May/June 2002 - Legislative Issues State & National

State & National Issues

HB 500 -- Photographs on Government Web Sites
HB 280/HB 281 -- Car Phone Bans
HB 387 -- Household Sewage Treatment Systems
HB 29 -- Home Inspectors
School Funding
HR 3424/S. 1839 -- Community Choice in Real Estate
FTC Proposed Rule -- Telemarketing

HB 500
Photographs on
Government Web Sites
  This bill requires state and county offices to send a notice (in a prescribed format, by regular mail) to property owners that permits them to opt out of publication, before the offices publish photographs of the owners' homes or businesses on the internet.

  Each state or county office must allow a “reasonable amount of time” (defined in the bill as not less than 30 days) after the mailing of the notice for the property owners to return the opt-out of publication form, before the office publishes the photograph on the internet.

  The bill permits an “authorized representative” of property owners to sign and return the ‘opt out' form on behalf of the owners. The bill does not specify, however, who an “authorized representative” is (e.g., an attorney, corporate office, Realtor®, etc.) or how a state or county office would know that whoever signed the form was an “authorized representative.”

  As drafted, the notification procedure imposed on county auditors to comply with the opt-out feature is unduly burdensome and could result in all property photos becoming unavailable. We are not against permitting property owners to opt-out. But the notification burden must be lessened, and only photos taken from public right-of-ways should be permitted.
Status: OPPOSE

HB 280/HB 281
Car Phone Bans
  HB 280 – prohibits anyone with their temporary license from using a mobile phone. Prohibits drivers from doing anything else that impairs ability while using a mobile phone (unless it is hands-free) unless reporting a hazardous situation.
  HB 281 – Imposes a fine which would be double the usual amount if the traffic violation was committed while using a mobile phone.
Both bills require the state highway patrol to compile data on motor vehicle accidents in which a mobile phone was a factor.
Status: Movement highly unlikely during this General Assembly

HB 387
Household Sewage Treatment Systems
  The bill precludes any state agency (EPA, Ohio Department of Health) from imposing mandatory inspections of those systems. Local health board authority would be preserved, which is where it should reside.
OAR Position: SUPPORT

HB 29
Home Inspectors
  To create the State Board of Home Inspectors, to require the licensure of home inspectors, and regulate performance of home inpsectors. HB 29 has had 1 hearing in the House Commerce and Labor Committee.
OAR Position: MONITOR

School Funding
  After mediation failed between the State of Ohio and the Coalition of School Districts, the school funding issue is back in the lap of the Ohio Supreme Court.

  If you recall...last year, the Ohio Supreme Court ruled (for the 3rd time) that our system of school funding was unconstitutional. Not only did they rule that it was unconstitutional, but their ruling included a remedy to ‘fix it'.

  After further investigation, it was determined that the Court's recommended prescription was not going to cost their estimated $400 million, but closer to $1.5 billion! At this point, Governor Taft asked the Ohio Supreme Court to reconsider their ruling.

  The Ohio Supreme Court then ordered the Ohio Department of Education and the Coalition of School Districts to mediate their dispute. The fact that these two groups failed to resolve their differences comes as no surprise as they've been unable to do so for years.

  So now the issue is back in the lap of the Ohio Supreme Court. With two of the seven judges up for election in November, it will be interesting to see whether they choose to address and resolve school funding before the election.

National

HR 3424/S. 1839
Community Choice in Real Estate
Banks out of real estate for another year!
  U.S. Treasury Secretary Paul H. O'Neill has decided to duck the controversial issue of banks getting into the real estate business by putting off for one year consideration of rules implementing the Gramm-Leach-Biley Act, which allows financial institutions to render select realty services. The Treasury secretary specifically cited 35,000 comment letters that came into the Treasurer's office.

  After this announcement, NAR asked the banking lobby to withdraw its request to enter real estate brokerage and property management.

  NAR opposes allowing banks to enter real estate brokerage and property management under the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act and says it will lead to higher costs to consumers, large scale consolidation in the real estate industry, and potential conflicts of interest should banks be able to steer home buyers to their own insurance and loan products. 

  More than 220 members of the House and 10 Senators are now on record as sponsors. NAR will continue its campaign to stop the regulation if the banking lobby does not withdraw its request.

FTC Proposed Rule
Telemarketing
  The current Telemarketing Sales Rule, established by the FTC, places time restrictions and identification requirements on telemarketers. It also requires telemarketers to maintain a company do-not-call list for those consumers who do not wish to be called again. Under current rules, there is an exemption to the rule for calls made in which a sale is not completed until after a face-to-face presentation. Most real estate agents meet this exemption.
However, in January, the FTC issued a proposed rule to amend the current Telemarketing Sales rule. At the center of the changes is a proposal to create a national “do-not-call” registry. The registry would enable consumers to eliminate most telemarketing calls simply by making one call to the FTC. This would prohibit ALL calls made to a consumer whose number is on this list eliminating the exemption currently provided to real estate agents.

NAR Position: OPPOSE proposed rule. SUPPORT current rule.
This proposed rule goes beyond the intent of the law which is to address deceptive and abusive telemarketing practices. It would severely limit the ability of real estate agents to utilize cold calling to recruit new clients or to simply inform consumers about their services.