CURRENT LEGISLATIVE REPORTS

September 2000 HAA Legislative Activity Report:

On August 31st  Mel Mallin convened a meeting of concerned owners and Kansas City and Missouri state codes officials to discuss  impending state mandated certification of elevators to higher standards than currently required. It was learned at that time that the State Fire Marshall had requested an opinion from the Missouri Attorney General as to the intent of the statute with respect to the required inclusion of jurisdictions, such as K.C. that have a substantive and successful elevator inspection program in place. It has been assumed from the outset that Kansas City was to be exempted. If it is found that K.C. elevators are subject to state regulation, owners may be required to obtain separate certifications, due to local (codes) amendments that are not recognized by the state. Subsequent to the meeting of August 31^st an alliance of owners, BOMA, IREM, HAA, the Downtown Council,  KCMO, and the Chamber of Commerce was convened by John Yacos of MC Realty on September 21^st . The minutes of that meeting are included in attached e-mail to Lee Harris. Meanwhile, HAA has taken the initiative to engage MAR and representation from the condominium owner’s community.

On September 25^th  Sam Alpert, representing HAA,  participated in the first meeting of the Citizen Advisory Committee on Housing, which was convened by KCMO Mayor Kay Barnes. The  committee is  comprised of  30 appointees representing virtually all sectors of the local housing market including both market rate and affordable housing developers,  CDCs, private lenders, community foundations, federal, state, and local finance agencies, and various other housing advocates. The committee is charged with the task of  creating a format for a broad based housing policy, which is totally lacking at this time. A comprehensive recommendation  is to be delivered to the City Council by the end of 2000.

“Forced Access”  by telecom providers may again soon come before the Kansas Legislature. This may come to pass as the result of  some concessions made by the national  “Real Access Alliance” in an effort  to forestall impending FCC rule making (see attached communication submitted by Erik Sartorius of the Johnson County Board of Realtors). It is believed that in the absence of uniform federal regulation,  local providers will persist in pushing for this imposition. To date, realtors  (and some affected property owners) have been the only  formidable  opponents of this legislation. It is important that we remain vigilant and that we are able to deliver  persuasive  resistance when this issue resurfaces. The measure was defeated last year by only one vote.