LEADERSHIP
December 2017
HAVEN'T RESERVED YOUR BOOTH FOR THE SPRING HOME & GARDEN EXPO YET?
Merry Christmas & Happy New Year! WHBA does not hold a Membership Meeting during the month of December. Our next GMM will be Tuesday, January 9th, 2018 11:30 - 1:00 FAIRFIELD PLANTATION COUNTRY CLUB
WESTSIDE HBA is sponsoring a Spring Home & Garden Expo. April 13th - 15th, at the Carrollton VFW on Hwy 61. We are now booking booth reservations for the event. The event will have only 58 booth spaces due to the size of the facility. However, this should not impact attendance. We are planning significant pre-event promotions and anticipate a good turnout. See Page 2 for more information. Additional marketing opportunities for exhibitors will be the opportunity to present an up to 30 minute "generic" breakout session on your product category or services. EARLY BOOKING TERMS $100 Security Deposit through 1/15/2018 (Totally Refundable) Full Payment due 2/1/2018 Reserve Your Booth Today!
PRESIDENT Paul Zachos Zach & Jack Home Services 404/391-2238 PZachos@aol.com SEC/TRES Cory Lord Arbor Design Group 770/328-8110 JLord2559@aol.com EXECUTIVE OFFICER Chris Collier Westside HBA 770/355-6714 rchriscollierjr@ gmail.com
Home builders and other employers have new cause for concern: the legalization and increased use of marijuana. The laws governing use of marijuana vary by state, and many have implemented laws and regulations that protect current or prospective employees against discrimination based on the worker's use of marijuana. To help builders address this issue, NAHB has created “A Builder’s Guide: Marijuana in the Workplace,” which examines items related to the legalization of marijuana and includes a compilation of state laws as well as tips for creating workplace policies. If you're logged into nahb.org, the guidebook can be found in the “Trending Now” section of the Construction Liability Resources on NAHB’s website. The guide examines pertinent issues related to the legalization of marijuana, and includes a compilation of state laws and tips for creating workplace policies. It also provides answers to many frequently asked questions. For example: • In areas where it is legal to smoke marijuana for medical reasons, can employers still object to their employees smoking marijuana at work? (The answer is yes.) • Can an employer fire or choose not to hire someone because they admitted to (legally) using marijuana, or because a drug test revealed they had recently smoked marijuana, even if their work performance was not impaired? (The answer varies by state.)
Marijuana Legalization Brings New Workplace Challenges
The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) announced recently that the maximum baseline conforming loan limit for mortgage loans acquired by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in 2018 will increase to $453,100 from $424,100. The loan limit will rise 6.8% in 2018 because FHFA has determined that the average U.S. home value increased 6.8% between the third quarters of 2016 and 2017. Higher loan limits will be in effect in higher-cost areas as well. In areas where 115% of the local median home value exceeds the baseline loan limit, the maximum area loan limit will be higher. The new ceiling loan limit in high-cost markets will be $679,650, or 150% of the $453,100 for single-family properties. The previous ceiling was $636,150.
Employers Must Use New I-9 Form
2018 ICC Code Adoption Kits
Conforming Loan Limits to Rise
With states and jurisdictions preparing to upgrade to the latest building and energy codes released by the International Code Council, NAHB has developed resources to help HBAs suggest cost-effective changes to improve the newly released 2018 editions. Sign in to nahb.org to download the 2018 I-Codes Adoption Kit, which consists of three parts: • Significant changes that were made in the 2018 I-Codes from the 2015 editions. • Cost impact of adopting the 2018 IRC to the 2015 edition. • NAHB-suggested amendments to improve the codes’ practicality and cost effectiveness. The ICC “model” codes are designed with the intent that they can be amended by the state or local jurisdiction to take into account local considerations, such as geography, climate and local practices.
Los Angeles Now Least Affordable Market
Don’t miss NAHB’s Meeting of the Members on Jan. 10 during the International Builders’ Show in Orlando. Learn about NAHB advocacy initiatives and membership benefits, network with like-minded building professionals, and hear Shark Tank personality and entrepreneur Daymond John. Nationwide housing starts rose 13.7% in October to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.29 million units after a slight upward revision to the September reading, according to newly released data from HUD and the Commerce Department. This is the highest housing production reading since October 2016, when total starts hit a post-recession high of 1.33 million. Single-family production rose 5.3% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 877,000. Year-to-date, single-family starts are 8.4% above their level over the same period last year. Multifamily starts jumped 36.8% to 413,000 units after a weak September report.
