Dennis Norman Musings

Dennis Norman

By: Dennis Norman

If you are like most people you may be wondering what is “The American Clean Energy and Security Act”?  Odds are you would be more familiar with the term “Cap and Trade” bill or “Cap and Tax” bill, both of which have been applied to this.

The Act is H.R. 2454 (later renumbered H.R. 2998) it passed by a narrow margin (7 votes) in the U.S. House of Representatives and has caused quite a stir.  This bill has business owners, builders, real estate agents and many others concerned that it will negatively impact their businesses as well as our country’s competitiveness with other countries. The Senate still has to act upon the issue and it will take their approval and the presidents signature before becoming law but I thought I would address it nonetheless.

The National Association of REALTORS(R) rallied it’s members and did a “call to action” for them to contact their Congressman and share with them the negative impact the bill could have on the already somewhat crippled real estate industry.  As a result, an amendment was done late in the game that the National Association of REALTORS(R) feels changed many of the more concerning parts of the bill.  They  just released a report on the bill outlining some of these changes as well as other issues as they relate to real estate.

According to NAR the bill passed by the house:

• Does not create a federal energy audit requirement for real property
• Exempts EXISTING homes and buildings from any federal guidelines for new construction energy efficiency
• Prohibits the implementation of any labeling during a sales transaction
• Prohibits the Environmental Protection Agency from regulating residential and commercial buildings under the Clean Air Act.
• Does not include an early proposal to allow citizens to sue over minor climate risks under the Clean Air Act
• Leaves the decision to states as to whether to require energy audits, disclosures, etc
• Provides property owners with significant financial incentives, matching grants and tools to make property improvements and reduce their energy bills, and;
• Establishes green building incentives for HUD housing, including a loan program for renewable energy, block grants and credit for upgrades in mortgage underwriting.

This bill is over 1200 pages long and has a 300+ page amendment and the parts that affect real estate take up about 45 pages or so.  Therefore there is obviously a whole lot more to the bill than what we are discussing here.  Also, I think it is safe to say there will be much debate about the merits of it as time goes on.