Their is a fund here that is to help out homeowners who have been ripped off by licensed or unlicensed contractors who have done shoddy work, not completed the work, or just simply disappeared with a customers money altogether. I don't know about the individually licensed trades (plumbing, electric, HVAC, etc) but to get a contractors license here you have to pay a couple hundred dollars a year into that fund. You need a contractors license to do any sort of work (carpentry, painting, fences, landscaping etc) so they're taking in quite a bit of money.
This is wrong on two levels. First you have the honest contractors paying for the misdeeds of the dishonest ones. Secondly it encourages people to go for the absolute lowest price and not do any research into the people they're hiring. They can have their money refunded through the county if they get ripped off so why bother putting time and money into their job.
Government is really starting to suck. Take from the honest hard working people and give it to the morons who will never learn their lesson because they can always run back to that teet.
OT. I have a family member who flips houses. Their are two types of people you find being foreclosed on. The ones who work hard and have had something tragic happen that has cost them their home. You feel sorry for these people and try to help out usually by letting them live for free a couple months until they find another place. Then their are the irresponsible people who try to live on credit and get whatever they can for free that you don't feel sorry for.
Recently he bought a house at a forclosure auction. He went to the house to talk to the people after the auction. They had new cars, and new jet skis sitting in their driveway. These are the people you don't feel bad for, irresponsibility has brought them to where they are. Almost always they come with an attitude. Their is no exception here and they tell him he doesn't own the house and they aren't leaving. Three weeks later they say they can now make the back payments on the house and get a lawyer. They go to court and despite all the laws saying the house is gone and no longer theirs the judge decides to give them the house.
Now the bank is out the 10k or so it cost them to foreclose and my family member is out about 2k. What happens to the people? They get to live for free for two months while this is going on then get their house back which I'm sure will be foreclosed on again.