Foreclosure bill gains support
The Insurance and Financial Services Committee voted unanimously yesterday in favor of a bill designed to alleviate the foreclosure crisis in Maine.
The bill, LD 1418, sponsored by Rep. Sharon Treat (D-Hallowell), would create an optional foreclosure mediation program within the Maine Supreme Judicial Court to facilitate negotiations between homeowners and lenders, according to the Bangor Daily News. The committee endorsed the bill after amending it to make the mediation program voluntary instead of mandatory, after lending institutions opposed mandatory mediation. The bill would also expand the state's outreach and education services through the Maine Bureau of Consumer Credit Protection to help people avoid foreclosure. A report prepared for the committee found that 5,455 properties in Maine were in foreclosure at the end of 2008.
The bill is an emergency measure and requires two-thirds vote by the full Legislature to pass. If it passes, the mediation program would be financed through fees charged to the mortgage holder and first offered in areas of the state with the highest foreclosure rates, such as the Lewiston-Auburn area, according to the paper.
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