13
Government Relations
Getting to Work
for Texas Housing
W
ith the Holidays upon us
as I write this article it only
means one thing (besides an
over-abundance of football, hunting and
holiday eating)—the Texas Legislature
will be back in town and getting to
work very soon. On Tuesday, January
13, at noon, the 84
th
Texas Legislature
will convene and begin its biennial 140
days of work. While the legislature has
only one Constitutional requirement to
complete during its time in Austin (to
pass a balanced budget), you can bet the
181 Senators and State Representatives
will be very busy proposing, debating and
deciding upon thousands of measures
that will affect the future of our state in
innumerable ways.
Just as we have done since our founding
in 1946, the TAB volunteer leadership,
association
members,
government
relations staff and consultants will
continue to engage at the Capitol on
issues affecting the Texas residential
development,
construction
and
remodeling industry. As part of this
process, your professional advocacy
staff under the direction of the TAB
Government Relations Committee will
track, review and work on over 1,500 bills
this session that could have an impact
upon your business or current or future
Texas home buyers.
With a large number of newly elected
members to the Senate (perhaps as many
as 8 of 31) and the House (over 25), it is
incumbent upon our state organization
and our 28 local Home Builders
Associations to educate the new members
and remind those that are returning of
the impact their decisions have upon
Texas Housing. Keeping Texas affordable
for the over 26 million current Texans and
the over 1,300 a day that are making the
decision with their feet to become Texans
by moving here is the driving force behind
our advocacy efforts.
In fact, the Real Estate Center at Texas
A&M University has calculated that
for every $1,000 you raise the cost of
housing in Texas, more than 27,000 Texas
households are priced out of the market.
Anyone that has ever built or remodeled
a home knows that it doesn’t take a lot of
work to add $1,000 to the price of a home.
While many housing cost factors are out of
the control of the government, many more
are directly impacted by their actions on
the local, state and national level. These
statutorily influenced costs can take many
forms – direct additional regulatory costs,
code compliance expenditures, increases
in taxes and fees, increased insurance
or litigation expenses, etc. – and it is
incumbent upon the 84th Legislature to
view their decisions in light of continuing
to make Texas the envy of the nation when
it comes to job creation, low regulation,
and housing affordability.
To maintain our #1 housing economy in
the nation, the Legislature must continue
to address issues that are of primary
importance to Texas and to TAB. The
legislature is to be commended for its
efforts last session in passing legislation
on TAB’s three primary agenda items
– funding for the State Water Plan,
additional funding for our state’s
transportation system, and educational
reforms to address the shortage of skilled
workers our industry and many others
are facing. More work needs to be done,
however, especially when it comes to
funding for our highways and other road
systems in the state. The overwhelming
passage of Proposition 1 in November
2014 by the Texas voters (almost 80%
voted in favor) should send a loud
message to the Legislature that Texans
are demanding that the transportation
needs of the state be addressed. While
Proposition 1 allocates significant
funding, it only address about one fourth
of what is needed. TAB will be working
hard this session to address this shortfall
and is encouraged by the attention this
issue is continuing to receive from new
and seasoned legislators alike.
As a fellow member of TAB, I encourage
you to get engaged in our association’s
advocacy efforts. This can begin by
just attending a government relations
or board meeting of your local HBA.
I would hope you will also join us at
TAB's Rally Day in Austin on March 4,
2015 when approximately 1,000 of your
fellow members from across the state
descend on the Capitol to meet with their
elected Senators, Representatives and
staff. If you’ve never attended Rally Day,
seeing the power of our industry and its
grassroots in action is a day you will never
forget. If you’ve been in sessions past, you
know how important and powerful our
message of Housing for Texans is. Either
way, I hope you to see you in Austin!
Justin MacDonald currently serves as the
volunteer chair of TAB’s Government
Relations Committee. Justin is the Executive
Vice President of MacDonald Companies,
a diverse development, construction, and
management enterprise that has more than
35 multi- and single-family neighborhoods
completed throughout Texas.
By Justin MacDonald
