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Critics say little new in proposals
By T.W. Budig
ECM Capitol reporter
 Home counselling workshops are planned for Anoka, Eagan and Buffalo as part of Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s expanded foreclosure prevention agenda.
Pictured: Gov. Tim Pawlenty presented a series of foreclosure prevention proposals at the Capitol on Monday (April 14).
The governor presented a series of new or expanded initiatives on Monday (April 14), with the Department of Commerce directly contacting lenders to attend the workshops.
The local workshops are:
•Tuesday, May 13, 4:30 to 8:30 p.m. at Anoka County Technical College.
•Tuesday, May 20. 4:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the Buffalo Discovery Center, Buffalo.
•Thursday, June 5, 4:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the Eagan Community Center.
Other workshops, sponsored by the Minnesota Home Ownership Center, are planned for around the state.
Getting homeowners involved early in a mortgage crunch is key to them keeping their homes, opined Minnesota Department of Commerce Commissioner Glenn Wilson Jr.
According to a Minnesota Home Ownership Center official the center has dealt with about 12,000 foreclosure cases and about 50 percent of these have managed to stave off foreclosure.
Other gubernatorial initiatives include inducing mortgage lenders and services providers to sign a foreclose prevention compact.
This would have them participating in workshops, making good faith efforts at notifying at-risk or defaulting borrowers as soon as possible, and reporting their progress to the Department of Commerce.
Other proposals include a mediation assistance — the cost of mediation picked up by the state — when mediation is deemed desirable.
But no one is compelled to seek mediation.
Pawlenty indicated basic support for mortgage foreclosure bills percolating through the Legislature — he has already signed some into law, he noted.
But the governor argued that additional requirements on lenders could “boomerang” and make obtaining credit in Minnesota more costly.
Pawlenty indicated that he did not support legislation authored by Sen. Ellen Anderson, DFL-St. Paul, and Rep. Jim Davnie, DFL-Minneapolis, that would defer foreclosure for a year.
“No other state has done that,” said Pawlenty.
Speaking after Pawlenty’s Capitol press conference, Davnie countered by arguing that his legislation is narrowly targeted and will keep lenders receiving payments and borrowers in their homes.
“We do this by requiring them to come to the table,” he said of lenders and borrowers.
Whiling praising the governor for bringing forward his initiatives, Davnie opined that basically everything in them is already available — its a “nuanced” step forward by the governor, he opined.
Neither the House nor Senate has yet taken up the Anderson/Davnie legislation on their respective floors.
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