GAD Institute
August 21, 2015
Alexander E. Creel
Senior Vice President/Chief Lobbyist
California Association of REALTORS®
What is the RAA?
(REALTOR® Action Assessment)
Established in 2010, the REALTOR® Action
Assessment (RAA) is a $49.00 assessment paid
by members with their annual dues.
The RAA
CREPAC, CREIEC & LCRC;
OR at the member’s option
non-candidate
political purposes.
What is the RAF?
(REALTOR® Action Fund)
RAF is raised voluntarily
REALTOR®
political action committees (PACs)
support candidates for elected office and
issues, ballot measures and propositions.
In 2015: RAF used 70% for NAR Fair Share
requirements and provided 30% to local
LCRC/IMPAC sub-accounts.
RAF Member Participation
180,000
20%
18%
18%
175,000
16%
170,000
14%
12%
165,000
12%
12%
11%
11%
10%
160,000
8%
6%
155,000
4%
150,000
2%
157,262
160,173
168,025
175,243
171,976
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
145,000
0%
Total Membership
RAF % Member Participation
RAF
Fundraising
Standardized Template Forms
• Beginning in November 2016, all AORs must use one of the
Standardized Template Forms for all forms of fundraising, including
in-person fundraisers and sweepstakes/contests.
• If the AOR would like to repeat the same fundraiser from last year
(without any changes), the AOR may do so; otherwise, the AOR must
follow one of the Standardized Template Forms. An application is still
required.
• All fundraising applications are available at raf.car.org.
• All fundraising efforts must go through C.A.R. staff (no exceptions).
This includes videos, new orientation activities, fundraisers, add-on
fundraising activities to existing events, etc.
RAF
Dues Billing Statement (DBS)
DBS Audit
• C.A.R. will be conducting another DBS Audit from October 1, 2015 to
November 5, 2015 (If an AOR plans to send its DBS prior to October 1,
please contact Lisa Edwards directly at lisae@car.org to review the DBS).
• AORs must submit both paper and online screens shots to ensure
compliance with the following:
• “Above the Line” requirement
• All RAF and RAA disclosure requirements
• For more information on DBS compliance, please review the membership
webinars under the AE Resource Page (car.org/members/localassociations).
• Please submit DBS directly to dbs@car.org.
RAA/RAF
Funding Flow Chart
REALTOR® Action Assessment
(RAA) $49**
RAA Funded
Political Programs
70%
CREPAC/CREIEC
30%
CREPAC- in LCRC
sub-accounts
**$9.00 of the $49 RAA is used for program
costs and the remainder is split 70/30
Voluntary Personal REALTOR®
ACTION FUND (RAF)
$1/$200
State PACs
70%
CREPAC/FederalC.A.R.
$201/$5000
CREPAC/FederalC.A.R.
30%
CREPAC - in
LCRC sub-accounts
California Real Estate Independent Expenditure Committee (CREIEC)
California Real Estate Political Action Committee (CREPAC)
Local Candidate Recommendation Committee (LCRC)
* This chart only reflects personal contributions to RAF
What is State IMPAC?
IMPAC is an issues mobilization
political action committee with
funding to support issue advocacy
and legislative/public education
efforts at state and local levels.
What is Local IMPAC?
 Local IMPAC is a subaccount of
IMPAC.
 Local association dollars can be used
to support or oppose local policy
initiatives and certain other local
government affairs activities.
IMPAC
Funding Flow Chart
Political
Activities Fund
(PAF)
$10 per member
PAF allocation
to IMPAC:
10% to local IMPAC*
5% to State IMPAC**
C.A.R. Annual Dues
Total $184
* PAF $ allocated to local IMPAC subaccounts = 10% of a local AOR’s collection
of state RAF dollars: local AORs receive
$.10 of every state RAF dollar collected
(e.g., local AOR X collects 10,000 state
RAF dollars; local AOR X would receive
$1,000).
** 5% of the state RAF dollars.
*** Assume C.A.R. collects $1,000,000
($200,000 admin. costs). The balance of
$800,000 is split 70% (state)/30% (local).
Giving local AORs $240,000 dollars to split
based upon their membership (e.g., local
AOR X has 10% of C.A.R.’s total
membership; local AOR X would receive
10% of the $240,000 or $24,000).
Issue Action
Fund
(IAF)
$10 per member
IAF pays ALL
administrative costs
for IMPAC &
CREPAC/LCRC
70% of remaining
IAF to state IMPAC;
30% to local
IMPAC***
Uses for Local IMPAC
• Ballot measure campaigns
• REALTOR® issue mobilization campaigns
• Dues & contributions to coalitions, receptions,
events and conferences
• Advocacy & policy education
• Policy research & consulting services
• Travel, meals & receptions associated with
supporting or opposing an issue.
