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Legislative Update...A Warm Up
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Hello NCHBA members! Welcome back to the Legislative Update, your weekly summary of the comings and goings on Jones Street in Raleigh. While the General Assembly doesn’t convene until next Wednesday, we thought we’d give you a rundown of what has been happening in the “off season” and a preview of what we can expect in the coming weeks. |
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NAHB LegCon a Success!
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NCHBA members made an impressive showing at NAHB’s Legislative Conference in Washington, DC on April 21. We had at least 60 members attend and visit with House members and both Senators. Issues discussed included the state of the housing industry, lending and the credit crisis, the Merkley amendment to the health care bill, energy efficiency retrofit incentives (specifically, the Home Star bill) and the effect of regulations on housing affordability (specifically, asking our members NOT to sponsor the House version of the Clean Water Restoration Act). We were able to meet personally and interact with all our Representatives and Senators. We received great feedback from the Congressional offices and from NAHB staff. Thank you to everyone who took the time to make their voice heard in Washington, DC!
Click here to see photos from NAHB Legislative Day. |
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Home Star Bill Passes the U.S. House
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Yesterday, the Home Star Energy Retrofit Act of 2010 (H.R. 5019) passed the U.S. House by a margin of 246-161. While the vote was primarily along party lines, 12 Republicans voted for the bill and 7 Democrats voted against it. North Carolina’s delegation voted along party lines with no defections from either party.
H.R. 5019 authorizes a program to provide homeowners with up to $8,000 to retrofit existing homes for greater energy efficiency. Our support for this bill is both because it would stimulate construction activity in North Carolina and because it affirms our position that the most gains in energy efficiency come not from building code changes, but from retrofitting older (especially, pre-1991) homes.
NAHB designated a vote in support of H.R. 5091 as a Key Vote. Click here to see a copy of the letter we sent to our House delegation. There is a similar bill in the U.S. Senate (S.R. 3177) that is expected to be debated soon. |
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North Carolina Primaries
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North Carolina voters went to the polls last Tuesday in what turned out to be a very low turnout primary day.
Five incumbent members of the N.C. House were defeated on Tuesday. Those members include: Rep. Nick Mackey (D-Mecklenburg), Rep. Pearl Burris-Floyd (R-Gaston), Rep. Ronnie Sutton (D-Robeson), Rep. Earl Jones (D-Guilford) and, our own, Rep. Bruce Goforth (D-Buncombe).
In the primary for the U.S. Senate, incumbent Sen. Richard Burr won the Republican nomination resoundingly, while Secretary of State Elaine Marshall and former state Sen. Cal Cunningham are headed for a runoff in the race for the Democratic nomination, after neither was able to dominate a crowded primary field.
In the U.S. House primaries, all seven incumbents with challengers won their primaries. |
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Short Session Starts May 12
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 The N.C. General Assembly convenes at noon on Wednesday, May 12, for what we hope will be a “short” short session. Dominating discussions, no doubt, will be the budget. NCHBA will be doing a lot of “playing defense” with a little work on some clarification to legislation we passed last year. In particular, we will be clarifying the definition of builder in H 852 Defer Tax on Builders’ Inventory to include not only the builder, but affiliated LLC’s and other corporations used for tax purposes.
While the official start of the session is next week, various standing and interim committees have met since last fall. NCHBA has been monitoring the activities of at least 10 different interim or select committees including: the House Select Committee on Homeowners Associations; the House Select Committee on Small Business; the Environmental Review Commission; the Joint Finance Committee on Tax Reform; and the Legislative Study Commission on Global Climate Change. All the committees we are monitoring are making legislative recommendations, and we will report any of those recommendations that actually get introduced as bills. Stay tuned! |
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See You Next Week
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With this being a low-revenue and an election year, this session should be fast and furious! Meaning: NCHBA Government Affairs staff may actually have a summer (let’s hope). It is our job (and our pleasure) to be there every minute the General Assembly is in town and to keep you posted as we move along. We’ll start our regular updates next Friday, May 14. Until then, Happy Friday and to all you Moms out there, Happy Mother’s Day Weekend! |
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