Dallas Lawyer’s Lonely Quest in Austin for State Control Over Roofer Crimes

AUSTIN - Steve Badger walks the halls of the Texas Capitol in a volunteer job that, like hail, seemed to fall out of the sky. He wants to stop crooked roofers. The only way to do it is to leave his Dallas law office, knock on doors of state legislators and beg for a roofers' law.He's begging. Not for him but for thousands of Texans who have given money to runaway roofers, fake roofers, incompetent roofers.The word in the Statehouse is that the roofers bill - now calling for a voluntary, inexpensive certification program for storm-chasing roofers - is a "no go." Dead on arrival. Why?Old-timers have seen this concept come and go. Any roofers' bill that puts the slightest oversight on roofers, who now have none, dies in session after session. It's issue burnout.So this session, even after more tornadoes, more hail and the accompanying criminal door-knockers who call themselves roofers, the interested parties who should care - the insurance industry, honest roofers, public adjusters, victims of roofing scams and Realtors - acted as if they gave up before the race to law even began.Here comes their wakeup call: Badger, in a dark suit carrying a legal folder, walking up and down the Statehouse hallways. Badger is aptly named. He badgers in a gentle way. This is what it takes to bring a "no go" bill back to life.  Continue reading...