In an email received by Home in Henderson on June 7, Senator Doug Berger informed the editor that both the content of Senate Bill 1507 and its impact had not been accurately reported.
The article in question, City council to meet in special session, reported that: “The special meeting is a move by the City Council to enact the Ordinances before the North Carolina State Assembly makes SB 1507 Housing Conditions/Inspection law. The law, if passed, would make City inspections impossible without probable cause to inspect or a specific complaint to the City’s Code Compliance Department.”
Berger noted that the version of SB 1507 posted on Home in Henderson is not the version which passed the Senate. The correct version of the bill, supplied by Berger, is posted on page 2 of this article.
The senator pointed out two sections of the proposed law which contradict what was reported by Home in Henderson. Section 6, according to Berger, allows for municipalities that have an ordinance before October 1, 2007 to be grandfathered in, i.e., the law would not apply to them. The section also allows for amendments to those existing ordinances before that date.
Section 3 B of the bill includes an amendment proposed by Henderson City Council member Lynn Harper which Berger had added on the Senate floor. According to Berger, this amendment is key because it allows inspections without probable cause in areas that are “blighted” or “potentially blighted”.
The reason that that amendment is important is because the House could remove the grandfather provision.
According to the senator, the grandfather provision was added to the bill because the City of Greensboro mounted a campaign to keep their method of inspection intact.
Greensboro’s method of inspection is similar to that which Henderson is attempting to adopt.