely using technology. Remote online notarization allows documents to be notarized in an electronic form where the signer uses an electronic signature and appears before the notary using online audio-video technology.
However, this bill would not allow for an “authentic act” to be done by remote means. This is significant to the real estate industry because most transactions with a mortgage are done by authentic act. This is done so the lender can foreclose by executory process. The legal and notary community is not currently comfortable completing these acts by remotely, so authentic acts are excluded from the proposed authorization in this legislation.
If passed, remote online notarization would not be available until February 1, 2022, or until remote online notarization is authorized by federal law (whichever comes first). This could make real estate closings more efficient, and NAR has supported similar efforts since November of 2018.
Lease Eviction Requirements
House Bill No. 388, Representative Mandie Landry
Status: Involuntarily Deferred in the House Committee on Civil Law and Procedure
House Bill No. 388 sought to delay the time in which a landlord can evict a tenant for nonpayment of rent. The proponents of the bill failed to recognize the inherent time delays built into legally evicting a tenant for non-payment. The landlord must first file a rule for possession with the proper court or justice of the peace. The sheriff or constable must then serve the tenant with notice of the rule and then a hearing must be scheduled. None of this happens overnight. This bill would have further delayed a landlord from placing a paying tenant in his or her property. Like tenants, landlords have bills to pay. Any time a landlord does not receive a payment or timely receive a payment there is a ripple effect that may cause the landlord to not be able to pay other bills or to provide for his or her family.
This is exactly the message Louisiana REALTORS® sent to all legislators on the committee. and it resonated. The bill was soundly defeated, with many legislators echoing the reasons above as to why they were against the bill.
Legal Deadlines Affecting Eviction Moratoriums
House Bill No. 805, Representative Thomas Pressly
Status: Sent to the Governor
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Governor Edwards has issued a series of orders suspending prescription and legal deadlines. The suspension of legal deadlines has effectively prevented legal proceedings such as evections for nonpayment of rent from taking place until the suspension is lifted. The current order suspends all legal deadlines including evictions through June 14th, but that is subject to change.
House Bill No. 805 seeks to (1) affirm the Governor’s previous orders; and (2) provide that the suspension of legal deadlines will end July 6th. However, the bill provides that evictions could move forward earlier than July 6th if Governor Edwards does not suspend the laws pertaining to evictions in future orders.
Louisiana REALTORS® has been in communication with Governor Edwards’ office about this issue to ensure that the suspension of legal deadlines pertaining to evictions ends sooner rather than later. As of the date of this posting, non-CARES Act evictions may proceed on June 15th but that is subject to change. We will continue to communicate with Governor Edwards on this issue.
COVID-19 Limitation on Liability
House Bill No. 826, Representative Thomas Pressly
Status: Sent to the Governor
Senate Bill No. 435, Senator Mark Abraham
Status: Sent to the Governor
These bills seek to limit the liability of persons and businesses for injury or death resulting from or related to the actual or the alleged exposure to COVID-19 in the course of the persons’ or business’ operations unless the person or business acted in such a way that was negligent or intentional or not in substantial compliance with applicable governmental COVID-19 procedures.
These bills extend the limitation of liability to the business of real estate including but not limited to agents, brokers, appraisers, and inspectors.
CARES Act Funding for Small Businesses
Senate Bill No. 189, Senator Bodi White
Status: Sent to the Governor
This bill has to do with the money that is part of the $1.8 billion sent to Louisiana through the $2 trillion CARES Act stimulus passed by Congress. Approximately $1 billion of this may be used to plug holes in the state budget once one is finalized. The governor wants the remaining dollars to go to local governments. The legislature wants to take some of the remaining dollars to go to local governments and to small businesses, including real estate-related businesses.
If this bill becomes law, SB No. 189 takes $300 million and puts it in the Main Street Recovery Fund in the State Treasurer’s office to allocate grants for small businesses with 50 or fewer employees. The theory is that local governments will make up the money in sales taxes, etc. if more small businesses survive, and then there will not be a need for a direct bailout for them.
