3 minute read
Decisions Are Made by Those Who Show Up
LEGISLATIVE UPDATE
Elizabeeth Peetz VP of Government Affairs for the Colorado Association of REALTORS®
Decisions Are Made by Those Who Show Up
Colorado was in a rejection kind of mood as election day 2021 went down in the books on November 2. The three statewide ballot measures were defeated by large margins. They would have: given more control to the legislature over federal dollars post pandemic (78), cut property taxes (120), and funded tutoring programs after school for low to moderate income households (119).
Colorado experienced extremely low voter turnout this year despite being one of the founding states of “vote by mail” and its public policy that makes it easier to vote, not harder. Just ask Major League Baseball, which moved the All-Star Game to Colorado after a controversial voterrelated law passed in Georgia.
Thankfully in Colorado, several important business-friendly public officials won seats and a costly ballot measure for housing was defeated in Castle Rock. Thanks to those local boards who made their voices heard and for stepping up for our industry to make a difference!
The national electoral mood was decidedly a return to moderate politicians in some of the biggest races, all while the federal Congress is pursuing a game of chicken between the most progressive politicians who want to increase government programs and the more conservative or pragmatic factions within both parties that have sticker shock on the costs of the Build Back Better infrastructure and socialspending packages.
We’ll have to wait and see what 2022 brings, but no matter how you look at it there’s going to be significant activity across every state and Congress after the redistricting map dust has settled. In Colorado we elected (and CAR strongly supported) instilling a participatory democracy that increases transparency around drawing the congressional and state legislative lines with an independent commission. We will have seats that are competitive for both parties and a new congressional seat based on our population growth over the last century.
And that’s not all. In January we will turn the corner into a new season of Government Affairs –the Legislative Session. Election years are not always the best times to find those big compromises, since we see many officials up for re-election or maybe even being drawn into a district with a colleague or opposing party legislator. And the last two years have been the most active in history related to continuous rule-making. All of that sets the stage for a very busy legislative season and CAR will be right there on the front lines working for the real estate industry.
We anticipate several pieces of legislation that the Legislative Policy Committee will work on including: short term rentals, continued work to appropriate the federal ARPA housing dollars, definitions of mom and pop landlords, arbitration, green energy and building regulations, wildfire mitigation, water storage, special districts, appraiser and cam regulations, HOA bills, insurance requirements, and commuter regulations related to greenhouse gases to name a few.
As you head into the holidays for a well-deserved end to a busy year, remember:
“Speech is the voice of the heart” - Anna Quindlen “Decisions are made by those who show up” - President Bartlett, The West Wing TV Show
