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 In This Issue Business Report August Health Insurance Reform Deadline Passes Without Floor Votes HUD Releases Expanded FAQs on New RESPA Rule SBA Launches YouTube Channel to Promote SBA Loan Programs Conventional Residential Lending Report NAR Recommends Streamlining FHFA's Interim Rule on Prior Approval of GSE Products and Activities Environment Report EPA Sends Air Regs to the White House for Review Business Report  August Health Insurance Reform Deadline Passes Without Floor Votes Health Care Activity Continues in August Despite the August Congressional recess, NAR staff have continued to share the Realtor perspective on the health insurance reform debate. Most recently, on September 2nd, NAR staff met with the senior health staff in the Speaker's office. That meeting was then followed up later that day with meetings with the senior staff in the White House Office of Health Policy. The primary focus of both meetings was on those issues that continue to concern the self-employed and small businesses, in general, and Realtors, in particular, in the House and Senate health bills. In addition, staff also raised the problems inherent in the House bill's approach to employer tax credits that would prohibit non-profit employers, like Realtor associations, from benefiting from the proposed tax credits. White House staff indicated that they were aware of the problem and were working with House leadership on addressing the oversight. NAR has prepared a Q&A on the components of the House and Senate HELP health insurance reform bills that answers the many common questions that staff have fielded from NAR members and association staffs. View the Q&A Marcia Salkin 202-383-1092, Ken Wingert 202-383-1196, Scott Rinn 202-383-7508 back to top Business Report HUD Releases Expanded FAQs on New RESPA Rule The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has recently released three sets of new FAQs on the new RESPA rule published in November 2008. The latest additions were published on HUD's website on September 3, 2009, after two previous releases in August. The FAQs are organized by subject, cover multiple topics ranging from questions concerning effective dates, to filling out the new GFE and HUD-1 forms. While some provisions of the final rule went into effect on January 16, 2009, the majority of the provisions, including mandatory use of the new GFE and HUD-1 forms, will go into effect on January 1, 2010. HUD's Expanded RESPA FAQs Scott Rinn 202-383-7508, Marcia Salkin 202-383-1092, Kenneth Trepeta 202-383-1294 back to top Business Report SBA Launches YouTube Channel to Promote SBA Loan Programs On August 26, 2009, the Small Business Administration (SBA) announced it has launched a new YouTube Channel to promote its programs and services, including its small business loan programs. The SBA intends to expand its outreach to millions of YouTube visitors, many of them under 35, to provide more current and potential entrepreneurs with the necessary tools to start, grow and succeed in their businesses. SBA press release NAR Letter to SBA Administrator, 7-24-09 Scott Rinn 202-383-7508, Marcia Salkin 202-383-1092, Russell Riggs 202-383-1259 back to top Conventional Residential Lending Report NAR Recommends Streamlining FHFA's Interim Rule on Prior Approval of GSE Products and Activities On August 28, 2009, NAR President Charles McMillan wrote to the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) to comment on its interim rule that established procedures for prior approval of new products and activities of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (the government sponsored enterprises, or GSEs). The interim rule took effect on July 2, 2009. NAR recommends streamlining the process. FHFA and the GSEs should routinely engage in up-front consultations to resolve questions related to potential new products and activities. In addition, the required GSE submissions should be less detailed for activities that are not subject to a public comment process. NAR's Comment Letter FHFA's Interim Rule Jeff Lischer 202-383-1117, Tony Hutchinson 202-383-1120 back to top Environment Report EPA Sends Air Regs to the White House for Review The EPA has sent several proposed regulations limiting carbon dioxide to the White House and the OMB for their review and approval. The first regulation is a proposal for how to set greenhouse gas (GHG) limits in Clean Air Act permits for stationary sources. Observers are expecting the latest document to propose a 25,000-ton per year (tpy) threshold for regulating GHGs from stationary sources, in order to exempt thousands of small sources that currently emit well above the agency's usual 250 tpy permit threshold for conventional pollutants. Small sources could include office buildings and apartment buildings of approximately 10 units or more. The other rule sent to the OMB for review would allow the EPA to tailor its GHG permitting plan to only those sources that emit 25,000 tons per year of GHGs. This "tailoring" provides EPA discretion to exempt small sources. NAR has submitted comments on these rules, opposing the use of the Clean Air Act to regulate carbon dioxide and other GHGs and encouraging Congress to act to resolve these issues. Russell Riggs 202-383-1259, Austin Perez 202-383-1046, Helen Devlin 202-383-7559 back to top Go to archived weekly reports >> Last Updated: 09/04/2009 Kara Beigay |
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