Gov't Links
Legislative
Issues
On January 20, 2010, FHA announced
major changes to ensure its long-term financial soundness. FHA
has carefully balanced the need to make financial reforms with
the need to keep FHA available to a large segment of consumers.
For details on the changes,
Click here
NEW RESPA RULE: A new
RESPA rule went into effect on January 1, 2010.
The rule mandates use of a new Good Faith Estimate (GFE)
and HUD-1 on that date. For more information,
click here.
COUNTY COMPREHENSIVE PLAN UPDATE: The BOCC has been
in the process of updating the County's 1998
Comprehensive Plan, a blueprint for the future of growth
in the county. Changes to the County's zoning ordinance
and map, to bring them into conformance with the
comprehensive plan, are also underway. In January, the
Division of Planning will hold three open houses on the
draft plan as well as a joint public hearing with the
Planning Commission. For more information,
click here.
SENATE PASSES HEALTH REFORM
LEGISLATION:
On
December 24, 2009, the Senate approved its health reform
bill by a vote of 60 to 39. Efforts will now begin to
reconcile the differences between the Senate and House
bills. Any final bill will need to be ratified by both
Chambers before being sent to the President. In its
letter to the Senate, NAR laid out a number of remaining
concerns that must be addressed before any final bill is
enacted. NAR's letter did indicate NAR's support for the
bill's small group underwriting and rating reforms which
are based on the provisions of an NAR-supported small
business health reform bill, S. 725, the Small Business
Health Options Program (SHOP) Act. Introduced in the
last two sessions of Congress, the SHOP bill was
introduced by Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL), Olympia Snowe
(R-ME) and Blanche Lincoln (D-AR). NAR was one of two
small business trade groups involved in developing and
drafting the bill.
