The $1.9 trillion stimulus plan passed the Senate on Saturday, March 6, with a few alterations to the House bill. It did, however, include additional funding for one month’s rent or mortgage payment to help prevent evictions, as well as a month’s utility payments to prevent service cut-offs. Below are a few of the plan’s […]
Is Real Estate Key to High Stakes Battle Over CA?
It looked like California might be turning a corner in the coronavirus recession, as unemployment leveled off at a jarring 16.3%, and thousands of waiters, bartenders and hair stylists were going back to work. Then came the surge in infections, and with it a new wave of business closures. Now a high-stakes battle is raging […]
Politics Getting in the Way of Housing Legislation
In the first half of 2019, members of the California Legislature introduced roughly 200 bills that addressed the state’s worsening housing crisis. By the end of May, most of them had been nixed by the Byzantine nature of California politics. So why can’t California pass real housing reform? Among members of the Bay Area caucus, […]
Assembly: Housing ‘Blood Bath’
A proposal to place a cap on rent hikes statewide was approved in the California Assembly last week and will now advance into the Senate—with major changes after pressure from California REALTORS®. The California Association of REALTORS® reports that “due in large part to your calls to legislators, C.A.R. was able to successfully negotiate a […]
What Senate Vote Means for Real Estate
Early Saturday morning, the U.S. Senate, by a vote of 51-49, passed legislation that would change the face of homeownership in this country for decades to come. The House passed its own version of tax reform Nov. 16. A last-minute change to the Senate version would make up to $10,000 in property taxes deductible for […]
Now What? Fight to Alter Tax Bill Has Just Begun
Last week the House passed a tax reform package that the National Association of REALTORS® calls a tax hike on many middle-class homeowners and says would lower property values for all homeowners. “It’s disappointing to see this legislation move forward, but the real work to shape this debate is just getting started,” NAR President Elizabeth […]
Senate HUD Choice Good for R.E.
The Senate confirmed the nomination of Pam Patenaude as deputy secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, a choice the National Association of REALTORS® and other real estate groups say will be good for homeownership. Patenaude previously served at HUD as its deputy secretary for field policy and management from 2001 to 2007, […]
House Votes to Repeal Key Aspects of Dodd-Frank
The House voted last Thursday, mostly along partisan lines, to roll back many of the banking rules under the Dodd-Frank Act of 2010, which increased regulatory oversight of financial institutions. Some lawmakers argue the sweeping legislation had been preventing a true recovery from happening since the Great Recession and has made getting a mortgage too […]
Colin Powell to REALTORS®: Demand Change
“I learn more out in the speaking circuit than I do sitting around in Washington,” said Gen. Colin Powell, speaking to thousands of attendees at the General Session of the 2016 REALTORS® Conference & Expo on Nov. 5. He said that while the public might have been worried about the election, he was happy to […]
Winning REALTOR® Candidates
By Bill Ruh, CVAR Government Affairs Director Election Day 2016 is now one for the history books. No matter where your partisan political preferences may rest, your non-partisan REALTOR® Party has been hard at work throughout this election cycle to help elect REALTOR® friendly candidates in the U.S. House of Representatives, the California State Senate […]