NAR Midyear Legislative Meetings & Trade Expo


midyear
2013 Midyear : May 13 - 18, 2013 


Registration
Registration for the Midyear Legislative Meetings & Trade Expo opens Feb 20, 2013 at 12 noon CT. 
Admission is FREE for members, but REALTORS® must register to attend.
Register here.

Meeting Schedule
See the complete schedule here.

Meeting Materials 
Midyear meeting materials are now available 

2012 NAR Midyear Recap

Recognizing Jesse Lane, ALC, Immediate Past President 
Jesse Lane, ALC, Immediate Past President, was recognized on March 15 at the Mid Year Meetings in D.C. for his service and dedication as the 2011 Past President.  Ray Brownfield, ALC, 2012 National President, praised Jesse for his commitment to the organization as the past President as well as his exemplary performance during this year as the Immediate Past President.  RLI is fortunate to have volunteer leaders like Jesse.  Thank you to Jesse as well as to all of the RLI past presidents for their part in the history of the organization.

Meeting with the Farm Bill House and Senate Staff
Russell Riggs, the RLI Legislative Staff Liaison arranged a meeting for RLI leaders to meet with the House and Senate Staff of the Chairs of the Farm Bill committees.  Ray Brownfield, ALC, RLI 2012 National President, and Dan Hatfield, ALC, 2010 RLI National President, met with the staff to discuss the modifications and proposals to the bill.  The staff has asked that RLI help to create some legal wording to be placed in the bill.  

RLI is developing a letter to Frank Lucas, Chair of the House Farm Bill Committee, to go on record regarding the hearings that were held earlier this month.  Once approved by the RLI Government Affairs Committee, this letter will be placed on our website.    We are proud to have a voice in DC.

RLI Bylaws
The RLI Bylaws were updated and approved by the RLI Board of Directors and by the NAR Board of Directors.  All members have access to these bylaws on the website.  Please contact Michele Cohen, Executive Vice President, if you have questions at mcohen@realtors.org.   

Fracking
NAR's approach to fracking is that it is too soon to take any direction. They stated at the Land Use Committee meetings that additional research and solid proof needs to be put in place before taking a stance on this drilling tactic.  

If you would like some additional information on fracking, Kirk Goble, ALC, addressed it in the web seminar "Oil, Gas, and Mineral Rights Issues for Land Professionals." Visit the General Store for more information.

Flood Insurance Extension
The Senate last week approved a 60-day extension of the National Flood Insurance Program. The matter now goes before the House, which previously passed a 30-day extension. The program expires at the end of the day on Thursday. For the long-term, NAR continues to seek 5-year authorization with program reforms.  

NAR Executive Committee Update 
Read the full update by John Dean, ALC and RLI Representative.

The Professional Standards Committee met to discuss several items on our agenda. A few notable topics included:

  • California has been authorized to conduct a pilot ‘lateral discipline’ program which would allow associations to use discretionary authority to honor/implement ethics decisions of other associations of Realtors that result in suspension and termination of membership.
  • Associations of Realtors may soon be required to offer mediation services to their members prior to review of arbitration requests by Grievance Committees.
  • The Code of Ethics may be modified to include plagiarism in social media
  • Enhancements to the Professional Standards Training Guide were discussed and on behalf of RLI I suggested that a case study involving land be added to the Guide.
  • The 4th Quadrennial Cycle of the Code of Ethics begins in 2013. Now that land is in the Code of Ethics as a specialty, I suggested that more emphasis be placed on Realtors practicing outside of their scope of knowledge by selling land, farms, and ranches.

Thank you to Christina Asbury, ALC, for attending and issuing this report. 

Commercial Real Estate Research Subcommittee Meeting 5-16-2012
Major points:

  • Commercial Member Profile is complete and now available
  • Shows interesting stats, including average earnings
  • Decrease in commercial membership
  • ALCs should fare well with earnings
  • Commercial Lending survey
  • Need for commercial financing
  • Community Banks important sources
  • Interest in Land purchases

Public Policy Coordinating Committee Meeting 5-17-2012
Meeting was started early and cut short because of the REALTOR rally

Thank you to Randy Hertz, ALC, for attending the and issuing the reports above.

2012 LAND USE PROPERTY RIGHTS AND ENVIRONMENT COMMITTEE Summary 

The Five Key issues discussed were:
- The 5-Year National Flood Insurance Reform
- Clean Water Act Wetlands Guidance/Regulation 
- Building Labeling and Energy Efficiency/Research
- Lead Paint Renovation, Repair and Painting Rules

Read the entire summary by Chuck Wingert, ALC, 2013 RLI National President



 
 
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