10
Texas Association of Builders
March/April 2015
Government Relations
six years; create an advisory committee
to review and recommend code changes
to allow for better code training and
compliance; and develop educational
components to provide comprehensive
training to builders to enable them to
comply with energy code provisions in a
cost-effective manner.
Texas Windstorm Insurance Association
(TWIA)
TAB supports policy changes
that would help ensure adequate and fair
windstorm coverage and ample funding
in the event of a catastrophic loss.
Extraterritorial Jurisdiction (ETJ)
The
ETJ is the unincorporated land around
a city that has not been annexed. As a
result, city taxes are not collected in the
ETJ and services are provided by the
county or special districts. Not being
solely governed by the city or the county
proposes significant problems for property
owners and home builders. For example,
developers must comply with both city
and county standards, which are often
times conflicting. This issue has surfaced
frequently in Central Texas and other
parts of the state. TAB supports a policy
change that would address this problem.
TAB will also be closely monitoring
and involved with dozens of
other legislative issues, including
the following:
• Franchise, Property and
other Tax Proposals
• Water Support Funding
• Career and Technical
Training & Education
• Employer/Employee/
Subcontractor Issues
• Building Codes
• City/County Land Use Proposals
These issues are important to the industry
because they directly affect how home
builders, remodelers and developers
conduct business. The TAB Government
Relations team will be actively tracking
almost 2,000 bills on your behalf. I
encourage you to also utilize available
tools to remain engaged during the regular
legislative session, which ends June 1.
This legislative session TAB will call
for more grassroots efforts from our
association
members.
When
filed
legislation threatens the home building
industry it needs to be stopped in
its tracks, and the TAB Government
Relations team will send out advocacy
alerts that allow TAB members to take
action immediately with a simple click
on a computer. Likewise, if legislation is
filed in support of our industry, the TAB
Government Relations team will send out
an alert calling TAB members to contact
their elected official to garner stronger
support for the bill. These advocacy alerts
will include links to elected officials,
information regarding the legislation at
hand and guided assistance on how to
take action. TAB has made the advocacy
alerts as simple and easy as possible for
the benefit of our members.
For the past six years, TAB members
have had access to Legislative Line, an
exclusive session-only e-bulletin produced
by the TAB Government Relations staff.
Legislative Line, commonly referred to as
“LegeLine” provides timely updates on
key legislation, Capitol news and insider
knowledge on issues that may affect the
home building industry. Readers may have
already noticed that Legislative Line has a
new, streamlined look. While the e-bulletin
still provides critical information to TAB
members, such as upcoming committee
hearings and important legislative updates
on key industry initiatives, it is simplified
and more user-friendly than ever before. If
you would like to subscribe to this weekly
informational e-bulletin, call the TAB office
or visi
By Justin MacDonald
T
he 84
th
Legislative Session is well
underway. Given the numerous
newly elected officials with
determined legislative goals, we have
witnessed debates on various legislative
issues ranging from public education
funding and tax cuts to hands-free
driving. A review of certain leading
legislative initiatives that are important
to the Texas residential construction and
home building industry are as follows:
Transportation Funding
In regards to
the high-profile plan to secure an
additional $4 billion in transportation
funding for Texas, there is consensus
forming around a few key principles.
TAB supports policies that would end
diversions of the state gasoline tax
and fund transportation from existing
revenue sources.
Energy Code
TAB aims to help
pass legislation that would prevent
unreasonable energy code mandates.
This can be done by creating a reasonable
energy code performance path statewide.
Doing so would allow home builders an
alternative to stringent prescriptive codes
that significantly raise the price of homes;
establish a review standard for codes every
Tips on How to Stay Engaged During the 84
th
Legislative Session
