Local: The lawsuit brought by the cities and counties (SCAG) against the state for confiscating $5 billion from local redevelopment funds was lost. The State Court ruled in favor of the State of California last December that the State had the right to keep the funds from city and county redevelopment funds.

For Riverside County and our local cities this is a very big loss. Thousands of jobs will be lost as well as several projects for senior housing, low income housing, and other job creating projects that help our local economy and which cities are unable to fund without redevelopment funds. The hardest hit cities are our two newest cities, Eastvale and Jurupa Valley.

The City of Eastvale is moving ahead with their sign ordinance. The commitee that is working on the ordinance met on January 25th. I am happy to report that a proposal to require a permit for each sign and a fee for posting signs was defeated. At this time it looks as if all our proposals will be accepted and we will have a sign ordinance that is REALTOR® friendly.

State: Presently the state legislators are finishing up proposed bills from last year. All bills must be out of committee by January 31st , 2012 or they cannot move forward. We expect several new bills to be introduced in February. Point of Sale energy issues are still a big concern for C.A.R. and REALTORS®.

The State budget deficit is again a top concern. The 3% service tax is still a top issue along with a withholding tax on our commissions. C.A.R. will continue to fight these issues as our livelihood and personal income is at stake.

On January 25th Governor Brown proposed consolidation of some State agencies. If the proposal is passed the Department of Real Estate would become part of the Deparment of Consumer Affairs. C.A.R. is very concerned as to the effect it would have on us. All decisions concerning our industry would be made by a board who is not knowledgeable about our concerns and real estate issues. C.A.R. believes that this is a raid on our $40 million fund by the state.

REALTORS® Committee on Air Quality Red Alert- The new air quality mandates required by SB375 proposal is being finalized by the AQMD, SCAG, and EPA. The draft includes land use, housing, and transportation. SB375 mandates a reduction in greenhouse gases over the next 25 years.

The cost of this plan is $525 billion. The proposal includes a 5 cent tax PER MILE on every mile you drive and an increase in the state gas taxes. A total of 264 new mitigations have been proposed, thirty seven of which call for new local taxes and fees. Point of Sale energy retrofits are also required.

All REALTORS® are asked to review the proposal at: http://rtpscs.scag.ca.gov under Executive Summary for an overview. The deadline is February 14th, 2012. Please let them know how you feel. As REALTORS® we want and support clean air. Many sources have reviewed  the plan and have concluded that the actual reduction in greenhouse gases would be very minimal and it could come at a VERY HIGH COST.

Federal Issues: Government Insured REO- The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), the US Treasury Department, and the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) proposed a way to expedite the disposition of REO inventory by allowing them to be sold in bulk to large investors for very low prices- as low as 10 cents on the dollar. The investors would have to hold the properties for 5 years and rent them out.

As REALTORS® this would cut us out from the sale of the properties and flood the rental market. In California we have a very low inventory of homes for sale and need more homes to sell.

C.A.R. voted at our recent meetings to oppose this and to spend up to 500,000 to fight this issue. Most of the funds will be used in Washington, D.C. to let our legislators know how we feel.

“Politics ought to be the part -time profession of every citizen who would protect the rights and privileges of free people and who would preserve what is good and fruitful in our national heritage..”  ~ Dwight D. Eisenhower~