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SOME BILLS ARE JUST RIDICULOUS!
By
Jan Bergemann
Published
February 2, 2017
It must be in the Slosberg family: Father Slosberg filed bills
only dealing with seat-belt laws – and I guess he was mostly
famous for his Corned Beef Sandwiches he had served during his
campaigns, more so than for his bill-writing capabilities.
His daughter follows in his footsteps and comes up with a bill
supposedly protecting seniors against bullying.
Since here in Florida many seniors are board members in
community associations, the question will be: What if the
SENIORS are the BULLIES? (Just kidding!)
Here is the kicker: We have here in Florida a well-advertised
agency called Department of Elder Affairs (Website:
http://elderaffairs.state.fl.us/index.php
) -- supposedly helping seniors against scams, fraud and other
“mischief.” The Mission Statement of the Department: “To Help
Florida’s Elders remain healthy, safe and independent.”
That all sounds fine and dandy, but in all reality the
Department will not help Elders who call about scams, fraud and
financial mischief in community associations that threaten their
health and financial welfare. Obviously, and I heard that from
different elders I talked to, the Department considers community
associations out of their jurisdiction, even if Elders are
defrauded scammed and abused.
Maybe some legislators should file a bill that would give this
department jurisdiction, enabling them to help Elders abused in
community associations. But I guess then the Department would
need a lot more staff, because their workload would seriously
increase.
Just for the record: Neither this bill (HB 123) nor the Senate
companion bill (SB 1366) filed by Senator Kevin Rader was heard
in committee yet. Both bills will most likely not get any
hearing at all. I guess our legislators have more important
things to discuss than bills that just look good but do
absolutely nothing. I consider it a waste of resources to file
such bills!
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Jan Bergemann is president of Cyber Citizens For Justice,
Florida
's largest state-wide property owners' advocacy group.
CCFJ works on legislation to help owners living in
community
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associations. He moved to
Florida
in 1995 - hoping to retire. He moved into a HOA, where the
developer cheated the homeowners and used the association dues
for his own purposes. End of retirement!
CCFJ was born in the year 2000, when some owners met in
Tallahassee
- finding out that power is only in numbers. Bergemann was a
member of Governor Jeb Bush's HOA Task force in 2003/2004.
The organization has two websites to inform interested
Florida
homeowners and condo owners:
News Website: http://www.ccfj.net/.
Educational Website: http://www.ccfjfoundation.net/.
We think that only owners can really represent owners, since all
service providers surely have a different interest! We are
trying to create owner-friendly laws, but the best laws are
useless without enforcement. And enforcement is totally lacking
in
Florida
!
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