Page 8 - Builder Brief July 2023 Issue

2023 PRESIDENT
TAKING OUR MESSAGE TO WASHINGTON DC
I attended my first National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) Legislative Conference in Washington, DC the first week of June and it certainly opened my eyes to the commitment our elected officials make when they run for office and serve our community.
We had the pleasure of meeting with a majority of our Congressional delegation in face-to-face meetings in their offices. In these meetings, we shared solutions for increasing distribution transformer production. Transformer delays are aggravating the nation’s housing affordability crisis, and this is the most common reason buyers are staying on the sidelines. GSABA members asked that Congress utilize the Defense Production Act to boost output at existing facilities and to oppose efforts by the Department of Energy to increase the energy conservation standards for the production of distribution transformers because it will severely exacerbate the current supply shortage.
We also asked our Congressmen and Congresswoman to invest in skilled trades training nationwide due to a staggering 2.2 million new construction workers needed to keep up with housing demand over the next three years. GSABA members asked our elected officials to reauthorize the Workplace Innovation and Opportunity Act to help ease the residential construction industry’s severe workforce shortage and to fully fund the Job Corps Program, which is a vital source of skilled labor for our industry.
The Energy Codes were a hot topic of discussion. NAHB has been working diligently to introduce and advance legislation that would repeal $1 billion in grants to state and local governments to adopt updated energy codes that are costly and restrictive. The new energy codes limit consumer choices and options and in some instances, will take approximately 100 years to recoup the costs.
We have seen this situation on the local level when the San Antonio City Council voted last November to require Electric Vehicle Plugs in every new home built with a garage as of February 1st of this year. I have written about the energy codes a few times and we will continue to work to educate our elected officials on the local, state, and national levels to get relief from these expensive regulatory requirements that do not provide the energy efficiency to warrant the costs.
While we were in Washington, we were able to lobby for the Regulations from the Executive in Need of Scrutiny (REINS) Act of 2023. This legislation would restore meaningful congressional oversight to regulatory rulemaking by requiring Congress to approve all federal agency regulations that have an annual economic impact of $100 million or more. Without meaningful congressional oversight, poorly crafted rules often go into place and businesses are forced to divert precious resources to lengthy and uncertain legal challenges.
SHAD SCHMID
Speaking of legal challenges and a big win for our industry, the Supreme Court issued a unanimous decision in Sackett v. EPA that clearly redefines the scope of the Clean Water Act. The ruling will most likely affect the Biden administration’s new definition of the waters of the U.S. (WOTUS) that gave the federal government jurisdictional authority under the Clean Water Act over certain isolated wetlands, ephemeral streams, or even human-made drainage features, like roadside ditches.
The Texas Legislature is back in Special Session, and I am happy to share that HB 2022 and HB 2024 both passed and were signed into law by Governor Abbott. You can find more information on these two bills on page 18 of this issue of the Builder Brief.
Thank you for your membership! I hope to see you at the Summit Awards on Thursday, July 27th at Pedrotti’s Ranch.
Sincerely,
8 JULY 2023 | GREATER SAN ANTONIO BUILDERS ASSOCIATION