Final Report on the 2000 Legislative Session

Written by Christopher J. Kyler, Esq.

UAR, Director of Government Affairs

April 14, 2000

The Millennial Legislative Session was truly a marked year for REALTORS®. During the short forty-five days of the legislative session, the legislators found time to introduce 754 new bills. As the they wound their way though the legislative process, an additional 453 formal amendments and substitutions were made, for a grand total of 1,207 different bill texts. It wasn’t, however, the sheer number of bills that made this year important, rather, it was the potential impact of a few bills on our industry.

Acting as the Voice for Real Estate® in Utah, the Utah Association of REALTORS® Legislative Committee worked tirelessly to protect private property rights and free enterprise principles. Here’s a numerical breakdown of our work during the session:

1. we read all 754 bills to determine their subject matter and relatedness to our industry

2. after sifting the original 754, we then thoroughly analyzed 58 of those bills

3. we then narrowed our focus and chose 45 bills to monitor throughout session

4. we then refined our position on 29 final bills where we took a “support” or “oppose” position

Our record of success on 29 bills was 1 draw, 2 losses, and 26 wins for a success ratio of 93%. More specifically, of the 11 bills we wanted defeated, we won on 10; the 11^th bill was a draw. Of the 18 bills we wanted passed, we won on 16. The remaining two bills that we didn’t pass were non-priority bills. The following summarizes the 29 bills lobbied by the UAR:

H.B. 45 — Telephone Solicitation Regulation

The UAR was successful in defeating this bill. This bill would have prohibited all individuals, businesses, charities, and non-profits from making business-oriented telephone calls without first checking an extensive no-call list. The list was to be updated monthly and would have been sold to the public through an annual subscription fee. It was estimated that roughly 60,000 phone numbers would be on the no-call list. This new law would have applied to REALTORS® when calling FSBOs, expired listings, referrals, etc. The sponsor of the bill is seeking re-election and has vowed to re-visit the issue again next session. We have a REALTOR®, Brent Parker, challenging him for that legislative seat. Regardless of the election results, the UAR will be working against the bill throughout the interim session.

H.B. 107 — Utah Residential Mortgage Practices Act

The UAR was successful in passing this bill. This bill created a mortgage industry regulatory commission and delineated prohibited mortgage practices. The intent of the new law is to prevent loan fraud, and to provide limited oversight of loan officers. The regulatory commission will be housed within the Division of Real Estate. This new law will provide protection for appraisers and REALTORS® in transactions where loan officers are attempting to force a fraudulent transaction. This new law was passed by a unanimous vote in the Senate and only had one dissenting vote in the House.

H.B. 54 — Olene Walker Housing Trust Fund

The UAR was successful in passing this bill which provided for the appropriation of additional money from the general fund to the trust fund. This new law will provide more resources for affordable housing.

H.B. 87 — Corporate Franchise and Income Tax and Individual Income Tax Credits for Low-Income Housing

The UAR was successful in passing this bill which provided for the extension of tax credits to benefit low-income housing.

H.B. 115 — Condominium Privacy

The UAR was successful in passing this bill which requires notice to condominium occupants prior to entry by management.

H.B. 116 — Subdivision of Land Amendments

The UAR was successful in amending the original language of this bill. Originally, this bill required that the phrase, “THIS PROPERTY MAY NOT BE BUILDABLE” be typed across the face of all deeds. This requirement would have created uncertainty in the law as to when property rights vest. We were successful in deleting this language and in passing the remainder of the bill which clarified provisions relating to the subdividing of land.

H.B. 264 — Insurance Coverage for Condominiums

The UAR was successful in amending and passing this bill which allows condominium managers to make substantive changes based on a 67% vote of the condominium owners. The old law required a unanimous vote and was unworkable for property managers. This new law also clarifies insurance coverage responsibilities and defines “common areas.”

H.B. 300 — Providing Notice of Delinquent Property Tax.

The UAR was successful in passing this bill which allows counties the option of sending notice of delinquent property tax by mail. By giving cities this notice option, this new law will make notice to property owners more consistent and reliable.

H.B. 117 — Individual Income Tax - Estimated Tax Payments and Use of Revenues for Education

The UAR was successful in defeating this bill which would have raised the cost of doing business by mandating the payment of estimated quarterly income tax payments.

H.B. 345 — Unemployment Insurance Amendments

The UAR was successful in passing this bill which reduces the amount of unemployment taxes charged to businesses by roughly 50%. The unemployment fund reserves are currently excessive, and this new law will bring the reserves to a reasonable level by providing tax relief for most buinesses.

S.B. 17 — Minimum School Levy Modifications

The UAR was successful in defeating this bill. This proposal would have permitted the doubling of property taxes by increasing the minimum basic school tax levy from the current rate of .001840 to .0030. This bill also would have removed the levy from the Truth-in-taxation requirements resulting in an automatic annual tax increase as property values increase due to reappraisal.

H.B. 137 Impact Fee Amendments

The UAR was successful in passing this bill which modifies the process citizens use to challenge the validity of an impact fee.

