James Magid, CMCA, LSM, PCAM – Wentworth Property Management Corp., AAMC
Chair, CAI-NJ Legislative Action Committee
The New Jersey chapter had the opportunity to work with the Government Relations team at CAI National and the Federal Legislative Action Committee to petition the federal legislature and top leaders at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Emergency Management Association to expand FEMA assistance to common interest communities that suffered catastrophic hardship from Super Storm Sandy. Dawn Bauman, Senior Vice President of Government & Public Affairs for CAI, and her team have been meeting with leadership in Washington, D.C., over the past several weeks, and the New Jersey chapter followed up with its own letters of support of this initiative. We will certainly keep you apprized of any developments in this regard. If you have not done so already, we encourage you to take a survey sponsored by CAI National. The survey will allow us to compile important statistics and present them to federal decision makers, and the results will be published and shared as part of our continued advocacy efforts. You can take the survey at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/7TTDH89. If you have specific questions related to this initiative or the survey, please contact Michael Hedge, Senior Director of Government & Public Affairs, Grassroots, at CAI National at mhedge@caionline.org.
Some of you will recall reading about the gas fired furnace replacement law which was to take effect on May 1, 2013. You will be relieved to hear that it appears that law is being repealed thanks to the efforts of the American Public Gas Association (APGA). The APGA filed a motion to have the Department of Energy repeal the law, and the motion was successful. The APGA pointed out that although the efforts to incentivize homeowners to replace gas furnaces with higher efficiency models were noble on the surface, the costs of retrofitting homes – especially in common interest communities – were actually contrary to achieving the goals of the program. So it is back to the drawing board on this one for the Department of Energy. The LAC will keep a diligent eye on this issue and relate any developments via Community Trends®, Community Trending, and the CAI-NJ website.
The Manager Licensing bill continues to work its way through the state legislature in Trenton. The Senate version of the bill S-2578, was officially introduced on February 22, 2013, and awaits scheduling before Chairwoman Gill and the Senate Commerce Committee. For more information on the bill, grandfathering provisions, etc, please contact Lisa Hibbs at the CAI-NJ office at info@cainj.org.
The following bills were on the agenda for the LAC’s March 1st meeting:
- A-3497, sponsored by Assemblyman Herb Conaway, which revises residential property mortgage foreclosure process; requires documentation of right to foreclose and consultation on foreclosure alternatives; provides expedited process for foreclosing abandoned properties.
- S-2462, sponsored by Senator Brian Stack, which requires newly-constructed multiple dwellings with six or more residential units to install standby generators to provide electricity in case of emergency.
- S-2491, sponsored by Senator James Holzapfel, which requires installation of emergency power supply systems to certain common areas of new planned real estate developments; provides related tax incentives.
