CAR CAPITOL CONNECTION:
This Week in the Legislature - March 15, 2008
Escrow Bill Dies in Committee
SB 162 died in the Senate Human Health and Services Committee on Wednesday, March 5 - a bill CAR strongly opposed. The legislation would have created a state program aimed at affordable housing by collecting the voluntary interest earned off escrow accounts - a model currently used by the Colorado Association of REALTORS® Housing Opportunity Foundation (CARHOF), and others. Launching a state funding mechanism for this purpose would have surely been detrimental to the efforts of previously-established programs like CARHOF.
Many thanks to Sunny Banka, Aurora Board of REALTORS®, who testified in opposition of the bill. Speaking on behalf of CAR, Sunny maintained that "Colorado REALTORS® are in strong support affordable housing," and further expressed that "the CARHOF program has donated over $5.8 million to affordable housing since its inception, while providing over $75,000 to support the foreclosure hotline." Supported by research data which shows that over $700 million is already being spent on affordable housing in Colorado, she further reiterated the need for a comprehensive needs assessment, and highlighted the unintended dangers associated with this legislation. Sunny is a broker/owner with Metro Brokers and serves on CAR's Legislative Policy Committee as the Business, Taxation, and Housing Subcommittee Chair.
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