[ Report Home | Previous Page | Next Page ] Texas PACs 2000 Election Cycle Construction: $2,993,966

Seventy Construction PACs spent almost $3 million in 2000, up 4 percent from 1998. Homebuilders accounted for 27 percent of this spending ($803,429), led by the Texas Homebuilders Association and the Texas Manufactured Housing Association. This spending helped homebuilders defeat a 2001 “lemon home law” that would have forced builders to buy back new homes if they fail to fix serious structural defects.⁸

The prefab “manufactured” home industry unsuccessfully fought a 2001 bill by Rep. Arlene  Wohlgemuth (H.B.1869) that forces the industry to disclose full development costs. Prefab companies have repossessed many homes from buyers who defaulted after being hit with such associated costs as roads, utility hook-ups and septic tanks. The industry failed to add provisions to this bill that would prohibit zoning restrictions that exclude prefab dwellings from neighborhoods.

Contractor PACs spent $675,309, led by Associated General Contractors and Associated Builders and Contractors PACs. Construction Materials PACs spent $596,600, led by Trinity Industries and the Texas Aggregates and Concrete Association. Construction Service PACs spent $519,560, led by the Houston engineering firm of Turner Collie & Braden. Finally, Heavy Construction PACs spent $396,668, led by Lockwood Andrews & Newnam, which oversaw construction of Houston’s Reliant Stadium with Hermes Reed Architects.