The old law required all challenges to be brought within 30 days of the assessment. The new law expands the time for procedural challenges to six-months, and for substantive challenges to one-year. This is a very important bill in that citizens and developers will now have a meaningful opportunity to challenge cities.

H.C.R. 3 — Resolution on Affordable Housing

The UAR was successful in passing this resolution which expresses support for increasing the amount of the private activity bond cap and low-income housing credits allocated to Utah be the U.S. Congress and to index increases to inflation in future years.

H.B. 11 — Community Cooperation Requirements of Utah Department of Transportation

The UAR was successful in defeating this bill. The UAR would have supported its passage had the sponsor amended the

language of the bill to require UDOT to “coordinate” with local communities on transportation decisions. The bill was not amended to include our language and was then defeated.

H.B. 35 — Catastrophic Mental Health Insurance Coverage

The UAR was successful in amending this bill. Originally, the bill was a mental health insurance mandate on business. As

amended, the bill does not impose mandates on business and will allow the free market to operate in this arena. The bill does require that metal health insurance be available to businesses from those insurance companies that provide heath insurance.

S.B. 23 — Workers Compensation - Employees Willful Misconduct

The UAR was successful in passing this bill which allows workers compensation to be denied to those who become injured due to their own willful misconduct. The new law addresses misconduct such as the illegal use of controlled substances.

S.B. 27 — Procurement Code Requirements of Health Care Benefits

The UAR was successful in defeating this bill which was another health care mandate on business. Specifically, the bill required that businesses under public contract provide a specified level of health insurance for employees.

S.B. 42 — Rental Application Fees

The UAR was unsuccessful in passing this bill. This bill would have overridden certain city-imposed laws which make it illegal

for landlords to charge a rental application fee. This bill would have authorized landlords to charge a reasonable fee in connection with background checks and credit checks. The UAR took a “support” on this bill late in the legislative session after the REALTORS® voted in favor of the bill at REALTOR® Day at the Legislature.

S.B. 84 — Truth in Taxation- Judgment Levy

The UAR was successful in passing this bill. This bill will eliminate unnecessary delays in issuing property tax refunds by allowing local governments to issue refunds immediately at a later time if needed.

S.B. 108 — Diabetes Treatment and Management - Managed Care

The UAR split its success on this bill. Originally, this bill was another health care mandate on business. The UAR was successful in softening the mandate language and in requiring a probationary period for this new law. The new law will be subject to review and scrutiny after three years to determine the impact of this law has on health insurance premiums. Again, we consider this outcome a “draw.”

S.B. 139 — Property Tax - Farmland Assessment Act Amendments

The UAR was successful in passing this bill which amended the qualification requirements for assessment as agricultural land

when eminent domain proceedings are involved.

S.B. 156 — Property Tax - Governing Body and Voter Approval

The UAR was successful in defeating this bill. The UAR Legislative Committee was caught in a philosophical quandry on this bill. On one hand, the UAR believes that property tax should not bear the majority of the tax burden. Consequently, a voter referendum requirement on property tax would likely result in a cap on all future property tax increase proposals. However, this bill would have harmed the principle of representative government by taking the budgetary power away from our elected representatives. In the end, the Committee decided to oppose this bill on the basis of representative government. The UAR will, however, continue to lobby its position on property taxes to the elected officials.

S.B. 186 — Redevelopment Agency Tax Increment Changes

The UAR was successful in passing this bill which exempted school district taxes from tax increment paid to redevelopment agencies.

S.B. 193 — Residential Lien Recovery Fund

The UAR was successful in defeating this bill. This bill would have added the assessment of an additional fee on residential building permits. This new fee was not necessary because the fund is already over-funded. Further, this fund is being misused by a few major beneficiaries in the state and is therefore, not helping homeowners and subcontractors as intended.

S.B. 197 — Corporate Franchise and Income Taxes - Minimum Tax

The UAR was successful in defeating this bill which would have increased the minimum tax under the corporate franchise and income taxes from $100 to $250.

S.B. 198 — Corporate Franchise and Income Taxes - Rate Increase

The UAR was successful in defeating this bill which would have increased the corporate franchise and income tax rates from 5% to 6%.

S.B. 215 — Real Estate Recording Law Amendments

The UAR was successful in passing this bill. This new law requires an affidavit to be recorded when terminating certain interests in real estate. This new law will aid in reducing the number of disputes over when and if interests in Real Estate have been terminated.

S.B. 216 — Placement of Group Homes - Local Government Controls

The UAR was unsuccessful in passing this bill which would have modified the restrictions that counties, cities, and towns can place on group homes..

S.B. 242 — Annexation of Unincorporated Areas

The UAR was successful in passing this bill which requires a city to approve an annexation when the annexed group has a higher tax base than the city to which they are seeking annexation.

In sum, the Utah Association of REALTORS® was very successful in the 2000 Legislative Session. The UAR has already noticed that some of these same issues and bills will be reintroduced during the interim session and in the 2001 session. We are prepared for these upcoming challenges, and we will continue fighting for private property rights and free enterprise principles.

Previous Page | Home