NAHB's Meeting of the Members
At NAHB’s urging, OSHA is delaying by one year its crane operator certification deadline. The deadline is now Nov. 10, 2018. OSHA is also extending for the same one-year period the employer duty to ensure that crane operators are competent to operate a crane safely. NAHB remains concerned that OSHA’s requirements for third-party certification of crane operators are too restrictive.
OSHA Extends Crane Operator Deadline
The Army Corps of Engineers proposed a rule in 2016 that would have illegally expanded Clean Water Act jurisdiction to include 900,000 acres of dry land in Massachusetts. But after pushback from NAHB and the Home Builders and Remodelers Association of Massachusetts, the Corps has issued a revised version of the rule that removes an expansive and illegal vernal pool buffer requirement. The proposal would have required Massachusetts builders and developers to notify the Corps and mitigate any environmental impacts when working within a 750-foot buffer surrounding isolated seasonal ponds called vernal pools. There are nearly 37,000 vernal pools across Massachusetts, and conservative estimates indicate 17% of the commonwealth’s area falls within the proposed vernal pool buffer. Supported by NAHB’s Legal Action Committee and State and Local Issues fund, the Home Builders and Remodelers Association of Massachusetts, together with NAHB staff, joined forces at the Corps' New England District Offices in August 2016 to fight this overreach. In response to our joint comments and analysis of the flawed proposal, the Corps has issued a revised version that removes the expansive and illegal vernal pool buffer requirements.
Massachusetts Builders Halt Federal Land Grab
Housing Starts Near Post-Recession High
Los Angeles replaced San Francisco as the nation’s least affordable housing market in the third quarter of 2017, according to the NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Opportunity Index released in November. Just 9.1% of the homes sold in the Los-Angeles-Long-Beach- Glendale market were affordable to families earning the area’s median income of $64,300. San Francisco-Redwood City, which was the nation’s least affordable major housing market for 19 straight quarters, fell to second. How does your local market compare?
EVENTS SCHEDULE December 1-January 15 Early Booking Period For Spring Home & Garden Expo January 9th General Membership Meeting 11:30-1:00 Fairfield Plantation CC February 1st H&G Expo Booth Payment Due February 13th General Membership Meeting 11:30-1:00 Fairfield Plantation CC March 13th General Membership Meeting 11:30-1:00 Fairfield Plantation CC April 13th-15th Spring Home & Garden Expo Carrollton VFW
CALENDAR OF EVENTS
Two recent Legal Action Fund victories demonstrate that patience is a virtue when it comes to litigation — and that NAHB’s Legal Action Fund is here to support members for the long haul. The wins occurred in a Clean Water Act case in New York and a water and sewer fee case in Idaho. New York Victory Years in the Making Seven years after the Environmental Protection Agency launched a federal lawsuit against Buffalo Niagara Builders Association member Acquest Development for alleged violations of the Clean Water Act, a federal district court has dismissed the action. At issue was whether Williamsville, N.Y.-based Acquest discharged stormwater and fill material into “jurisdictional” wetlands without first securing federal permits. The federal government sought to stop all future discharge activities on the 96-acre parcel, require remediation of the impacted wetlands, and impose tens of thousands of dollars in fines. Acquest rejected the claim, arguing that the onsite wetlands do not have a “significant nexus” with a traditionally navigable water as detailed in the U.S. Supreme Court Rapanos decision and subsequent guidelines established by the Army Corps of Engineers and EPA. With the Department of Justice’s realization that it would be difficult to prove EPA’s claims, all charges against Acquest were withdrawn and the case was dismissed. The long and bitter fight, and ultimate win secured by Acquest, was made possible in part through the assistance of the New York State Builders Association, Buffalo Niagara Builders Association and financial support from NAHB’s Legal Action Fund. Idaho Builders Finally See Relief after Victory Idaho property owners received a favorable decision in September when the Idaho Supreme Court ruled that a portion of the city of Pocatello’s water and sewer fees were illegally collected from end users and should be refunded. In 2011, the Building Contractors Association of Southeast Idaho (BCASI) filed an action challenging this fee as an unlawful charge. BCASI won the case in 2013, and the city agreed to stop assessing the charge on future bills. However, it refused to refund the millions it had already collected. So in 2014, the plaintiffs filed a lawsuit seeking to recover those funds from the city. Through NAHB’s Legal Action Fund, NAHB submitted an amicus brief to support the interests of Idaho builders. In the September 2017 decision, the Idaho Supreme Court found in favor of property owners, and the case now will move back to the Idaho District Court to determine the final amounts to be repaid to customers. The NAHB Legal Action Committee will consider Legal Action Fund applications when it meets in January during the Builders' Show.
Legal Victories Support NAHB Members
