Florida Republicans too busy with identity politics to stop buildings from falling down
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The legislature that can act with remarkable speed when there’s a felt need to disenfranchise voters or ban speech that acknowledges the existence of gay people can hardly be expected to deal with trivial issues like stopping buildings from collapsing:
In the nine months since 98 people died in the collapse of a Surfside, Florida, condominium, state lawmakers have pledged to pass measures that could help avoid a similar disaster.
On Friday, they failed.
Negotiations between the Florida Senate and House of Representatives, both controlled by Republicans, broke down, with the two sides unable to agree on a bill that would require inspections of aging condo buildings and mandate that condo boards conduct studies to determine how much they need to set aside for repairs. The talks were undone by a disagreement over how much flexibility to give condo owners in the funding of those reserves.
“When we came up here, we came up here with one goal and that was to pass legislation with regard to condominium reform that was going to make a difference,” state Rep. Daniel Perez, a Miami-Dade County Republican, said. “Unfortunately, it didn’t make it toward the finish line.”
Perez sponsored a bill that sought to close a loophole that allowed condo associations to avoid putting money into reserves. Associations commonly waive the funding of reserves in order to keep owners’ fees down, but critics say that makes it difficult to plan for and afford necessary repairs.
The Senate rejected Perez’s provision, saying it would impose a heavy financial burden on condo owners. Perez wouldn’t compromise.
The freedom to have your building collapse on you is even more precious than your right not to take a safe and effective vaccine!