Agenda Summary
National Association of REALTORS®
2012 REALTORS® Conference
The Peabody Orlando
Orlando Ballroom M, Convention Level
Friday, November 9, 2012
9 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.
Chair: Iona Harrison, MD
Vice Chair: Brian Sears, MA
Committee Liaison: Robert Kulick, CA
Committee Executive: Marcia Salkin, Melanie Wyne, Bill Gilmartin, Ken Trepeta, DC
I. Call to Order
II. Opening Remarks, Chair: Iona Harrison
III. RPAC Fundraising Challenge
IV. Conflict of Interest Statement
V. Approval of Previous Meeting's Minutes
VI. Report of the Federal Technology Subcommittee
A. Privacy Self-Regulatory Program and Member Education Campaign
REALTORS® recognize that as data collection continues to become a valuable asset for building relationships with their clients, so does their responsibility to be trusted custodians of that data. Consumers are demanding increased transparency and control of how their data is used. While each state has its own definition of “Personally Identifiable Information,” for purposes of these principles “personal information” will be interpreted broadly to mean any information that can be used to uniquely identify, contact, or locate a single person or can be used with other sources to uniquely identify a single individual. For this reason, REALTORS® endorse the following Data Privacy and Security principles:
Collection of Personal Information Should be Transparent
REALTORS® should recognize and respect the privacy expectations of their clients. They are encouraged to develop and implement privacy and data security policies and to communicate those policies clearly to their clients.
Use, Collection and Retention of Personal Information
REALTORS® should collect and use information about individuals only where the REALTOR® reasonably believes it would be useful (and allowed by law) to administering their business and to provide products, services and other opportunities to consumers. REALTORS® should maintain appropriate policies for the reasonable retention and proper destruction of collected personal information.
Data Security
REALTORS® should maintain reasonable security standards and procedures regarding
access to client information.
Disclosure of Personal Information to Third Parties
REALTORS® should not reveal personal information to unaffiliated third parties unless 1) the information is provided to help complete a consumer initiated transaction 2) the consumer requests it; 3) the disclosure is required by/or allowed by law (i.e. investigation of fraudulent activity); or 4) the consumer has been informed about the possibility of such disclosure through a prior communication and is given the opportunity to decline (i.e. opt-out.)
Maintaining Consumer Privacy in Business Relationships with Third Parties
If a REALTOR® provides personal information to a third party on behalf of a consumer, the third party should adhere to privacy principles similar to the REALTOR® that provides for keeping such information secure.
Single Federal Standard
NAR supports a single federal standard for data privacy and security laws in order to streamline and minimize the compliance burden.
B. Second Century Initiative Briefing
C. Legislative/Regulatory Technology Issue Updates
These bills appear to have stalled while the interested parties on both sides of the issue seek consensus on
how to move forward.
President Obama signed the America Invents Act into law on September 16, 2011. The intent of the bill is to speed up the patent process so that innovators and entreprenuers can bring their products to market as quickly as possible. The US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is now required to draft regulations needed to implement the patent reform law. These regulations will take effect over the next 12 months.
On August 1, 2012 the Saving High-Tech Innovators from Egregious Legal Disputes (SHEILD) Act of 2012 (H.R. 6245) was introduced. It is unlikely to be passed in this Congress but will serve to tee up discussion for the 113th Congress.
VII. Other Legislative/Regulatory Updates
A. Treasury Anti-Money Laundering Education
On April 10, 2003, FinCen issued an advance notice of proposed rulemaking regarding anti-money laundering program requirements for “person involved in real estate closing and settlements” including real estate agents. On June 9, 2003, NAR submitted comments stating that “without evidence suggesting that regulation would substantially benefit the fight against money laundering, the burden on brokers of having to adopt and implement anti-money laundering programs clearly outweighs any perceived benefit.” In proposed rules published on December 9, 2010, covering anti-money laundering programs for non-bank residential mortgage lenders and originators, FinCEN deferred proposing rules for real estate agents and others until it could conduct further research and analysis on business operation and money laundering vulnerabilities.
