Lobbying Efforts on Your Behalf

By Richard Marmor, Esq.
AZSA Legal & Legislative Chair

A member recently asked what AZSA has achieved legislatively over the years, so I made a list. It surprised even me, and I’m AZSA’s lobbyist! Most surprising was not the number of laws that AZSA sought and obtained to benefit self-storage, but the number of times we intervened in the passage of other laws not specific to self-storage which, if passed as written, could have had devastating impacts on our industry.

• Campaign: Late Fee Protection. Obtained a law protecting self-storage’s right to charge and collect late fees, and insulated self-storage from a wave of class-action lawsuits that swept the nation attacking any industry that routinely charges late fees.

• Defensive Intervention: Protected Lien Sale Rights. Intervened and was successful in getting a bill withdrawn from consideration that was aimed specifically at rewriting the self-storage lien law in a manner so restrictive as to effectively eliminate the remedy.

• Defensive Intervention: Drug Lab Clean-Ups. Intervened and was successful in getting a bill defeated aimed at imposing sweeping and onerous mandates regarding drug lab clean-up measures, which if implemented had the potential to put any self-storage out of business in the event a drug lab was found in a unit.

• Campaign: Motor Vehicle Sales I. Obtained legislation enabling self-storage to successfully auction motor vehicles and boats. Those of us who have been in the business for years remember what it was like before that!

• Departmental Intercession: Department Of Transportation. Worked periodically over a period of eight years with the state Department of Transportation to eliminate bureaucratic confusion that plagued implementation of the vehicle sale process. This included actually writing internal policy memos for use by Motor Vehicle Department personnel.

• Defensive Intervention: Auction House Bill I. Intervened and was successful in getting self-storage exempted from a bill aimed at licensing and controlling auctioneers and auction houses statewide which would have mandated comprehensive and minutely detailed written inventories of property subject to sale, and police pre-clearance of each item to be sold. The bill later failed to pass, but as you’ll see, did not go away.

• Defensive Intervention: Auto Auctions. Intervened and was successful in getting self-storage exempted from a bill aimed at controlling auto auctions. The law limits who may auction vehicles, in what numbers and where such auctions may take place. Inclusion of self-storage would have had the effect of preventing self-storage facilities from auctioning vehicles.

• Defensive Intervention: Auction House Bill II. Intervened and got self-storage exempted from a reincarnation of the Auction House Bill, which, having failed to pass at the state level, was brought back later by its supporters at the city level in the City of Phoenix.

• Defensive Intervention: Auction House Bill III. Intervened and got self-storage exempted from a re-reincarnation of the Auction House Bill, this time in the City of Tucson.

• Defensive Intervention: Right to Information. Intervened and was successful in modifying a bill aimed at tightening state privacy laws. Inclusion would have blocked access by self-storage to motor vehicle title information, thus frustrating our ability to auction vehicles.

• Campaign: Motor Vehicle Sales II. Lobbied and was successful in getting the law which permits vehicle sales at storage auctions amended to remove burdensome inspection requirements.

• Campaign: Insurance License. Obtained legislation creating a limited insurance license enabling pay-with-rent insurance sales at self-storage facilities.

• Campaign: Real Property Tax Reductions. Joined with other commercial real property sectors to lobby for and successfully obtain annual incremental reductions in the commercial real property tax assessment ratios.

• Departmental Intercession: Unreasonable Police Searches. Worked with the State Attorney General and with the state’s police academy to instruct state law enforcement on the limits of searches of self-storage units following a wave of confrontations in which police demanded searches without warrants at self-storage facilities.

• Campaign: Lien Law Modernization I. Obtained legislation that:

â—‹Eliminated the mandate of certified mailings to tenants; 

â—‹Introduced cheaper “verified mail” options; 

â—‹Eliminated the mandate for newspaper advertising of pending auctions; and 

â—‹Permitted multiple units to be rented under a single lease.

• Campaign: Lien Law Modernization II. Obtained legislation that:

â—‹Provided for the disposition of stored property that by law may not be sold, e.g., financial records, etc. (“Protected Property”); 

â—‹Permitted the auction of property which is subject to court-imposed restitution liens; and 

â—‹Permitted pre-sale notices to be sent via email.

• Defensive Intervention: Unit Sizes. Jumped in when the state Department of Weights and Measures elected to target self-storage for unit size inconsistencies, which matter has now ended.

Plus, Annually . . .

• Legislative Reviews. I review numerous bills introduced that may have the potential to impact self-storage – intentionally or unintentionally – triggering interventions when necessary.

• Legislative Presence: I do meet-and-greets with ranking legislators, committee chairs, legislative staff and freshmen lawmakers to establish and maintain recognition of self-storage in the legislative consciousness (and to dispel TV-driven misconceptions).

To these member benefits, add your FREE auction listings on the AZSA auction website (www.StorageAuctionsAZ.com), clause-by-clause legal explanation in Arizona Self-Storage Statutes Commentated, and the thousands you save annually in certified mailings. But even that’s not the full picture, because the most important thing AZSA has ever done for you could very well happen tomorrow.

[This article deals with a law related subject at a general level and is not intended for you to rely on. You should consult a lawyer before making a final decision in a situation involving any legal issues.] 

Richard Marmor, Esq. is a self-storage consultant, facility owner and former facility operator in the Phoenix area.  He is also the founding President and current member of the Board of Directors of the Arizona Self-Storage Association, serving as Chair of the Legal and Legislative Committee. 

Source: Behind Closed Doors, AZSA Newsletter Archives