Tenant’s Rights Once Again Eroded by State Legislature

December 13, 2017 8:51 am

^^ That should say “proposed to be” . . . but not much changes between the proposals and what passes. What became SB639 on Friday afternoon has a hearing today at 10am, notice came out yesterday morning at 5:12am for the hearing. Please stop by and register against if you have time today – its likely to drag out. Here’s the details!

NOTE: I work at the Tenant Resource Center and that organization can provide information to the public, but not advocate for a position on these bills or lobby. I will be taking the day off and heading to the capital to do the rest . . . unpaid. All organizing and advocacy is done on my own time – unless my board votes differently – and of course, they don’t meet til tomorrow night and we don’t really have the money or funding source for the lobbying fees and to pay the staff to do this – especially now that we will have to spend so much of our time updating our staff and volunteers, website, brochures, forms, letters, etc.

WHAT YOU CAN DO
1. Stop by the capital today 9:45 – ??, room 411 South (watch my facebook page for updates – it’s public, no need to friend me or be on facebook) and register against the bill. There should be registrations slips right by the door when you get there. If there are not, look for a staff person and let them know you want to register or stand by the door looking impatient and eventually they will notice.

2. Stay and speak to the bill if you have time. There is a summary here (LRB 2582/1 is the exactly the same as SB639), pick the item you want to speak to. If I recall, they give us 2 minutes.

3. Email the members of the Insurance, Housing and Trade Committee any time up to when they schedule this for an Executive Session to vote on it. When we hear there will be a vote we will post it here and on my facebook page. Ask them to make amendments to make it better as well as vote against.
Republican Senator Lasee (Chair) from DePere- Lead sponsor of the bill – Sen.Lasee@legis.wisconsin.gov
Republican Senator Olsen (Vice-Chair) from Ripon – Sen.Olsen@legis.wisconsin.gov
Republican Senator Craig (also a sponsor) from the Town of Vernon – Sen.Craig@legis.wisconsin.gov
Democrat Senator Bewley from Ashland – Sen.Bewley@legis.wi.gov
Democrat Senator Larson from Milwaukee- Sen.Larson@legis.wisconsin.gov

4. Contact your elected officials now and up until the time they vote on the floor on this bill and let them know you want them to fight hard for tenants rights – again.

5. Spread the word (forward emails, share facebook posts etc) about the bill to your friends around the state and ask them to contact their legislators.

SIDE NOTE ON HOW A TENANT RIGHTS EROSION BILL BECOMES A LAW
So, usually we see the LRB draft about 3 days before the bill becomes a law because they are circulating it for co-sponsors. About 3 days after we first see it, either it becomes a bill, or a new LRB draft comes out and gets circulated again if people had changes to be made before they co-sponsor it. Then a hearing gets scheduled with the Senate Insurance, Housing and Trade Committee within a few days- if its a senate bill first (number starts with SB), or with the Assembly Committee on Housing and Real Estate, if its assembly bill (number starts with AB). After the hearing, sometimes they decide to make changes on the things they screwed up. If they make changes either there are amendments at the “Executive Session” in the committee or a new LRB draft comes out for the other house and we see the changes there. Either way – minimal changes get made to the mistakes they figured out and they try to get the Senate and Assembly side versions the same or make amendments on the floor.

The only two public hearings – typically only 24-48 hours of official notice – on these bills will be at the Senate Insurance, Housing and Trade Committee and the Assembly Committee on Housing and Real Estate

These are members of the Assembly Committee
Republican Representative Jagler (Chair) from Watertown – Rep.Jagler@legis.wisconsin.gov
Republican Representative Allen (Vice-Chair) from Waukesha- Rep.Allen@legis.wisconsin.gov
Republican Representative Katsma from Ootsburg – Rep.Katsma@legis.wisconsin.gov
Republican Representative R. Brooks from Saukville -lead sponsor in the assembly – Rep.Rob.Brooks@legis.wisconsin.gov
Republican Representative Murphy from Greenville – Rep.Murphy@legis.wisconsin.gov
Republican Representative Pronschinske from Mondovi – Rep.Pronschinske@legis.wisconsin.gov
Democrat Representative Stuck from Appleton – Rep.Stuck@legis.wisconsin.gov
Democrat Representative Young from Milwaukee – Rep.Youngl@legis.wisconsin.gov
Democrat Representative Goyke from Milwaukee – Rep.Goyke@legis.wisconsin.gov

THIS NEW BILL – SB639
The summary is here – have mercy on us, we did it as quickly as we could and we know it needs editing, there just isn’t enough time to do our jobs helping people and do this when it happens quickly and without warning (beyond knowing it happens ever 2 years like clockwork, we just wait for it to drop)

The items that people probably want to know about is what is the worst thing in the bill – and I will say over and over – after all the changes – the worst thing is the mass confusion by both landlords and tenants.

However, here’s the bad things in the bill. (#’s are from the summary) Here’s some of the main ones.

#13 – Right now if you have an eviction filed against you and it gets dismissed – i.e. you win – then the record goes off CCAP (state electronic records landlords use to check evictions) after 2 years. This bill makes it 10.

#7 – In order to get a hearing in front of a judge in an eviction – you will now have to have to prove you have “valid legal grounds” to even get the hearing – i.e. a hearing to find out if you can get a hearing? You could be denied your right to a hearing in an eviction!

#5 – Landlords don’t can include late fees in an eviction notice (so you have to pay the rent and the late fees or you will be evicted) and if they don’t put the right amount of rent owed – it doesn’t matter – so they could say you owe $800 when you owe $400 and there would be no consequences (i.e. the case won’t get thrown out)

#1 – Repairs will now cost more – you will be paying for the time the landlord goes shopping for materials and time they spend supervising people to do the repair.

#9 – Allows landlords to not enforce laws for years, and when they get made at you, to suddenly start enforcing clauses in their leases that they previously didn’t care about – landlord roulette.

#11 – It will make it harder for some people to have emotional support animals, particularly if their are moving from out of state.

#12 – Makes it harder for local building inspectors to do their jobs and elected officials to complain about problem properties.

BACKGROUND ON TENANT LAW CHANGES
So, like I said . . . every two years . . . here’s a summary of the changes they have made in the past 6 years:

2011 Wis. Act 108 – Effective December 21, 2011 – removed local control over several matters changing laws in Dane County, Madison, and Fitchburg. Here is a comprehensive list of the laws that changed: Summary of 12/21/2011 Dane County, Madison & Fitchburg Law Changes

2011 Wis. Act 143 – Effective March 31, 2012 changed laws statewide in Wisconsin, including Dane County, Madison, and Fitchburg. Here is a comprehensive list of the laws that changed: Summary of 3/31/2012 Wisconsin Law Changes

2013 Wis. Act 76 – Effective March 1, 2014 This law changes many statewide tenant landlord laws and removes local control over even more laws in Madison, Fitchburg and Dane County. We have also published two comprehensive summaries of these law changes:

Summary of 3/1/2014 Wisconsin Law Changes – These effect ALL tenants and landlords in Wisconsin, including Dane County, Madison, and Fitchburg.

Summary of 3/1/2014 Dane County, Madison & Fitchburg Law Changes – These are additional changes ONLY effecting tenants and landlords in Dane County, Madison, and Fitchburg.

DATCP changes as a result of previous bills, effective November 1, 2015: