Maryland builders launched a full-scale legislative assault yesterday against a bill intended to protect buyers of new homes from unscrupulous builders.

Builders, led by Dennis McCoy, a lobbyist and former delegate, lined up in solid opposition to the bill sponsored by Baltimore County Republican A. Wade Kach and eight other delegates.

"This is bad for the industry and bad for consumers," McCoy testified before the House Economic Matters Committee.

Kach's bill would create a statewide, self-supporting registration system to cover builders, who currently are licensed only in Montgomery and Prince George's counties. It would give consumers a central place to lodge complaints about builders and would give an agency the power to suspend or revoke a builder's registration.

"This would for the first time provide consumers with clout to get something done," said Assistant Attorney General John H. Nethercut.

Another Kach proposal, which would require the disclosure of environmental problems near new homes, has passed the House of Delegates and is awaiting a hearing before a Senate committee.

Nethercut said the registration bill, which is supported by the Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation, is a scaled-back version of proposals hashed out in meetings since last year.

Jeb Bittner, president of the Maryland Division of Pulte Home Corp., said the bill would force builders to spend money and time trying to head off complaints instead of doing their work.

McCoy said Kach's bill amounts to builder licensing. Although he praised Montgomery County's 20-year-old builder licensing system, he said he would oppose adopting it statewide because at that level "it doesn't work, is not necessary and is not desirable in other jurisdictions."

Pub Date: 3/03/99