Tuesday, May 6, 2008


Point-of-Sale Legislation Held in Committee

C.A.R. is OPPOSING AB 2678 (Núñez) which among other things, will require that ALL homes and commercial property in California have an energy audit at point-of-sale and that mandatory energy efficiency investments be made. AB 2678 was to have been voted on by the Assembly Appropriations committee last week but is now being held in that committee for at least a few days due to its potential cost. We are now expecting the bill to have a hearing some time before May 23rd.

ISSUE BACKGROUND
AB 2678 will require a state agency to set up a process to require point-of-sale energy efficiency audits that will cost up to $400 and ultimately will require point-of-sale energy efficiency retrofits that may cost THOUSANDS of dollars. While C.A.R. has no objection to increasing energy efficiency, AB 2678 will be both dangerous to the real estate market and grossly ineffective. Here's why AB 2678 is a bad idea:

-AB 2678 will hurt your business. Heaping costly requirements on all sales will slow every residential AND commercial transaction, further weakening the real estate market and the economy.

-Point-of-sale approaches take too long. Research shows that only 22% of the properties most in need of energy efficiency retrofits will actually be sold by 2020. AB 2678 will be grossly ineffective in achieving its goals.

-AB 2678 will hurt housing affordability. The mandatory audit and retrofit requirements ultimately created could add THOUSANDS of dollars to every transaction. And every $1,000 increase in the price of a home disqualifies 26,600 families from owning.

-Politicians want to make an end-run around you! They know REALTORS® will fiercely oppose point-of-sale mandates. By passing the buck to a state agency, they hope to make this proposal more acceptable to other legislators. But be forewarned: once the legislation is passed and the bureaucrats take charge, you will have NO SAY!!

For additional information, please contact DeAnn Kerr at deannk@car.org

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