The Government Affairs Committee is hard at work personally contacting builder members of the HBA, inviting them to ride the bus to Jefferson City on Tuesday, February 23 to participate in the HBA of Missouri Legislative Day. HBA members from across the state will arrive at the Capitol on February 23 to meet with legislators and talk about proposed laws and policies that impact housing including:
-There is a strong push to adopt statewide residential energy codes this year, rather than allowing local jurisdictions to determine what works best in their communities. A state environmental group, successful in getting both legislation and ballot initiatives passed, is pushing hard for the legislature to pass the residential energy building code statewide or at least mandate it for those jurisdictions that adopt codes.
-With lackluster sales tax revenue and unfunded mandates from the federal government, many legislators are looking to new fees/taxes to generate revenue. There is heightened interest in many forms of impact fees, real estate transfer taxes and recording fees.
-We need more advocacy related to our continuing work to improve compliance with Missouri
The HBA of Greater Springfield has chartered a bus to take builder members to Jefferson City on the 23rd. The bus will depart from Corporate Village at approximately 8:30 a.m. and arrive in Jefferson City at lunch time. After having lunch together, our HBA members will attend a brief statewide meeting and then make group visits to designated offices of area Representatives and Senators to discuss our legislative positions and priorities. This year there is no evening HBA of Missouri reception so we should be able to get builders back home to Springfield in time to have dinner with their families.
The trip is provided to builder/remodeler/developer members free of charge, thanks to our sponsors. If you are not a builder member but would like to ride the bus and participate in Legislative Day, that opportunity is available for sponsors at the $250 level and above. There are also $100 sponsorships available that include the opportunity to provide literature and advertising specialty items to the Legislative Day participants. For the full list of Sponsorship opportunities, click here. If you are a builder member and would like to reserve a spot on the bus, email jennifer@springfieldhba.com or call the office at 881.3711.