November 2007
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Home Base
Lines to get in to the model homes were long throughout the 5 day program, which also featured free seminars provided by green building experts. “ I learned a lot about the benefits of energy efficient homes” said Brian Hahn, a high school junior who attended the exhibition with his parents. “I’ll definitely be up for that kind of home when I get ready to buy my first home”.
According to McGraw-Hill Construction’s “The Green Homeowner SmartMarket(TM) Report” coauthored by the National Association of Home Builders, the demand for “green” homes and home remodeling products is projected to increase from $2 billion to $20 billion in the next five years. Green products are found increasingly in more new homes, and homeowners are using green products in 40% of their remodeling projects. Homeowners buy green homes to reduce energy and other home operating costs and out of concern about the health of their families, and they generally recommend those improvements to their friends. Some states
are also mandating home energy improvements. The California
Public Utilities Commission California adopted a target that
all homes built after 2020 should produce at least as much
energy as they consume. Home builders would achieve this
ambitious goal through such measures as advanced insulation
and solar power systems. All new commercial buildings would
have to meet the zero-net-energy target by 2030. top
Congress Passes Internet Tax Moratorium A Halloween Treat for American Homeowners! The day before Halloween the U.S. House of Representatives accepted the Senate version of the Internet tax moratorium bill by a vote of 405-2. The original House version of the bill would ban Internet access taxes for the next four years, but the Senate wanted to make it seven years. In its vote the House agreed and immediately sent the bill to President Bush, who signed the bill in time Halloween afternoon. The Internet Tax Freedom Act (ITFA), enacted in 1998, prevented states and localities from imposing taxes on Internet service. However, the original bill was temporary and the law was renewed in 2001 and 2004. Although the President may not sign the bill before the current version expires on Nov. 1, 2007, states will probably not have enough time to pass any new taxes before he does sign it. The American Homeowners Grassroots Alliance, a member of the coalition pushing for the extension, had testified in favor of the moratorium and was delighted with the outcome. “This is great news for American consumers!” said AHGA President Bruce Hahn. “The next logical step is to put to rest another effort by state government organizations to make Internet vendors provide free sales tax collection services on Internet sales outside of their home state. Many of them are American homeowners who are holding their yard sale on eBay. What's needed next is a moratorium on all Internet sales taxes, so we can help protect the environment by letting the mail carrier deliver products to our door rather than polluting the atmosphere in another drive to the mall.” AHGA made those suggestions in its October 3 House testimony, and also suggested in its testimony that Congress take steps to encourage the use of the Internet to expand teleworking, which will also help reduce automotive pollution. Good suggestions from RISMEDIA, EPA and SafeHome Filters. RISMEDIA, Oct. 24, 2007-Closing up a home for winter weather can make allergies and asthma worse, due to sealing in aggravating indoor air pollutants. Indoor air pollution poses a greater health risk than air pollution found outdoors. Dangerous gases such as formaldehyde and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) come from items like furniture, carpet and building materials. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently ranked indoor air quality among the top five greatest threats to public health. Based on recommendations from the EPA, SafeHome Filters has developed a list of tips for a healthier home. 1. Store pesticides, paints, glues, and other
chemicals outside the home. The Complaint Department is Open The Justice Department encourages the reporting of anticompetitive conduct in the real estate brokerage industry. To make the reporting easier the Department of Justice has created a new website - www.usdoj.gov/atr/public/real_estate/index.htm , which also explains the different real estate business models and educates consumers and policymakers about the potential benefits that new types of real estate brokerage services competitors can bring to consumers of and the barriers that inhibit the proliferation of new business models. Among the new real estate business models are real estate brokers that rebate part of their commissions to home buyers and real estate brokers that will put a home for sale on the local multiple listing service. Traditional full commission real estate brokers, who typically charge 5-6% commissions to sellers and don’t offer rebates to buyers, have succeeded in outlawing these business models in some states, on the grounds that they are doing it only to protect consumers and not to perpetuate their high commissions. The website includes maps identifying states with real estate laws that can inhibit competition, a calculator to help consumers tally their potential savings when brokers pursuing new business models compete for their business, and links to additional government resources. “Buying or selling a home is the largest financial transaction most Americans will ever undertake,” according to Thomas O. Barnett, assistant attorney general in charge of the Department’s Antitrust Division. “This website will help consumers and policymakers understand the benefits of increased competition among real estate agents.” AHGA agrees, and salutes DoJ for creating this important consumer service. The U.S. Federal Trade Commission also created a web site - http://www.usdoj.gov/atr/public/real_estate/index.htm. - focusing on competition in the real estate industry. This site also provides valuable information to American Homeowners. The National Association of Realtors (NAR) has whined about DoJ’s new website. NAR, which is involved in an ongoing Justice Department antitrust lawsuit over its restrictive policies for Internet listing displays and property information sharing, said that DoJ’s real estate competition website “uses the website as a promotion for unbundled and discount services." However, the consumer section of NAR’s website does not appear to describe the various business model alternatives available to consumers (in areas where their members haven’t outlawed them). For that reason it’s hard to understand why NAR should complain about DoJ’s effort to fill in the void.
