Modular Housing Bill Passes in all votes 4/2010

A state House leader is sponsoring a bill this session that would make it easier for his industry to sell houses.

State Rep. Jay Roberts (R-Ocilla), chairman of the House Majority Caucus, is pushing HB 516, which would prohibit Georgia communities from putting restrictions on modular homes, which are built off-site at a factory.

Roberts is a manager at Georgia Modular Systems, of Fitzgerald, a maker of manufactured homes, duplexes and townhouses.

The lawmaker said he doesn’t consider working on the issue a conflict of interest.

“I don’t own a plant, but I do work in a plant,” he said. “I’ve thought about it, but nobody understands this issue. Nobody understands this business.”
He said his company does not sell many houses in Georgia.

“This won’t benefit me at all,” he said.
On his financial disclosure form, Roberts lists himself as an employee of Georgia Modular Systems. In an interview Friday, Roberts would not specify his position at the company, only saying he worked “in management.” He previously was a vice president at another modular-home business.
Only a few Georgia cities, including Gainesville and Duluth, have zoning rules that restrict modular homes, but the issue has come up across the United States.

Roberts’ legislation stems from a legal battle that arose in 2005, when Gainesville officials stopped a local modular-home builder from finishing several homes in the city. Grant Smerecznsky, owner of Building Systems Network LLC, sued, and the issue is pending in the courts. Smereczynsky and the Modular Building Systems Network kept the bill alive through 2010 and now its passed both the House and Senate becomes law on July 1st 2010

Smerecznsky said he has never used Roberts’ company as a supplier, but he would if he had the chance.

He said he does not think Roberts is serving his own interests with the bill. He said Roberts is simply standing up for an industry that he believes is being discriminated against by some communities because they think modular means mobile homes.

“He’s doing what an elected official should do,” Smerecznsky said. “He’s doing something for the people.”

Gainesville Mayor Myrtle Figueras would not comment, citing the court case. Councilman Danny Dunagan also said he could not comment on the case, but said of the bill, “I have a real problem with a legislator pushing legislation that directly affects his business. I think that’s kind of unethical.”
Rick Thompson, executive secretary of the Georgia State Ethics Commission, said nothing in the state Ethics-in-Government act prohibits a lawmaker from submitting legislation related to his own business.
Thompson said lobbyists for an industry “are required to register and report if they undertake to promote or oppose legislation.”

“I think this whole thing was taken care of now once and for all .”
Is Roberts pushing a bill affecting his business? “I get that, but there is nothing diabolical here. I need a legislator who understands our industry. He said he’d be happy to do it.”

Smereczynsky said that Roberts “really did a great job for us. I would hate to see this guy get mud on him.”

Roberts GA House bill 516 has passed out of the House and has also passed the Senate passed and is big for the modular industry.

Thanks again Jay Roberts…