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EMERGENCY
POWERS OR NEW OPENINGS FOR SCAM ARTISTS?
By
Jan Bergemann
Published
June 20, 2014
Looking
at the revised provisions regarding emergency powers after
natural disasters it may look like a good idea.
But
this is
Florida
and scam-artists and folks looking for kickbacks are
obviously everywhere according to daily media reports.
Now the legislature decided to make existing law even stronger,
removing some of the safeguards that protect condo owners from
board members willing to circumvent existing consumer protection
laws and scrupulous contractors.
This
new bill looks good on the surface, but between the lines its
outright dangerous. Is that what the
Florida
legislature really had in mind or is that just another bill
that has too many unintended loopholes between the lines?
The
predecessor of this bill (FS
718.1265)
already allowed
scrupulous board members to sign contracts (in exchange for
kickbacks) without jumping through the hoops normally required
in FS 718, but the new language opens these doors even wider.
Good
idea? We will see!
And despite the promise of Governor Rick Scott to only sign
non-controversial bills into law this one was definitely
more than just controversial. I guess Scott just meant to say: I
only sign bills into law that come in connection with big
campaign donation checks! Campaign donation checks obviously
make every bill non-controversial -- in his eyes!
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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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