B. RESPA Updates
C. Gift Rules and Limits on Federal Employee Attendance at Meetings
A Member, officer, or employee may accept an offer of “free attendance” at a widely attended event if: (1) invited by the organizing event sponsor; (2) at least 25 persons from outside Congress will be attendance, (3) attendance at the event is open to members from throughout a given industry or profession, or to a range of persons interested in an issue; and (4) it is connected to the official’s Senate duties. In addition:
D. Visa Updates - EB-5 Regional Centers, VISIT-USA & JOLT
The EB-5 Investor Visa is a United States visa program administered by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service that allows foreign nationals to obtain a visa for permanent residence in the United States by investing between $500,000 and $1 million (depending on where the investment is made) and creating or preserving 10 or more American jobs.
Recently Congress passed, and the President signed legislation to reauthorize the EB-5 regional center program for 3 years, through 2015. NAR will continue to work our partners in this area to ensure that the EB-5 program is successful.
E. Supreme Court Health Reform Ruling
Twenty-eight percent of REALTORS® are uninsured. As part of efforts to address the health insurance needs of members, NAR has advocated for reform of the health insurance markets that provide coverage to the self-employed and small employers for more than nine years. Among the legislative approaches that NAR has advocated are small business health options plans (SHOP), small business health plans (SBHPs) and association health plans (AHPs). NAR continued to represent the interests of the Realtor community in the recently completed comprehensive health reform debate.
While the House passed H.R. 0002, legislation to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA), in January 2011 on a party-line vote of 245-189 and continues to take up bills focused on changes to the individual components of the health reform bill, these measures have not found the needed support in the Senate.
On the regulatory front, federal agencies are working on drafting the regulations needed to create the regulatory framework that Congress provided in the bill’s text. To date, the Department of Health and Human Services has issued numerous requests for comment and final rules, including those of particular interest to the small business community. These include requests for input into defining what the appropriate guidelines for the new health insurance Exchanges and grandfathered existing insurance plans are, as well as benefits will be require in insurance plans deemed to be in compliance with the ACA’s essential coverage provisions. The Internal Revenue Service has issued guidelines for the small employer tax credits available now to those small firms that provide coverage to their employees. NAR submitted comments on the proposed rules for the Exchanges, grandfathered plans and signed on to a business coalition comment letter on the design of benefits and coverage summaries (SBC) required for all employer insurance plans.
Increasingly the most important parts of the implementation debate are taking place at the state level. The ACA placed much of the responsibilities on the states for creating the Exchanges that will serve as the new insurance marketplace for individual and small business insurance coverage. States have until mid-2013 to decide whether to create a state-run Exchange or allow the federal government to create and run the Exchange within their states. Realistically, however, the decision window is much smaller since states that take on the responsibility to build an Exchange must have it up and running by January 2014.
To date, states have taken an array of approaches with some moving forward aggressively to create their Exchange and others deciding not to implement any of the health reform bill’s provisions, including the Exchange. The National Conference of State Legislatures has a map showing the status of the issue in each state; it can be accessed at http://www.ncsl.org/?tabid=21388.
Finally, a number of federal court challenges have been heard by the judicial system. Some have been thrown out, while others have been successful or remain pending. On September 28, 2011, the Obama administration asked the Supreme Court to hear its appeal of a decision by a three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit, in Atlanta, that struck down the individual mandate provisions of the law by a 2-to-1 vote. The Supreme Court agreed to take the case and heard three days of arguments in the spring of 2012 on the various components of the lawsuit. The Court subsequently announced its decision upholding the constitutionality of the Act's individual mandate which had been challenged.
Copies of NAR's letters, testimony and statements, as well as NAR's health reform Q&A document and additional information on the health reform bills, are available on Realtor.org at www.realtor.org/topics/health-care-reform.
VIII. New Business
IX. Announcements
X. Adjournment
