Nation

U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES PASSES HEALTH PLAN ACT
The U.S. House of Representatives for passed the Small Business Health
Fairness Act (H.R. 525) on July 26, 2005. The legislation, which is one of NARs top priorities, will allow small businesses and self-employed workers to band together through a trade or professional association to negotiate lower health insurance costs for participants. Small business health plans would operate under the same rules as federally regulated large corporate and union plans that provide group health insurance to all participants regardless of where they live. The bill was introduced earlier this year by U.S. Reps. John Boehner (R-Ohio), Sam Johnson (R-Texas), Nydia Velazquez (D-N.Y.), and Albert Wynn (D-Md.), and by U.S. Sens. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine), Jim Talent (R-Mo.), Kit Bond (R-Mo.), and Robert Byrd (D-W. Va.). President Bush pledged his strong support for the legislation in his speech at the REALTORS® Midyear Legislative Meeting & Trade Expo in May. The Small Business Health Fairness Act would allow trade associations like NAR to offer a uniform health care plan and use our collective bargaining power to lower the cost of health insurance for REALTORS® everywhere. A significant number of Americas 45 million uninsured citizens work for small businesses who cannot afford to offer quality health insurance benefits to their workers. According to a recent survey of NAR members, 28 percent of NARs more than 1 million members are uninsured. Only 7 percent of real estate firms offer health care coverage for independent contractors, who are the largest segment of real estate professionals.

DO-NOT-FAX LEGISLATION SIGNED BY PRESIDENT BUSH
On Saturday, July 9th, President Bush signed S. 714, the Junk Fax Prevention Act, into law. The newly signed law does not legalize unsolicited fax advertisements or solicitations but does allow for an established business relationship exception. In summary, the new fax law is effective immediately and:
· reaffirms the long-standing established business relationship (EBR) exception to the ban on unsolicited commercial faxes by creating explicit statutory authority for the EBR;
· places no time limit on an EBR;
· mandates that an unsolicited commercial fax will now have to include an opt-out provision on the first page of the fax, providing a cost-free, 24/7 means for the recipient to request to be removed from the fax distribution list;
· requires that, after the date of enactment, fax numbers to which unsolicited advertising will be sent must be obtained either directly from the recipient (i.e. either oral or written consent) or from a public source to which the recipient gave the number for publication (i.e., a website, advertisement or directory);
· grandfathers fax numbers in the possession of the sender at the time of enactment as to the means by which the number was obtained;
· requires, in the case of an EBR that exists and for which the sender does not possess the fax number at the time of enactment of this legislation, that a fax number used would have to be obtained in the same manner as if it were a new relationship being established;
· authorized the FCC, after not less than three months from enactment, to review this matter and if they determine that there are significant abuses of faxes sent under the EBR exception, may reconsider imposing limitations on the EBR.
It is also important to know that despite adoption of this Federal law, state laws on the sending of unsolicited faxes are not preempted. Fax senders must comply with both the Federal law and with any applicable state laws. The Federal law will not allow an unsolicited fax to be sent where doing so is prohibited by state law. NAR's Legal Division has released a compliance memo outlining the new laws requirements. It can be accessed at http://www.realtor.org/letterlw.nsf/pages/0705faxlaw.

RESPA RULES WILL BE TWEAKED, NOT OVERHAULED
American Banker reporter, Amy Thompson, wrote on July 19 that last year's stalled effort to reform the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act could prompt the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to tinker with the law rather than totally revamp it. During the first of three summer meetings with lenders and consumer advocates, agency officials last week indicated that smaller changes such as enhanced disclosures, a consumer worksheet for comparing loan offers, and RESPA Section 8 exemptions could be pursued. Tim Kemp, a regulatory counsel for Santa Ana, Calif.-based title insurer First American, said the industry is starting to implement a number of reforms on its own, including the move by Sun Trust Bank, ABN Amro, Citigroup, and Bank of America to offer guarantees on their good-faith estimate packages. However, some small lenders have taken issue with Section 8 exemptions, noting that they are unable to buy in bulk and do not have the relationships of larger businesses; and some consumer groups questioned whether the savings would be passed on to borrowers.