HB 1714 has been sent to the Committee of Professional Registration and Licensing for their review. The next step will be for the committee to announce a date for a public hearing.
Missouri inspectors who are not wanting to experience the Kansas debacle are encouraged to keep their calendars flexible so that they can be present to voice their opposition to this bill. It will probably be scheduled for the last week of February or first week of March.
Several House representatives who have opposed the same bill in its same form in previous years have announced their intentions to support it, this year.
The Missouri Association of Realtors have been lobbying for it very hard and are counting on the Missouri inspectors to stay home and remain silent like the majority of Kansas inspectors did.
If circumstances are such that you are, indeed, kept away from this meeting and you still want to participate in fighting the bill that day, send me an email at jimbushart@hotmail.com . Absence plus silence equals support for the efforts of the Missouri Association of Realtors to run your company.
Can you imagine the fees I will have to pay to be an inspector in Kansas AND Missouri? Since I live in Kansas and perform inspections in Missouri, I have to register my business in Missouri. That’s $150 per year. Then, I have to have a registered agent in Missouri to recieve mail. That is another $160 per year. Then, I have to pay taxes in Missouri. I have to pay e-tax to Kansas City, MO. Then, I have to pay business operational license fees to operate in cities; about 80 around here. Then, it is more insurance. That is about $4,000 per year. Real estate agents, doctors, dentists do not. We must be added to that list or it will be thanks to Missouri and Kansas governments for putting small businesses out of business.
I could be mistaken, but it is my understanding that those who are pushing for this legislation are not too concerned with the adverse affect that the law will have on the consumer or the inspector. It addresses the concerns of those who sell houses and the legislators that they have paid to address their concerns.
I asked a legislator about the concerns of the consumer and he told me “It is not about what is right or wrong. It is about who has the money”. He then counted heads of the inspectors in the room and said “There are nine of you…and for about a thousand dollars a piece you can pay a lobbyist to come up here and speak for you.” Silly me…I had thought that this is why we had elections, but I was wrong.
Perhaps you will want to be there at the hearing to voice your concerns, as well.