By Mike Means
Executive Vice President
OSHBA members,
Early today the Joint Committee on Appropriations and Budget (JCAB) started releasing bills on their way to developing a budget. However, the bills are a great cause of concern for many industries.
Let me take a moment to maybe clear some misunderstandings. I know many of you have read my emails regarding deadlines. Bills that come out of JCAB are exempt from those deadlines. Most of the time they are straightforward bills that authorize budget issues already resolved by the legislature. This year, with such a large shortfall, many of us have been watching them cautiously.
Today confirmed many of our fears. SB 1578 and SB 1580 affect our industry in drastic ways. SB 1578 is particularly concerning. SB 1578 deals with the energy efficient residential construction tax credit.
Quite simply the legislature is getting ready to repeal the credit. I had expected we might be on the chopping block and had offered some compromises. What happened was beyond my expectations. The Legislature is preparing to repeal the credit effective January 1, 2016! You read that right. They are wanting to retroactively repeal the credit.
This will affect many builders with many projects that are underway or under contract. This is bad faith by our legislators.
Please take a moment to send an email today or call your legislator on Monday or both! This is wrong and we must stand up for our industry.
Thank you.
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