The House Financial Services Committee gave a favorable report to HB 343 (Clouse, Ozark) on Wednesday.  Representative Steve Clouse presented revised language that would remove new construction and developed lots from the reduction in the redemption period.  The original language would have reduced the redemption period from one year to ninety days. 

The HBAA extends its gratitude to Representative Clouse for meeting with home builders and developers to find an alternative that would ensure that Alabama's home building industry would not be negatively impacted by the legislation.  

On Tuesday, the Alabama Residential and Energy Codes Board approved a number of amendments to the 2009 International Residential Code and the 2009 International Energy Conservation Code.  Chaired by Sonny Richardson, the board approved the recommendations unanimously.  The codes now begin to make their way through the adoption process laid out in the Alabama Administrative Procedures Act.  The code will not be effective until sometime later in 2011. 

Required under provisions of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, Alabama must have an energy code in place and enforced by 2017 that achieves equivalent energy savings as those set forth by the Department of Energy.  The efforts of the board are the first step to achieving this goal.  Despite efforts by groups outside of Alabama, the Residential Subcommittee, chaired by Steve Roberson (Alagasco), made certain to ensure that Alabama builders and its citizens would not be harmed economically due to its actions.  Joining Roberson on the subcommittee were Bruce Johnson (Alabama Power), Jack Reid (Home Builders Licensure Board), Donnie West (Alabama Fire Council), and Alan Boswell (Code Officials Association of Alabama). 

The HBAA is extremely proud of the work of each of the subcommittee members who spent the day poring through the HBAA-recommended language.  Bret Warren and Sonny Richardson worked tirelessly over the weeks prior to Tuesday's meeting to develop a package of amendments that would be agreeable to all parties.  The HBAA's gratitude to both Warren and Richardson cannot be overstated. 

The adoption of the code is the culmination of all the work that HBAA members put into passing Act # 2010-186 which created the board and the process to adopt a statewide building code.    

The HBAA would like to thank the leadership and staff at the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs.  With so many competing interests, it is a difficult task to bring all the parties together to focus on the broad issues of code development.  ADECA did a tremendous job in doing just that.  Jim Byard, ADECA Director, spoke to the Board to emphasize his desire to adopt a fair code that recognizes the needs of the home building industry.  The HBAA couldn't ask for a better friend to drive the point home than Jim Byard.  Byard is the former Mayor of Prattville and is well aware of the importance of home building to Alabama's economy, a point he made clear during his remarks. 

Also deserving of our thanks are ADECA staff members Terri Adams, Bill Babbington, and Karen Clifton.  Each of these professionals has done an exceptional job helping guide the board through this difficult task.

The tort reform package introduced by the Alabama Civil Justice Reform Committee (ACJRC) received favorable reports in both the House and Senate on Wednesday. The HBAA is an executive committee member of the ACJRC and will continue to monitor this legislation.

After meeting for three days this week, the Legislature is now one-third of the way through the 2011 regular session. The Senate passed a $1.8 billion general fund budget, which cut more than 45% of some agencies' funding and zeroed out a host of community projects and historical sites.