Realtors association spent $3.1M to lobby in 1Q
The National Association of Realtors spent over $3.1 million in the first quarter to lobby on a long list of proposals intended to address the housing crisis and other issues.
The Chicago-based group lobbied on legislation to overhaul the Federal Housing Administration and to allow bankruptcy judges to modify subprime and nontraditional mortgages. It also lobbied on legislation targeting abusive lending practices in the subprime mortgage market that have contributed to the current crisis, including a requirement that lenders demonstrate that prospective borrowers can repay loans.
The National Association of Realtors also lobbied on bills that would overhaul the National Flood Insurance Program and require a panel to study the role of the federal government in providing broader catastrophe insurance. The group also it lobbied on a measure that would bring down the high cost of homeowner insurance in states prone to natural catastrophes by allowing state insurance funds to join a national consortium that would let them pool risks to guard against insurance losses from hurricanes, earthquakes and other disasters.
In addition, the group lobbied on proposals to expand regulation of the insurance industry, including proposals to repeal its antitrust exemption, as well as on legislation that would create a national housing trust fund to help maintain affordable-housing units.
Other issues the group lobbied on included patent reform, climate change, measures to crack down on identity theft and proposals that would make it easier for state and local governments to obtain federal dollars to redevelop contaminated industrial sites known as brownfields.
Besides Congress, the National Association of Realtors lobbied the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Federal Emergency Management Agency and other government agencies, according to a disclosure form filed with the House clerk’s office on April 21.
Among those registered to lobby for the group was Joseph Ventrone, formerly senior policy adviser at the Federal Housing Finance Board and a former HUD official.