FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: March 7, 2008
CONTACT: Austin Guest, aguest@progressivestates.org [1], 212-680-3116, ext. 110
NEW YORK STATE LEGISLATORS UNVEIL MOST AGGRESSIVE FORECLOSURE LEGISLATION IN NATION
BILL COMES AMIDST WAVE OF MORATORIUM PROPOSALS IN STATES ACROSS COUNTRY
Brooklyn, NY - At a press conference this afternoon, New York State Representative James Brennan (D, Brooklyn) and State Senator Frank Padavan (R, Queens) unveiled a new bill that would place a one year moratorium on all court-ordered foreclosures in the state.
The bill would allow borrowers to remain in their homes for one year while seeking to arrange re-financing "workouts" with lenders. It also provides for an interim schedule of minimal monthly payments in order to preserve an “equitable and just”? financial relationship between borrower and lender.
The introduction of the New York bill comes amidst a wave of new state legislation to protect low-income homeowners from the rash of foreclosures that have been sweeping the nation in the midst of the subprime lending collapse.
Last week, the Virginia State Senate passed legislation that would place a one-month moratorium on all subprime-related foreclosures. The Minnesota House and Senate just took up a bill that would place a one-year moratorium on all subprime-related foreclosures. Moratorium legislation is also currently being considered in Connecticut, Florida, and Maryland.
According to Joel Barkin, Executive Director of Progressive States Network, a non-profit policy organization that has been working to promote a nationwide campaign to combat the foreclosure crisis at the state level, “This is an example of one of those issues where the states are just way out ahead of the federal government in addressing issues that are affecting working families.
Noting that Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton has not moved to enact her proposed 90-day foreclosure moratorium and that President Bush’s proposed 30-day moratorium would only apply to a limited set of homeowners affected by the crisis, Barkin claimed that the new state measures “make all the federal proposals look tame by comparison.”?
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