The bill provides for minority-owned businesses and those who have not received other federal programs like the PPP to have access first, then the fund would be open to all Louisiana based small business owners.
Omnibus Premium Reduction Act of 2020
Senate Bill No. 418, Senator Kirk Talbot
Status: Sent to the Governor
This is what has been referred to as the Omnibus Premium Reduction Act of 2020. The goal of legislation is to reduce the cost of auto insurance by bringing Louisiana’s legal structure in line with the rest of the country.
This is significant because in a 2019 survey where more than 800 realtors responded, you told us that keeping up with technology is your first concern, and a close second was fear of litigation. This bill, if it becomes law, would transform the Louisiana civil legal structure, and reduce the chances of your being a defendant in a tort lawsuit by doing the following:
- The jury trial threshold for tort actions would be $10,000 instead of $50,000. A higher jury threshold allows attorneys to “shop” for a more favorable judge for a plaintiff’s case.
- The jury trial threshold for all other actions would be $35,000. This would allow for anything less than $35,000 to be heard by a judge, thereby ensuring that these matters can be handled in a timely manner. Louisiana REALTORS® helped business interests and courts in reaching this agreement.
- A person would have two years to bring a claim after an auto accident instead of one year. This would give parties time to work out a settlement instead of running to the courthouse to preserve their claim.
- When a plaintiff's medical expenses have been paid by a health insurance company or Medicare, his recovery of medical expenses is limited to the amount actually paid to the health care provider by the insurer or Medicare, and not the amount billed. However, there was a last-minute amendment that muddied the waters on this and could potentially provide a windfall to plaintiffs. If signed or allowed to become law, legislators seek to fix this in the special session.
As previewed last week, NAR is pleased to share the latest consumer guide focused on preparing for homeownership. This guide covers what prospective buyers should consider as they kick off the home purchase process, including the importance of credit scores, mortgage pre-approval, down payments, budgeting, and educational resources. As a reminder, all guides in this series are available for download—in both English and Spanish—on facts.realtor . Please allow a few days for the Spanish version of the latest resource to be translated and uploaded. For ease of reference, below is a list of the most recent guides: NEW: Preparing for Homeownership Escrow and Earnest Money Pricing Your Home Preparing to Sell Your Home Fire Damage and Policy Coverage Thank you for your continued engagement with the “Consumer Guide” series and for sharing the resources with potential clients to ensure they have the information they need to be successful in their homebuying or selling journey. Remember that these guides are for informational purposes only and are not meant to enact or change any existing NAR policy. Be on the lookout for next week’s guide on Wednesday, which will cover property taxes.
As previewed last week, NAR is pleased to share the latest consumer guide focused on escrow. This guide covers what homebuyers should know about earnest money deposits, including the general terms and use cases in real estate transactions. As a reminder, all guides in this series are available for download—in both English and Spanish—on facts.realtor . Please allow a few days for the Spanish version of the latest resource to be translated and uploaded. For ease of reference, below is a list of the most recent guides: NEW: Escrow and Earnest Money Pricing Your Home Preparing to Sell Your Home Fire Damage and Policy Coverage Flood Insurance Thank you for your continued engagement with the “Consumer Guide” series and for sharing the resources with prospective clients to ensure they have the information they need to find success in their homebuying or selling journey. Remember that these guides are for informational purposes only and are not meant to enact or change any existing NAR policy. Be on the lookout for next week’s guide on Wednesday, which will cover preparing prospective buyers for homeownership.
The Louisiana REALTORS® Board of Directors will conduct several elections this Spring. Interested candidates that meet the qualification who are looking to serve at either the state association level or the national association level are encouraged to view the criteria and submit an application. An application that is not submitted on the appropriate form or not submitted pursuant to the instructions shall not be considered as submitted timely.
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