Governor In Palo Alto, Signs Bill Sponsored By Bay Area Democrat
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It was policy, not politics for Governor Schwarzengger as he came to the Bay Area today.
But his bill-signing ceremony can only help his campaign for re-election.
It is bill-signing season, so the governor is staging some very public signature ceremonies, getting positive coverage without having to campaign.
In a Palo Alto senior center Tuesday, he signed three bills, including one by State Senator Joe Simitian, to help senior citizens get reverse mortgages, without getting ripped off in the process.
KCBS reporter Doug Sovern reports that the governor was not troubled by the fact that all three of the bills were sponsored by Democrats.
“This bill from Senator Simitian will help a lot of people, especially older folks, and we don’t want them to have the same experience to lose $200,000 because this is theirt hard earned money,” Governor Schwarzengger said.
The governor was referring to Palo Alto resident Johnny Damone, an elderly borrower whose mortgage horror story led to the passage of the bill.
He was thrilled to meet the governor and watch him put the new law on the books.
“It’s very important,” he said. “I wish it happened before I got into this mess.”
KCBS’s Sovern reports that Governor Schwarzengger denies having an election year conversion, saying he always embraces good ideas, whether they help him get re-elected or not.
Schwarzenegger also gave strong indications that he will sign Simitian’s bill requiring motorists to use a “hands-free” device when talking on their cell phone while driving. Simitian has been waging a six-year effort to get that bill signed into law.
Reverse mortgages generally allow homeowners over age 62 to receive either monthly payments or a lump sum from their home’s equity without having to sell the property or make monthly mortgage payments.
The loan can be a boon for residents who are house-rich but cash-poor but it can also be used by unscrupulous lenders to defraud seniors and force them out of the homes they have lived in for decades, according to Schwarzenegger.
“Getting a reverse mortgage can be very helpful, but it is a huge decision. We want to make sure people have all the information they need before making any financial commitment and we want to make sure everyone is getting the right deal, a fair deal and an honest deal,” Schwarzenegger said.
Simitian’s bill, SB 1609, prohibits lenders from accepting a reverse mortgage application until the borrower has received independent counseling about the possible benefits and risks of the loan. It also prohibits lenders from requiring a borrower to purchase an annuity in order to receive a reverse mortgage.
“Telling someone who’s 87 that they have to purchase a 20-year annuity is really reprehensible,” Simitian said.
The bill was one of this year’s winners of Simitian’s popular “There Ought to be a Law” contest, in which he allows residents from his district, encompassing southern San Mateo and northern Santa Clara counties, to suggest new state laws.
Following this afternoon’s bill signing ceremony at the Avenidas senior center in Palo Alto, Schwarzenegger took questions from reporters and, while he declined to comment specifically on Simitian’s cell phone bill, said he favors regulating drivers’ usage of cell phones.
“We have to do something about the accident rate” attributed to drivers talking on their cell phones, Schwarzenegger said.
The governor reiterated a story he has told previously about his eldest daughter, Katherine, who turned 16 this year.
“I have threatened my daughter, who just started driving, that if I catch her driving with a cell phone in her hand the car will be gone,” he said.
This is the first time Simitian’s cell phone bill has passed both houses of the Legislature and made it to the governor’s desk. Given Schwarzenegger’s comments today and previously about cell phone usage while driving, Simitian said he is “cautiously optimistic,” that the governor will sign the bill.
Source: KCBS
