Hill: Prop. 201 just a house of cards

How could any American ever argue against a “bill of rights?”

Chances are that you, and everyone else who reads this, were taught at least a thing or two about the Bill of Rights, the first 10 amendments to the United States Constitution.

And in recent years, the words “bill of rights” have been indiscriminately attached to all sorts of cultural and political agendas. The “patients’ bill of rights” (10 years ago federal legislation bore this name in Congress), the “students’ bill of rights,” and the “domestic workers’ bill of rights” are just a few examples of how “bills” of “rights” have been pondered and promoted.

And now, we the people of Arizona have another example: The “homeowners’ bill of rights.”

This is the name given to Proposition 201, yet another initiative that awaits you on this year’s ballot. If Prop. 201 is approved by voters in November, it will require that a 10-year warranty on a new home’s materials and workmanship be granted by the home builder to every new home buyer.

The passage of Prop. 201 also would require that the statute of limitations for bringing a court action against a home builder be extended from eight years to 10 years; it would guarantee that a homeowner stuck with a problem that is covered under the warranty be guaranteed the right to choose from among three “complaint-free” contractors to do the warranty repair work; and it would rewrite the laws regarding attorney fees in such disputes, allowing homeowners to sue home builders without any concern of being held responsible for attorney costs — even if the case was eventually dismissed or found to be invalid.

In may respects, Prop. 201 could be really good news for Arizona home buyers — at least in the short run. As a guy who owns a home in a development that was found to have serious defects only eight years after the building was complete (others in my neighborhood found structural defects in their homes, I did not), I can sure appreciate that 10-year warranty. And a guarantee of three “complaint-free” contractors to do my warranty work — wow, who could argue against that?

But that’s only viewing the matter from the vantage point of a prospective home buyer. How do you suppose this looks from the perspective of home builders and sellers?

While it seems reasonable to assume that one could purchase a new home and expect it to hold up for at least 10 years, inevitably passage of Prop. 201 means that building and selling new homes becomes a more expensive ordeal. It would mean more paperwork to process and administrate with the sale of each new home. It would mean home builders would need to budget more of their companies’ money for “complaint-free” contractors to be on warranty duty, and for attorneys to try — likely unsuccessfully, but to try nonetheless — to keep the companies out of disputes, and then to mitigate the damages when disputes arise.

In short, Prop. 201 would create a strong disincentive for home builders to continue building in the state of Arizona. And that’s bad for all Arizonans.

Think about it. The housing market is currently in a downturn, with sales of existing homes just beginning to move upward. Inventories of unsold new homes are high, and some housing development projects in our state currently sit incomplete, for lack of available credit to enable their completion.

And with the passage of one ballot initiative, attractively nicknamed the “homeowners’ bill of rights,” voters may strike a blow to an already ailing industry and economy.

No Arizonan would be well-served by the passage of Prop. 201. Not even the homebuyers and homeowners that the bill purports to protect.

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Austin Hill of Gilbert is a host for Arizona Web TV (www.Arizonawebtv.com) and is heard on XM Satellite Radio. He is co-author of “White House Confidential: The Little Book of Weird Presidential History,” and is an editorialist for the national news and commentary site Townhall.com. Contact him via e-mail at info@austinhill.net.