Local IMPAC DON’TS
Local IMPAC funds cannot be used:
• To contribute to candidates for
office
• For routine local association
business expenses
PACs/Funds/
Assessment Overview
Political
Activities Fund
(PAF)
C.A.R. Annual Dues
Total $184 ($115 + $69)
$10 per member
PAF allocation
to IMPAC:
10% to local IMPAC
5% to State IMPAC
Issue Action
Fund
(IAF)
$10 per member
REALTOR® Action
Assessment (RAA) $49
RAA Funded
Political
Programs
70%
CREPAC/CREIEC
IAF pays ALL
administrative costs
for IMPAC &
CREPAC/LCRC
70% to state IMPAC
30% to local IMPAC
30%
LCRC
NAR’s
REALTOR® Political Party Initiative
Independent Expenditure (IE) Funds
RPPI provides funds to state and local
associations to fund IEs for political
candidates.
• Total available: $796,091 +/-
• Available to locals: $398,046 +/(first come first serve?)
Local Candidate Recommendation Committee
(LCRC)
Do Local AORs have their Own PAC?
No! LCRC accounts are subaccounts of CREPAC
using the same tax identification entity for purposes of
state and federal political laws. LCRCs are governed
under the CREPAC State Bylaws. C.A.R. takes care
of all government required reporting responsibilities
as well as insuring compliance with established
reporting regulations on the state and local level.
Each local association’s LCRC subaccount balance
can be accessed online at:
http://www.car.org/members/localassociations
C.A.R. Sponsored Legislation
2015-2016
Sponsored Bills
Sponsored Bills Moving Through the 1st House:
• AB --- Dept./Sec. of Housing - Governor’s Cabinet
• AB 237 (Daly) Parcel Tax Vote Notification
Sponsored Bills Moving Through the 2nd House:
• AB 685 (Irwin) Real Estate Law Cleanup
• AB 807 (Stone) Private Transfer Fees
• SB 474 (Wieckowski) Credit Bids
2015-2016
Sponsored Bills (Cont.)
Sponsored Bills Signed into Law by the Governor:
•
AB 345 (Frazier) Continuing Education
 Signed into law on July 13, 2015
•
SB 146 (Galgiani) Team Names
 Signed into law on July 16, 2015
•
AB 607 (Dodd) Bonds for Non-Licensees
 Signed into law on August 17, 2015
AB 1335 (Atkins)
AB 1335 (Atkins)
Recording Tax
• Establishes affordable housing trust fund
• Places a flat $75 per document recording tax
on non-transfer real estate related
documents
• Maximum cap of $225 per transaction/parcel
AB 1335 (Atkins)
Recording Tax
C.A.R. amendments:
• Establish a governing board for the affordable
housing trust fund to review and approve all
trust fund expenditures.
• Governing Board must include real estate
industry representatives.
• Specify that 20 percent of the trust fund must
be devoted to affordable owner-occupied
workforce housing.
C.A.R. Opposes
SCA 5 (Hancock and Mitchell)
Split Roll
• Assess commercial and industrial real property
based upon the fair market value of the
property as of the date the property tax bill is
issued beginning with the 2018-19 fiscal year.
• Exempts single-family and multifamily
residential properties from the proposed
requirements.
C.A.R. Opposes: Pending hearing.
SB 8 (Hertzberg)
Service Taxes
Imposes a tax on services which would
include real estate transaction services.
Transaction services: home inspection,
structural pest control inspection, title
insurance, escrow services, disclosure
reports, brokerage, loan origination.
C.A.R. Opposes: Cannot move forward this
year.
SB 364 (Leno)
Ellis Act
Dramatically weakens private property
rights by allowing San Francisco to
mandate a 5-year "hold period" before the
purchaser of a rental unit can convert it to
another use or withdraw it from the
market.
C.A.R. Opposes: Defeated for this year.
SB 602 (Monning)
Seismic safety: CA Earthquake Authority
• Allows a property owner to opt into a “PACE-type”
contractual assessment to finance seismic
retrofitting of their property
• Encourages the use of voluntary assessments by
giving those assessments super-priority over other
recorded obligations
C.A.R. Opposes: Will not move forward this
year.
2015-2016
Federal Legislative Issues
• Real Estate Tax Incentives
• Mortgage Interest Deduction
• 1031 Exchanges
• Mortgage Finance
• Changes to FHA (e.g., loan limits)
• Elimination of Government Guarantee
• G-Fee Revenue Source
Emerging Issues
• Parcel Tax
• Split Roll Initiative
• Private Transfer Tax
• Service Tax
• M.I.D.
Emerging Issues (Cont.)
• Federal Mortgage “Reform” Privatizing the GSEs
• Point of Sale mandates - Energy,
water, sewers
Questions?