Construction defects bill closer to passage

Erin Neff

Thursday, May 22, 2003 | 11:09 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- The acrimonious negotiations for construction defect legislation ended this morning with both sides agreeing that a new version of the bill is OK.

Last week, the Coalition for Fairness in Construction and the Nevada Trial Lawyers Association agreed to amend Senate Bill 241 in time to beat last Friday's deadline for second committee passage.

But in the days after the handshake deal, more mincing of words and haggling over how a notice of a construction defect can be extrapolated stalled progress over printing a revised form of the bill to get it to the Assembly floor.

The bill must pass the Assembly by midnight this Friday. This morning, amendment 805 was finally printed, and after both sides agreed, the bill was moved today to the Assembly floor.

"We will defend this bill against any unfriendly amendments through the rest of this legislative process," said Scott Canepa, the lead negotiator for the Nevada Trial Lawyers Association.

Jim Wadhams, the lobbyist at the center of the home-building industry's negotiations, thanked the Assembly Judiciary Committee's staff for their patience during what he described as "adverse" talks.

"What you pass is ultimately tested on the streets and in the courts," Wadhams told lawmakers.

The amended version of the bill establishes a timeline by which individual homeowners or homeowner associations may notify a contractor about a defect.

Once notice is given, the contractor has 30 days to notify any subcontractors. If there are four or fewer houses involved, the defect must be fixed within 105 days of the initial notice. If there are more than four homes involved, the defect must be fixed within 150 days. Under current law, homeowners must sue to notify a contractor of a defect in cases of five or more homes.

The key sticking point in the negotiations has been how that notice can be extrapolated for common defects.

For instance, if one home has a defective window that is causing leaks, extrapolation could mean the contractor may need to inspect all the windows in the subdivision and potentially fix them all. The amended version of SB241 establishes a slightly different timeline for repair of a defect or defects under an extrapolated notice.

The Assembly will consider the amended SB241 on Friday. If the measure passes, it will have to go back to the Senate for that house's look at the amendment. The Senate will then either concur or not concur with the amendments made in the Assembly. If the Senate concurs, the bill then moves to Gov. Kenny Guinn for consideration.com