Congresswoman Anna Eshoo and Congressman Mike Rogers introduced legislation in October that will bring health information technology to all Americans. The legislation has bipartisan support and is expected to improve medical outcomes while reducing U.S. medical costs by $81 billion over 15 years, according to estimates by the RAND Institute. The national savings come from the development of uniform national standards for electronic health records (EHRs), to replace the current inefficient hand written record system. Few medical practitioners currently have a complete medical record for their patients that includes their complete medical history, a full listing of illnesses, laboratory tests, treatments, drugs administered, and allergies. Access to that complete information by authorized doctors, nurses, and other specialists will improve medical outcomes and help reduce duplicative and unnecessary procedures. This is an important benefit for cash-strapped homeowners, who are being forced to carry an increasing share of medical and medical insurance costs that have been rising far faster than inflation for decades. The legislation sets a date for establishing data interoperability standards, provides grants and loans to providers, empowers public-private partnerships, and codifies aspects of the Health IT effort, thus helping to realize life-saving -- and cost-saving -- advances of modern technology. The House legislation largely mirrors a Senate-passed bill sponsored by Senators Kennedy and Enzi. To move the concept closer to reality the Department of Health and Human Services in October announced a five-year demonstration project that will encourage up to 1,200 small to medium-sized physician practices to adopt electronic health records (EHRs). In many cases those doctors keep only hand written records. The demonstration project is designed to prove that streamlining health care management with electronic health records will reduce medical errors and improve quality of care for 3.6 million Americans. “By linking higher payment to use of EHRs to meet quality measures, we will encourage adoption of health information technology at the community level, where 60 percent of patients receive care,” HHS Secretary Leavitt said. “We also anticipate that EHRs will produce significant savings for Medicare over time by improving quality of care. This is another step in our ongoing effort to become a smart purchaser of health care – paying for better, rather than simply paying for more.” While the outlook for the adoption of cost saving information technology that will save money and improve treatment quality looks outstanding, another major measure may have died in the U.S. House of Representatives in October. Earlier it had passed the Children’s Health Insurance Reauthorization Act of 2007 (CHIP), which would provide affordable health coverage for nearly 4 million more children not covered by current funding levels. The expanded coverage would be funded by increasing federal cigarette taxes by 61 cents a pack. Indirect private and government cost savings would result from both earlier and better treatment of children not currently covered by health insurance and by a reduction in cigarette smokers as a result of higher cigarette prices. The bill passed by wide, bipartisan margins in both chambers and offered lawmakers rare common ground on an issue that affects the lives of millions of children. However President Bush vetoed the bill on the grounds of high costs and several other factors. While the House of Representatives came up a few votes short of enough votes to override the veto, House Democratic leaders immediately began making changes to the legislation which they hoped would either be acceptable to the President or attract enough additional Republican supporters to override another veto if necessary. Unfortunately the House Democratic leaders executed very poorly on that strategy, according to many Democratic and Republican observers. They failed to establish a dialogue with potential moderate Republican supporters to establish a mutual agreement on the kinds of changes that would be needed to gain their support. And they announced a vote on the redrafted bill, which had not been circulated, only a day before the vote was to take place. Many House Democrats and Republicans urged House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to defer the vote to the following week. Many California legislators had already left for home because of the forest fire crisis that was sweeping California, and the extra time would also give potential Republican supporters time to read and understand the changes. Unfortunately Speaker Pelosi was unwilling to wait, and the outcome was even less Republican support for legislation that contained concessions to the President and to Republican legislators. Many House members believe
the revised CHIP bill would have passed by a veto-proof
margin had Speaker Pelosi opted to work with moderate
Republicans and/or at least given them time to review the
measure. At this point the air between the House Democratic
leadership and moderate House Republicans is poisoned, and
it is as yet unclear whether the process to pass the CHIP
bill can be resurrected. AHGA believes that this political
stand-off is truly unfortunate. While Democratic leaders can
justifiably point to similar past practices by the
Republican leadership when they were in charge, the
continuation of the practice comes at the expense of all
Americans. “At some point this type of partisan warfare has
to stop,” said AHGA President Bruce Hahn. “Congressional
leaders must recognize that they owe a duty to the American
people and stop using the excuse that the other side is just
as bad as justification for scoring partisan points over
passing legislation that would improve the lives of millions
of Americans.” Homeowners Detail Recommendations to Encourage Teleworking
