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Executive Officer Resources — Wisconsin Builders Association (wisbuild.org)
Help Fight Barriers to Housing As you are likely aware, with your membership comes a voice to local, state, and national government. We are here to help your business thrive and to positively enact change for the homebuilding industry. Too often we hear from members about the roadblocks that you face at a local and state level, and we want (and need) to do something about it Assembly Democrats Replace Hintz with Neubauer Recently, Assembly Democrat Minority Leader Gordon Hintz (D-Oshkosh) announced that he would be stepping away from his leadership position in his caucus in January 2022. Hintz also stated that he would be making a decision on seeking reelection to the state assembly later in 2022. With Hintz’s announcement that set the stage for leadership election to replace Hintz on Monday, December 20.State Representative Greta Neubauer ran unopposed and was elected the new minority leader in the state assembly. After her election, Neubauer stated “as Assembly Democratic Leader, I will work to build the relationships, the strategy, and the infrastructure to move our shared values and priorities forward. I will make tough decisions and push back when necessary. And I will do everything in my power to provide more opportunities for every member to lead on the issues they are most passionate about.” It was first reported by Wispolitics.com that Neubauer, 30, is the youngest person to serve as a legislative caucus leader since 1943 when GOP State Senator John Brynes was elected minority leader at age 29. Tax Break for Apprenticeship Expenses Vetoed WBA recently gave an update that Senate Bill 125 (SB 125) was passed by both houses of the legislature.SB 125 would have allowed an individual, when calculating income for state income tax purposes, to subtract the tuition expenses paid by the individual for the individual or the individual's dependent to participate in an apprenticeship program that is approved by the Department of Workforce Development.Unfortunately, since our last update, Governor Evers announced that he had vetoed SB 125. In his veto message,Governor Evers stated “I object to the manner in which it is duplicative of certain existing tax benefits while leaving out important partners in Wisconsin’s apprenticeship system.”
Advocacy Digest | Brad Boycks, Executive Director
Member Benefits
Use the WBA Builders Direct Fund to support your candidate and support Building a Better Wisconsin PAC. Make a personal individual contribution to the Builders Direct Fund Conduit to support a candidate for governor, attorney general, state senate, or state assembly by using a personal, individual or single member LLC credit card. BuildersDirectFund.com
The WBA Legal Hotline is a service provided to you FREE as part of your membership and is only a phone call away! Find out more at wisbuild.org WBA legal resource center is available exclusively for members sponsored through Axley Brynelson, LLP
The WBA Foundation offers online continuing education credits for holders of Wisconsin's Dwelling Contractor credentials through its partnership with Slipstream and the B4 Conference. These courses are designed to fulfill Wisconsin's continuing education requirements for dwelling contractors (12 credit hours every two years), and are approved by the Wisconsin Department of Safety & Professional Services (DSPS). Check out the link here: https://www.wisbuild.org/online-courses-preview
NHE Offering Grants to Support Workforce Development
https://signup.com/go/vgJXTwu
The National Housing Endowment (NHE) has set a bold goal for 2022 – to introduce 10,000 young people to career opportunities in the residential skilled trades. NHE encourages state and local home builders associations to apply for the Career Connections grant program. The program is funded by the Skilled Labor Fund (SLF) and managed by NHE. The funding is designed to support career fairs, presentations, participation in school- organized career events, and other activities that introduce students to careers in residential skilled trades. The fund will award grants up to $2,500. A committee will consider each application and will award funds based upon merit and funding availability. Applications are due Feb. 16, 2022, for career events taking place by Nov. 18, 2022. Grant recipients will be announced in March. Contact Mark Pursell, NHE President and CEO, with any questions.
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DHS Expands H-2B Visas The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has announced the forthcoming publication of a joint temporary final rule making available an additional 20,000 H-2B temporary nonagricultural worker visas for fiscal year (FY) 2022. These additional visas will be set aside for U.S. employers seeking to employ additional workers on or before March 31, 2022. H-2B visas allow employers to hire foreign workers who come temporarily to the United States and perform temporary non-agricultural services or labor – including construction work – on a one-time, seasonal, peak-load or intermittent basis. Eligibility and filing requirements can be found on the H-2B Nonimmigrants webpage.
Home Builder Sentiment Strong as 2021 Comes to a Close
NAHB Provides Safety Videos Working in construction can be dangerous. Workers can be exposed to hazards such as falls, electrical shock, and harmful chemicals. Before your employees step on the jobsite, be sure they understand how to protect themselves while at work. NAHB has published a new safety video toolbox talk, Safety Basics, to help home builders familiarize their staff with the hazards of a residential construction site. While construction work can be inherently dangerous, understanding hazards and creating a safety plan to address them will help keep everyone safe on the jobsite. Visit NAHB's video toolbox page for a Spanish version of the safety basics video.
Despite inflation concerns and ongoing production bottlenecks, home builder confidence edged higher for the fourth consecutive month on strong consumer demand and limited existing inventory. Builder sentiment in the market for newly built single-family homes moved one point higher to 84 in December, according to the NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI) released in December. This ties the highest reading of the year that was posted in February. Derived from a monthly survey that NAHB has been conducting for 35 years, the NAHB/Wells Fargo HMI gauges builder perceptions of current single-family home sales and sales expectations for the next six months as “good,” “fair” or “poor.” The survey also asks builders to rate traffic of prospec- tive buyers as “high to very high,” “average” or “low to very low.” Scores for each component are then used to calculate a seasonally adjusted index where any number over 50 indicates that more builders view conditions as good than poor. The HMI index gauging current sales conditions rose one point to 90 and the gauge charting traffic of prospective buyers also posted a one-point gain to 70. The component measuring sales expect- ations in the next six months held steady for the third consecutive month at 84. HMI tables can be found at nahb.org/hmi.
Looking for a sweet deal? Member-to-Member Offers
Meeting your financial goals requires making a plan - and sticking to it. Please contact Sheri Plantz with Edward Jones Investments at 788-6460 or CLICK HERE Avalon Design Group is offering a 50% discount to all Builders for any/all Parade of Homes projects that utilize their Design/Drafting Services. Contact Tim at 319-213-5633 for more information. Unlimited travel discounts from Snazzy Traveler! You must be an active member of record or an affiliate member with WBA and you will receive a free Snazzy Traveler membership (valued at $99). No black out dates or restrictions. Sign up today at www.wisbuild.org Free Reclaimed Wood Headboard w/ Purchase of Wood Flooring or Wall Treatments- Contact Larry at Used Anew LLC e:larry@usedanew.com p: (608) 487-0547 http://www.usedanew.com 4 Rooms FREE with Advanced Multimedia Solutions ~ Whole house audio pre-wire for LABA member contractors. Contact for scheduling 608-783-0949 or sales@AMSAudioVideo.com. To be eligible for the General Motors $500 discount, you must be the active member of record or an affiliate member with NAHB. If you would like to verify your status or add additional memberships for your business, please contact Tena at the LABA office. Do you have a discount program exclusively for LABA Members? Get your message out to members FREE in the Floorplan and/or at www.labaonline.com! Contact Tena at 608-781-5242 or tena@labaonline.com