As the Colorado Apartment Association has put it, “one of the most radically harmful bills to our industry this legislative session (SB21-173) is scheduled to be heard by the Senate State, Veterans & Military Affairs Committee on Tuesday March 16, 2021 at 2:00 pm. We have even less time to respond to this bill than we usually do, which is a clear attempt to catch the industry off guard.”
We need you to immediately generate opposition emails to the committee members and give testimony at the Committee Hearing. It is an extremely long and complicated bill. To assist you in making sense of the issues, we provide you with the summary and talking points below and the full text of the bill can be found at:
https://www.coloradorpm.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/2021a_173_01.pdf
A Brief Summary of the Bill (SB21-173):
- Prevents charging late fees until payment is 14 days late
- Caps fees at 2.5% of past due rent
- Prohibits agreements for reasonable lease break fees
- Requires housing providers to accept partial payments and file multiple lawsuits for the remaining balance
- Paralyzes the court system by converting possession cases to jury trials
- Eliminates court safeguards by abolishing warranty of habitability bonds and appeal bonds
- Mandates punitive penalties including a $5,000 minimum penalty, attorney fees and treble damages
- Click Here for the full list of talking points
What You Can Do To Help
Email Senate State, Veterans & Military Affairs Committee Members
To help you generate opposition emails to the committee members the AAMD has created a link: click here to take action that will automatically create emails to committee members and contains a suggested communication for anyone that does not have the ability to compose their own. Please take the time to add your own unique words and arguments as they are more persuasive than only repeating our canned suggestions.
As the Colorado Apartment Association has put it, “one of the most radically harmful bills to our industry this legislative session (SB21-173) is scheduled to be heard by the Senate State, Veterans & Military Affairs Committee on Tuesday March 16, 2021 at 2:00 pm. We have even less time to respond to this bill than we usually do, which is a clear attempt to catch the industry off guard.” We need you to immediately generate opposition emails to the committee members and give testimony at the Committee Hearing. It is an extremely long and complicated bill. A Brief Summary of the Bill (SB21-173):
- Prevents charging late fees until payment is 14 days late
- Caps fees at 2.5% of past due rent
- Prohibits agreements for reasonable lease break fees
- Requires housing providers to accept partial payments and file multiple lawsuits for the remaining balance
- Paralyzes the court system by converting possession cases to jury trials
- Eliminates court safeguards by abolishing warranty of habitability bonds and appeal bonds
- Mandates punitive penalties including a $5,000 minimum penalty, attorney fees and treble damages
What You Can Do To Help
Email Senate State, Veterans & Military Affairs Committee Members. To help you generate opposition emails to the committee members the AAMD has created a link: click here to take action that will automatically create emails to committee members and contains a suggested communication for anyone that does not have the ability to compose their own. Please take the time to add your own unique words and arguments.
