Landlords Win in the Assembly
Bills makes evictions easier. Real estate industry gave $1.2 million to GOP legislators.
Frank Lasee and David Craig.
A GOP proposal that would make it easier for landlords to evict tenants and limit the frequency and cost of local rental unit inspections was approved Tuesday by the Assembly.
The measure, Assembly Bill 771, which was backed by the Wisconsin Realtors Association and groups representing landlords and apartment building owners, was authored by Sens. Frank Lasee, of De Pere, and David Craig, of Big Bend. Lasee, who recently resigned his Senate seat to take a job in the Walker administration, is a former real estate broker. Lasee received about $40,000 in campaign contributions from the real estate industry, and Craig, a real estate agent, received $4,100 in contributions from real estate interests between January 2011 and June 2017.
Overall, the real estate industry contributed $1.2 million between January 2011 and June 2017 to current Republican lawmakers. The top recipients of the industry’s contributions were the Committee to Elect a Republican Senate, about $139,500; the Republican Assembly Campaign Committee, about $131,200; and Republican Sen. Alberta Darling, of River Hills, about $108,800.
Top real estate industry contributors to current legislators and legislative fundraising committees between January 2011 and June 2017 were:
Wisconsin Realtors Association Political Action Committee (PAC), $283,550
Wisconsin Homeowners Alliance Corporation, $52,000
Greater Milwaukee Association of Realtors PAC, $46,000
Madison developer Joseph Alexander, $44,400
Middleton developer Terrence Wall, $29,900
In addition to direct contributions, the Realtors Association and its affiliate, the Wisconsin Homeowners Alliance, has spent an estimated $835,000 on outside electioneering activities since January 2012 to support Republican legislative and statewide candidates.
The bill, which was approved on a near party line vote and sent to the Senate for action, would:
Limit the amount of time courts can prevent tenants, such as domestic violence victims, from being evicted. Current law allows judges to delay evictions while a tenant is waiting for emergency assistance, but the bill would limit court-ordered delays to 10 days;
Limit the violations landlords can be cited for to health and safety items, rather than aesthetic factors;
Prohibit local governments from imposing building and property maintenance fees without first notifying the owner;
Require renters with disabilities to have medical documentation in order to have a task- or emotional-support animal;
Raise the maximum amount a landlord can charge a prospective tenant for a consumer credit report from $20 to $25;
Make renter eviction records available to the public for at least 10 years;
Loosen state renovation standards for landlords with historic buildings.
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There’s 2 sides to every story (tenant vs landlord), but it’s obvious that landlords have more $$ and power, so of course the vote goes to them…
I’ve followed the stories re the Slumlords that play the system…Again,,,they have the $$. The courts are weak; lawyers figure out “the system”; legislature/governor favor big contributors….with this scenario, how can a tenant have any power.
And yes, I do realize there are bad tenants…just saying the “scale” tips to the landlords.