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News and Information Article
KING OF PRUSSIA, Pa., April 19 // -- A bill under review in
Pennsylvanias General Assembly would rescind the public right to free
access to the public record. According to the States leading land title
organization, House Bill 2249 would add cost, inconvenience and risk for
members of the title insurance industry and for the general public. The
bill would take away guaranteed free access to property tax records by
allowing private tax collection agencies to hoard these records and charge
a premium to any party needing a statement of taxes due or paid.
HB 2249, an attempt to rewrite the law to legalize privatization of
public tax records, has passed the House Finance Committee and is now
awaiting consideration by the House Appropriations Committee. Without vocal
and persistent opposition, this bill could become law during the spring
session of the Pennsylvania Legislature, which opens on April 24.
Robert F. Musser, Esq., CLTP, president of Pennsylvania Land Title
Association (PLTA), notes that school districts and municipalities have the
right to work independently of the county Tax Claim Bureaus to collect
delinquent taxes through the use of private sector third party collection
entities. However, state law requires that homeowners, taxpayers and
businesses in the title and real estate industry must also have public,
convenient, affordable and efficient access to real estate tax records
maintained at a central location in the county offices.
"Individuals report being asked to pay from $25 to $50 for this
information by private tax collection companies who now hoard real estate
tax information on approximately 70 school districts. If this illegal
behavior is legalized and made permanent by HB 2249, we can anticipate a
further conversion of the public record to an instrument of unchecked
private profit," Musser said. "If land records are parceled out among a
variety of private vendors who have no responsibility for maintaining the
public record, the integrity of public records is destroyed, opening the
door to claims each year, costing consumers untold thousands of dollars."
PLTA points out that this bill would add cost and risk for all
Pennsylvanians who wish to buy, sell or borrow against property:
-- Costs for access to public information would hit senior citizens
especially hard;
-- Professionals involved in a mortgage or real estate transaction would
face extra work in the lending and settlement processes;
-- Financial burdens would accrue to title insurance agents who cannot
pass on this charge for access to the public record, and to title
insurance underwriters who would be exposed to increased risk due to
gaps in the record.
Musser says, "We are urging all Pennsylvanians to contact their
legislators as soon as possible and urge them to withhold their support of
HB 2249. Visit http://www.legis.state.pa.us and use the search function to
find your legislator. Public access to public records is at stake here."
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