ARKANSASA OKLAHOMA

BOB JOHN aecudve dce presfdcnt

loE xauPuAN, Kaufman Lumber lUCo., Little Rock, Ar., and president of the Mid-America Lumbermens Asociation, along with MLA first vice president John Collins, Collins Lumber Co., Ada, Ok., provided the following report and observations on this year's Conference with Congress held in Washington, D.C. on March 16 and 17.

The Conference opened with a meeting of the National Association's Board of Directors attended by Mid-America Lumbermens Association representatives Joe Kaufman, John Collins and Jon Davis, MLA past president from Hutchinson, Ks.

The meeting provided us with an update on NLBMDA activities which have occurred since the October 1982 meeting.

Bud Howe, NLBMDA president, stated that improved communication between the National and local Federated Associations and their members is his administration's key goal. Bud raised the following points at the meeting:

(1) The need for added seminars, for both first-time and experienced computer users.

(2) The continued development of software for lumber dealers.

(3) The investigation of transportation and delivery cost surveYs.

(4) The development of a national magazine to improve communication.

At Wednesday's luncheon the guest speaker was Congressman Barber Conable (R-New York), who discussed new tax legislation. The main point he stressed was that next year's revision of tax indexing should be kept. If it isn't, all of the advantages of the personal tax reductions seen over the last three years will be destroyed by 'bracket creep.'

At the afternoon issue briefing these major issues of concern to lumber dealers were summarized:

(1) The Mortgage RetirementAccount (MRA), an issue initiated by NLBMDA, which allows people to use their Individual Retirement Account (IRA) money as a downpayment on the purchase ofa home. The MRA would also allow a person to use either all or part of his yearly IRA distribution to prepay the mortgage on his home. This bill would cost the govern- ment nothing and would allow savings and loans to make more mortgages available. Most importantly, the MRAs would encourage youngpeople to save money to purchase their hrst home.

(2) The reform of consumerbankruptcy laws to remove existing statutory incentives for debtors to declare bankruptcy. The adoption of threshold criteria based upon present assets, as well as future income, is a priority.

(3) Thepreservation of thetax-exempt mortgage revenue bond program.

(4) The dropping of the proposed countervailing duty on Canadian lumber.

On Thunday, we kicked off our Congressional visits with a breakfast in the Capitol Building attended by the entire Mid-America Lumbermens Association delegation and featuring Senator Dale Bumpers of Arkansas. Afterwards, we visited many of our Senators and Congressmen to discuss the four issues described above.

The members of the MLA delegation included Ben and EvaLena Mayo, Mayo Building Supply, Bentonville, Ar.; Charlie Gos, MLA Regional Manager, Searcy, Ar.; John and Nancy Garrett and son John Mark, Economy Lumber & Supply Co., Miami, Ok.; Joe and Mary Kaufman, Kaufman Lumber Co., Linle Rock, Ar.; John Collins, Collins Lumber Co., Ada, Ok.

The mood in Washington appears ro be upbeat at the moment and we felt our visit was of use.