In testimony submitted to the House Small Business Committee, the American Homeowners Grassroots Alliance (AHGA) suggested ways to simultaneously help improve the environment and the lifestyles of homeowners. The Committee was holding a hearing on the extension of the Internet Tax Moratorium (see story above). AHGA suggested that extending the Internet Tax Moratorium will encourage more teleworking, which in turn helps reduce automotive pollution and reduces pressure to expand our transportation infrastructure. For that reason Congress should look for additional legislative solutions to encourage even more teleworking. In its testimony AHGA pointed out the many benefits to society that result from teleworking, whether the homeowner is operating a small business from home or telecommuting to work: 1. Because they do not drive to work these homeowners are helping to reduce rush hour traffic jams and defer the needs for transportation infrastructure investments, both for expansion and maintenance. The shift to home-based teleworking is helping reduce environmental pollution and global warming. A recent study by TIAX LLC determined that a full time telecommuter who lives 22 miles from their company’s office would save 320 gallons of gasoline and reduce CO2 emissions by 4.5 to 6 tons per year. At $3.00 per gallon gasoline prices they would also save homeowners about $1,000 in cash, not including savings in automobile maintenance costs and depreciation resulting from the extra 10,000+ miles they run up annually commuting in the vehicle. 2. Similar benefits result when smart homeowners shop online. A click of the mouse uses a lot less gas than a trip to the mall, and the mail carrier and FedEx/UPS trucks delivering the goods will be coming down your block anyway. Both online shopping and teleworking also save a lot of time, a precious commodity for all of us in our society where the long working hours (Americans work more hours than any other society), leaves too little time for personal relationships and other interests. 3. Since home based business owners and telecommuters are heavy broadband consumers, they provide a revenue base that facilitates broadband expansion to rural areas and underserved markets. New Internet access taxes and multiple and discriminatory taxes on Internet commerce raise the cost of broadband service, thus discouraging the deployment of broadband access that is a prerequisite in most circumstances for most teleworkers and home-based businesses. 4. There are also substantial societal benefits of teleworking. A recent survey by the Kenexa Research Institute found that workers who telecommute, either from home or another remote location, report the highest levels of satisfaction with and loyalty to their company. More of the home-based workers surveyed (73%) were satisfied with their company as a place to work, compared with 64% of office workers, according to the June, 2007 survey of 10,000 U.S. workers. 5. Among future broadband services are a new generation of medical devices that will require broadband access. Wearable 24/7 broadband connected medical monitoring devices now under development will enable many of the several million chronically ill homeowners to remain in their homes rather than being institutionalized in medical facilities. This will save individual homeowners and Medicaid/Medicare/federal/state governments a lot of money. Any tax on the Internet or Internet Commerce could discourage use of this new technology in healthcare applications, reducing the potential cost savings and ultimately increasing health care costs for all of us. AHGA’s constructive recommendations to help encourage teleworking included the following: 1. Defeat the Streamlined Sales Tax Proposal, a scheme from state and local governments that would require home-based business owners and homeowners who have their yard sales on eBay to collect sales taxes for the thousands of state and local taxing authorities across the country. 2. Develop incentives for homeowners and businesses, such as tax credits for the necessary computer hardware and broadband connections, to encourage the creation of more home-based businesses and to encourage employers and homeowners to support teleworking. 3. Enact the Telecommuter Tax Fairness Act to prohibit two state governments to tax the income of homeowners who work for out-of-state employers and sometimes work from home. 4. Provide subsidies or other incentives to encourage companies to more rapidly expand broadband access to unserved rural and underserved urban communities in order to make teleworking possible and open up educational and telemedicine opportunities to many of those homeowners and other consumers. Several members of Congress are already championing teleworking. Representative Frank Wolf (R- VA 10) has championed teleworking for federal employees. In part as a result of his earlier initiatives some 7% of federal workers are now able to work from home on either a part time or full time basis. In October Mr. Wolf called
for the creation of a “National Telework Week” as part of
his ongoing effort to promote telework in both the public
and private sector. In a letter to President Bush asking for
the designation, Wolf emphasized that telework should be a
regular part of the 21st Century workplace. He said a
National Telework Week would provide the opportunity to
encourage more employers to consider telework for their
employees.
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Copyright
2007, American Homeowners Foundation and the American Homeowners
Grassroots Alliance. |
Two key House Legislators
propose measures that will impact homeowners.
Home energy efficiency is
improving rapidly, thanks to a number of factors.
Congress moved a step closer
to passing legislation to reduce health care costs, but
legislation to extend medical insurance to more children
failed to gain veto-proof support.
Want to reduce pollution and
traffic jams? Become a "telenvironmentalist" and work from
home, AHGA tells Congressional panel.
