Approximately 2,500 REALTOR® and affiliate members from across the state of Texas gathered at the capital in Austin on Tuesday, April 14 for the 2015 REALTOR® Lobby Day. This number included an 8 bus, 220 person delegation from the Greater Houston Area.
Click Here to view photos from REALTOR® Lobby Day.
Members including HAR and HAR TREPAC leadership visited with their state lawmakers on the following public policy issues:
- Increasing the homestead exemption from $15,000 to 25% of the statewide median value.
- Reducing the margins tax rate by 15%
- Banning a real estate transfer fee in Texas
- Opposing increased taxes on real estate
- Opposing a tax on real estate services
- Opposing the requirement to disclose sales-price information
- Supporting laws to ensure HOA operations are transparent & consumer-friendly
- Upholding the constitutional consumer protections related to home-equity lending
- Supporting the passage of legislation to prevent bad-faith assertions of patent infringement in which a patent assertion entity or PAE seeks to extort a license fee by harassing businesses for purportedly infringing on a patent.
- Clarifying TREC’s ability to set CE requirements and clarification to the administration and funding of the Real Estate Recovery Fund.
- Mandating the use of Generally Accepted Appraisal Methods and Techniques to help address improper outcomes in appraisal protests due to a perceived lack of statutory guidance on equal and uniform provisions.
- Opposing efforts to lower the current 10% appraisal cap because it creates inequities within the appraisal system.
