Clarifications to American Clean Energy and Security Act

In the week following the passage of H.R. 2454, the American Clean Energy and Security Act, the Internet and talk radio were abuzz with erroneous reports of mandatory point-of-sale retrofits, audit and labeling, and other misinformation. This misinformation was due, in part, to the inability of Congress to post a current draft of the bill on the Web in a timely manner, due to a last-minute, 300-plus pages amendment. There also was a well-orchestrated, intentional scare campaign by opponents of the legislation.
C.A.R. and NAR had opposed H.R. 2454 specifically because of a mandatory labeling provision included in the original bill. NAR was successful in procuring a provision in the last-minute amendment that ensured the labeling requirement would only apply to new construction and not to existing homes. Additionally, the bill does not include any retrofit mandates at point-of-sale. What the bill does do is provide financial incentives, such as grants, loans, loan guarantees, and/or mortgage interest rate buy-downs, for property owners who voluntarily make energy efficiency improvements. As these voluntary improvements would be incentivized by federal tax dollars, the energy efficiency of the property would require an audit before and after the improvement.
The legislation will create a national building code standard that states will have to adopt or the federal government will set and enforce the state’s building codes. Although California’s code already would be in compliance with the provisions of the legislation, C.A.R. historically has opposed federal preemption of state laws. Both C.A.R. and NAR will continue to work with the Senate to amend this section of the bill.
The issue of energy conservation and climate change continues to be a hot-button issue for many Americans and often splits along party lines. While H.R. 2454 contained more than 1,400 pages, only a small portion of the bill directly impacted real estate. As a result, legislators easily can overlook critical real estate provisions and instead focus on headline-grabbing issues such as factory emissions and foreign oil dependency. C.A.R., NAR, and a strong grass roots effort by our members ensured that Congress recognized and addressed pitfalls within the bill that would have harmed the real estate industry. Because of NAR’s efforts, the final piece of legislation will not force existing homes to compete with newly constructed homes by mandating energy efficiency labeling, labeling will be excluded from the home buying process, and property owners who voluntarily choose to improve the energy efficiency of their property will have the financial incentives to do so.

Here are some URL's with additional information.

http://www.realtor.org/fedistrk.nsf/c2c6e17e27e92119852572f8005cd953/4c238a3be8220682852573d4006f1dfc?

PDF of The American Clean Energy and Security Act

http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi‐bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=111_cong_bills&docid=f:h2454eh.txt.pdf

Federal Reserve leaves key interest rate unchanged

The Federal Reserve today voted to maintain the current target range for the federal funds rate at 0 percent to 0.25 percent, anticipating that economic conditions are likely to warrant exceptionally low levels of the federal funds rate for an extended period.
“The economy has continued to contract, though the pace of contraction appears to be somewhat slower,” the Fed said in a prepared statement. “Household spending has shown signs of stabilizing but remains constrained by ongoing job losses, lower housing wealth, and tight credit. Weak sales prospects and difficulties in obtaining credit have led businesses to cut back on inventories, fixed investment, and staffing. Although the economic outlook has improved modestly since the March meeting, partly reflecting some easing of financial market conditions, economic activity is likely to remain weak for a time,” and inflation will remain subdued.
As previously announced, the Fed will continue to provide support to mortgage lending and housing markets and to improve overall conditions in private credit markets, and will purchase a total of up to $1.25 trillion of agency mortgage-backed securities and up to $200 billion of agency debt by the end of the year. In addition, the Federal Reserve will buy up to $300 billion of Treasury securities by autumn.

50 Green Tips for Earth Day and Beyond

It doesn't have to be Earth Day for me to think about how I can make an impact (or less of an impact) on our...

View >>

10 Happiest States in the U.S.

Money can’t buy happiness, but it can make life a whole lot easier.

MainStreet.com’s Happiness Index examined household income, debt, employment, and foreclosures to choose the states that are surviving the current economic crisis with the most panache.

The analysis discovered that despite disastrous conditions in parts of Michigan and Ohio, overall, the Midwest is navigating the financial meltdown with the highest average salaries, lowest unemployment, and fewest foreclosures. In fact, Nebraska, in the center of the corn belt, scores highest on MainStreet’s Happiness Index.

Here are the rest of the top-10 happiest states:
Nebraska
Iowa
Kansas
Hawaii
Louisiana
Oklahoma
Wyoming
South Dakota
West Virginia
Wisconsin