Homebuilders fighting home warranty proposition

Officials from the organizations that represent homebuilders in Arizona are asking a judge to prevent a vote on a measure that would require their members to provide 10-year warranties on what they sell.

The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in Maricopa County Superior Court, contends that the petitions misled signers because the summary says its approval would provide a warranty on homes.

That's true, but attorney Lisa Hauser said Proposition 201 also would provide some additional legal protections to those who buy new commercial buildings.

Hauser also contends the initiative is legally flawed because it does not have a title.

And she said the text of the measure fails to put all new language in capital letters - a requirement to show petition signers what is new - a flaw Hauser said will allow a judge to declare that the entire initiative cannot be put before voters in November.

Calls to the attorney representing the backers of the initiative were not immediately returned.

The key provision of the initiative, crafted and financed by the Sheet Metal Workers International Association, is the requirement for a 10-year warranty.

That warranty provision governs only residential property.

But Hauser noted that another provision of the measure - extending that right to sue over construction defects to 10 years - applies to anyone who develops, sells, designs, plans or builds any real property.

And that, she said, makes the summary description of the initiative false and deliberately deceptive.

She conceded, though, that the actual language of the initiative was attached to each petition, meaning that signers could read the full text for themselves rather than relying on the summary.

Aside from the warranty requirement, other major provisions of Proposition 201 would:

• allow homeowners to help choose the contractors hired by the builders to make the repairs;
• give buyers the right to cancel within 100 days and get back most of their deposit;
• let homeowners sue without fear of having to pay a builder's legal fees if they lose.

Spencer Kamps, lobbyist for the Home Builders Association of Central Arizona, said his members believe that the measure, if approved in November, would lead to more disputes between buyers and builders being resolved in court rather than through negotiations.

Kamps also contends the initiative itself was started as "a type of blackmail" by the union because a specific Arizona subcontractor who does heating and air conditioning work for homebuilders - he would not say who - refused to unionize.

Richard McCracken, the attorney for the union, denied earlier this month that was the case.

But Sean Mahoney, the union's regional director, conceded to Capitol Media Services last year that the initiative might never have been launched had homebuilders helped push to ensure that union contractors are hired for home construction jobs. He said if union-trained workers were doing home construction, "we probably wouldn't have the defect issue and we probably wouldn't be pushing this."