Members of CARW will be heading to DC May 15-17. Below is an update from NAR on a number of federal issues.
EPA Proposes Regulatory Science Reforms
U.S. EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt signed a proposed rule to strengthen the science used in regulations issued by EPA. The rule will ensure that the regulatory science underlying Agency actions is fully transparent, and that the underlying science is publicly available for independent validation.
Coalition Letter in Support of CFPB Structure Change
NAR signed onto a joint trades letter in support of H.R. 5266, the “Product Safety Commission Act of 2018,” a bill that would transition the leadership structure at the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau (CFPB) from a sole director to a bipartisan commission. Read the coalition letter & Read NAR’s letter
NAR Supports Seller Financing Bill
NAR sent a letter to Representatives Pearce (R-NM) and Heck (D-WA) thanking them for introducing H.R. 5287, the “Preserving Access to Rural Installment Transactions for Years (PARITY) Act of 2018.”
Change to USDOT Transportation Grant Program
The U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) published a Notice of discretionary grant funding through the Better Utilizing Investments to Leverage Development (BUILD) program. The BUILD program will replace a well known program among state and local governments as Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) grants. BUILD grants are available to state or local public entities such as counties, port authorities, tribal governments, Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs), state Departments of Transportation, and/or transit agencies.View all previous TIGER grant project awards
NAR Meets with Lead Exposure Initiative
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Scott Pruitt is taking action to address lead contamination across America by inviting his colleagues and fellow Cabinet members to join with EPA in developing a federal strategy to reduce childhood lead exposure. NAR, along with a broad stakeholder coalition, recently met with Tim Epp, the director of this initiative, to discuss this action and related areas of concern.
The purpose of this initiative is to develop a federal strategy to reduce childhood lead exposure and eliminate associated health impacts and builds on Administrator Pruitt’s calls for a renewed effort to update our nation’s water infrastructure, especially in regard to lead in drinking water systems.
New Rural Housing Administrator
On April 19, 2018, US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Sonny Perdue announced the appointment of Joel Baxley as Rural Housing Service (RHS) Administrator. Baxley most recently served as the Consulting Services Director and the senior real estate technical consultant with RSM US LLP’s Financial Advisory Services consulting practice, where he worked on rural housing matters and produced reports at the request of the USDA Rural Development Office. He has 23 years of real estate finance experience and degrees from the University of Alabama and Oxford University.
CFPB’s Latest Request for Information
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has issued the likely last notice in a series of Requests for Information (RFIs) examining how the agency handles consumer complaints and inquires. Since July 2011, the CFPB has received more than 1.5 million consumer complaints, which the agency aims to respond to in a timely and understandable manner by communicating with the provider of the consumer financial product or service. The agency received more than 200,000 consumer inquiries in 2017, which allows consumers to ask questions about financial products or services, submit a complaint, or check the status of a complaint. The agency will provide educational materials and tools, and other relevant government resources, in response to consumer inquiries. In this RFI, the agency is seeking feedback on how to improve these processes, such as the adoption of web chat systems to support submissions. The CFPB has issued a number of other RFIs on various agency practices in order to assess the efficiency and effectiveness of the agency. Links to RFI comment submissions and the due dates are as follows:
- Civil investigative demands (CIDs)(link is external) – due April 26, 2018
- Administration adjudications(link is external) – due May 7, 2018
- Enforcement proceedings(link is external) – due May 14, 2018
- Supervision(link is external) – due May 21, 2018
- External engagements(link is external) – due May 29, 2018
- Consumer complaint database(link is external) – due June 4, 2018
- Rulemaking processes(link is external) – due June 7, 2018
- Adopted Regulations and New Rulemaking(link is external) – due June 19, 2018
- Inherited Regulations and Inherited Rulemaking Authorities(link is external) – due June 25, 2018
- Guidance and Implementation Support(link is external) – due July 2, 2018
- Financial Education Programs(link is external) – due July 9, 2018
- Consumer Complaint and Inquiry Handling Processes(link is external) – due July 16, 2018
NAR will be submitting comments on the RFIs and encourage feedback from members wishing to weigh in on these important issues anonymously. For more on the CFPB’s RFI efforts, including future requests, please visit this page on the CFPB website(link is external).