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8 STATE LEGISLATURES TAKING STEPS TO ELIMINATE NEIGHBORHOOD BLIGHT In what is sure to become an issue of greater prominence in 2015, two state legislatures are already taking steps to revitalize neighborhoods by eliminating blighted properties. OHIO Ohio state lawmakers plan to reintroduce a bill that could potentially serve as a national model for reducing crime and blight by making it easier to dispose of vacant and abandoned properties, according to Ohio State Representative Cheryl Grossman. e bill, known as Ohio HB 223, was originally introduced into the Ohio House by Grossman, a Republican (the bill's primary sponsor), and Representative Michael Curtin, a Democrat, in June 2013. Eight months later, it passed by a unanimous vote (93-0) in the Ohio House, and was introduced into the Ohio Senate five days later. Another eight months later, in December, the bill was killed suddenly just as the last general assembly was about to end a few days before Christmas. A source close to the bill's sponsors said the likely reason that HB 223 died in the Senate Finance Committee was an editorial that appeared in the columbus dispatch strongly criticizing the changes made to the original bill and urging the Ohio Senate to pass the bill in its original form. Both Grossman and Curtin said they received no explanation as to why the bill was killed. Curtin said he suspects there are Republicans in the Ohio Senate that did not like the fact that he was named as one of the bill's sponsors, which he was because he said he and Grossman felt it was important for the bill to have bipartisan co-sponsors. "It's a mystery to me," Curtin said. "It could be something as simple as not having the right name on it. Maybe the right approach would be to have companion bills—one in the House and one in the Senate, and have the right sponsors." Grossman said things tend to move quickly as a general assembly closes. "We had around 1,200 bills that were introduced in this past general assembly, and it comes down to the last couple of weeks of the general assembly that everything gets compacted and it's very fast and furious," she said. e original goal of HB 223 was to prevent vacant properties from becoming blighted by shortening the lengthy foreclosure process, which currently takes between two to three years on the average. When properties become blighted, it breeds more blight in immediate surrounding areas, which in turn lowers property values, invites vandalism and violent crimes, and decimates entire communities. Grossman called them a "cancer in neighborhoods" and a "horrible problem." "Nothing good can come from these homes." She says the longer they sit vacant, the greater the chance that more serious damage to the home will occur. e bill called for eliminating the minimum bid threshold after the first bid for abandoned properties, so that those that are in such bad shape and can't meet the required minimum bid can still be sold. e properties could be sold at market value to the highest bidder in the second auction. Grossman said that passing the bill would have reduced that lengthy foreclosure process down to about six months, and other organizations were looking to push similar legislation based on HB 223. "I know that the National Association of Mortgage Bankers was planning to use it for model legislation across the country because they felt it was that good," she said. When the bill is reintroduced, it will likely include all of the provisions originally included with the exception of the pilot program, Grossman said. Also, according to Curtin, it is possible that he will not be named as one of the sponsors this time around. "I don't want to be an obstacle," he said. "I'd like to see some legislation get through. I'm worried that my name on it might be a liability." "Something needs to be done," Grossman said, "because lengthy foreclosure processes that lead to abandoned, blighted residential properties are not just an Ohio problem." "I believe that these types of properties are a problem throughout our country with what we just went through with the economy," Grossman said. "Rather than it being such a lengthy and drawn-out process, I feel very strongly we should do whatever we can do to expedite the process." "e issue of vacant properties has become more than the expedient treatment of a distressed residential property," said Ed Delgado, president and CEO of the Five Star Institute. "ese shells have become a bastion for weapons, drugs, gangs, molestations, and violent assaults. How many more must be harmed or tragically lose their life before a policy of common sense comes into play?" e 131st General Assembly for the Ohio Senate began on January 5. Since the bill originally took eight months to go the House for a vote after being introduced, then eight more months to get to the Senate Finance Committee after being introduced in the Senate, the lawmakers realize that passing the bill into law will not likely happen quickly. MICHIGAN e Michigan State Senate passed a bill to prevent those with delinquent property tax payments to bid in foreclosure auctions and prevent homeowners from intentionally allowing their homes to go to foreclosure and buy them back in an auction for a lower price. e bill, known as Michigan SB 295, is aimed at improving neighborhoods and reducing blight, which has become a significant problem in the state in the last few years. In Wayne County, where Detroit is located, the county tax office recently began foreclosure proceedings on a record 75,000 properties as part of an aggressive campaign to eliminate blight. "Our tax foreclosure auctions are currently being abused by tax-dodgers, slum lords, and schemers that are letting their properties fall into foreclosure rather than paying their property taxes, and this bill will go a long way toward cleaning up our neighborhoods and creating safe communities," said Michigan State Senator, Tupac Hunter, minority floor leader and sponsor of the bill. "I sincerely appreciate the support of the Legislature to address this important issue facing Detroit and other communities, but I also want to recognize Wayne County Treasurer, Raymond Wojtowicz, and Deputy Treasurer, David Szymanski, for all of their hard work in concert with Mayor Mike Duggan to address land speculation and blight in Detroit." e new bill requires prospective foreclosure auction bidders to register with the foreclosing governmental unit at least 14 days prior to the auction, and any person or entity who has had a property go into tax foreclosure in the previous three years or has unpaid blight or nuisance property violations is prohibited from bidding in tax foreclosure auctions, according to Hunter's website. Wayne County sold about 10,700 properties in its 2014 tax foreclosure auction, with about 14,800 properties going unsold; the company that surveyed Detroit for the auction, Loveland Technologies, reported that there was about an 85 percent correlation between blight and tax-foreclosed properties, according to Hunter's website. Loveland Technologies also speculated that nearly 36,000 occupied residential homes will go into tax foreclosure in 2015. Wayne County officials begin foreclosure proceedings on a property if it is three years or more behind on tax payments. Hunter has fought for many years to take measures to eliminate blight. On December 31, 2013, the Hunter-sponsored SB 39 was passed into law, allowing for the enforcing of a lien against a property involved in a blight violation and then discharged in the same manner as delinquent tax liens.

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