Individual / Property Rights
Individual Rights
In 2003, Betty Brown voted to create the Texas Residential
Construction Commission (TRCC) when she voted for HB 730. According to the Texas Ethics Commission,
Betty's campaign has accepted more than $60,000 in donations from the homebuilding industry. Homebuilders actively
supported the TRCC, which was instituted under the guise of regulating residential construction in Texas, but has been widely
criticized for protecting homebuilders rather than homeowners.
When a homeowner has a problem with
their builder, and the builder refuses to resolve the problem, the homeowner can no longer go immediately to arbitration or
litigation. Instead, that homeowner must contact the TRCC, and for a fee (which the homeowner pays), the TRCC
will send out an inspector to look at the alleged defects.
The inspection report is shared with the homebuilder,
but the builder has no legal obligation to repair the defects. The homeowner must go through a mandatory mediation period, and
the TRCC has no power to enforce the results of the mediation.
In short, the homeowner has several
more hoops (and a new fee) to contend with. If at the end, the builder refuses to fix the defects, neither the homeowner
nor the commission can do anything about it. Only after this process has been endured, can a homeowner take a builder
to court.
Property Rights
Since the passage of the Trans-Texas
Corridor plan in 2003, private property has been under seige. Betty Brown supported the plan. The Trans-Texas
Corridor allows for the acquisition of private property for the building of toll roads financed and owned by private companies,
including foreign companies.
". . . the commission [TxDOT] has the same powers
and duties relating to the condemnation and acquisition of real property for a facility of the Trans-Texas Corridor that
the commission and department have relating to the condemnation or purchase of real property... [Sec.227.041(a)]
Essentially, TxDOT can condemn any property in the path of the Trans-Texas Corridor. But that's not all. After
TxDOT has acquired that property, it can lease or sell those rights to private commercial entities not related to
road construction.
"...contract with a person for the use of part of a transportation
project, or lease or sell part of a transportation project, including the right-of-way adjoining the portion used to transport
people and property, for any purpose, including placing on the adjoining right-of-way a gas station, garage, store,
hotel, restaurant, parking facility, railroad track, billboard, livestock pasturage, telephone line or facility,
telecommunication line or facility, data transmission line or facility, or electric line or facility, under terms set by the
authority." [Sec.370.172(a)(2)].
This means:
1. TxDOT has been authorized
by the legislature (including Betty Brown) to condemn your property if it falls in the area of the Corridor,
AND
2. TxDOT can turn around and sell your property for any purpose--including gas stations, hotels,
restaurants, etc.