Feature
GOVERNMENT
AFFAIRS BRIEFING Russell W. Riggs Institute Government Affairs Liaison National Association of REALTORS®
News and Notes from Inside the Beltway NAR Testifies Against Expanded Clean Water Act Regulations The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Army Corps of Engineers continue to push their regulatory efforts to regulate all Waters of the U.S. The agencies have jointly issued a proposed rule that would significantly expand the number of waters that would be considered under their jurisdiction and would require permits to develop and maintain. While the EPA is hosting several forums across the country to listen to the public’s reaction to this proposed rule, more and more public officials from across the ideological and political spectrum are questioning the scope of this rule and wisdom of moving forward. In the U.S. House of Representatives, several committees held oversight hearings on this proposed rule. The National Association of REALTORS® (NAR) provided a written statement on the proposal focusing on the existing homeowner and small business concerns. Also, NAR is working closely with a coalition of real estate groups to concentrate on the commercial and home buyer impacts and hired an economic consulting firm to review the EPA’s cost/benefit analysis and scientific rationale for the rule. A central issue of the proposed rule is whether federal agencies must continue to physically visit and collect data before issuing wetlands determinations restricting land use on private property. However, because the agencies complain it’s too hard to prove the Clean Water Act applies, they want property owners to either a) do the analysis themselves and prove otherwise or b) go through a broken permit process in order to make routine land improvements like clearing brush or planting trees. Given all of the flaws with this proposed rule, we are urging Congress to stop these agencies from moving forward until they provide base regulation and sound science, and fix the wetlands permit program which is creating only confusion and uncertainty. See the Institute Call for Action on page 8.
FEMA Releases Refund Guidance The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) recently released guidance related to providing refunds to property owners who overpaid for flood insurance. Pursuant to Section 3 of the Homeowners Flood Insurance Affordability Act (HFIAA), refund amounts will be determined using rates made available in Bulletin
W-14026 issued on May 29, 2014. Section 3 of HFIAA requires FEMA to restore Pre-Flood Insurance Rate Map (FIRM) subsidized rates and issue refunds of excess premiums collected above the subsidized rate for the following: n Pre-FIRM properties not insured when the Biggert-Waters Flood
Insurance Act of 2012(Biggert-Waters) was enacted; n Pre-FIRM properties purchased after Biggert-Waters was
enacted; and n Policies for Pre-FIRM properties that were rated full-risk under
Biggert-Waters due to a lapse in coverage, but only for policies where the lapse was due to a property owner no longer being required to purchase flood insurance. The issuance of refunds will begin on October 1, 2014, and must be completed by December 31, 2014. See the refund fact sheet at www.fema.gov/media-librarydata/1404830857286-60cdd9d1e7b83d90cf2da35935d239a0/FEMA_ HFIAA_Refund_FactSheet_070714.pdf
NAR Comments on Unmanned Aerial Vehicles Policy NAR submitted comments on the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) recent “Interpretation of the Special Rule for Model Aircraft”, which specifically mentioned REALTORS® use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) for taking property videos as being a commercial use and therefore prohibited under FAA policy. While safety and privacy concerns presented by UAV technology are NAR’s primary concerns, NAR members are also concerned about current FAA policy that prohibits any commercial use of this technology and hinders the growth of many industries. NAR supports regulation that allows industries to use this technology safely to enhance business development. However, members also want to ensure that any future regulatory framework is not so burdensome and expensive as to prevent UAVs from being used by industries that can benefit from its use. NAR encourages the FAA to comply with the statutory directives issued by Congress to develop rules that integrate UAVs into the national airspace by 2015.
NAR on Rural Access to Credit NAR submitted a statement to the House Agriculture Subcommittee on Livestock, Rural Development, and Credit for their hearing entitled, “A Review of Credit Availability in Rural America.” In the
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