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Associations Honored for Government Affairs Achievement

Nine state and local home builders associations received Government Affairs and Smart Growth Program Achievement Awards during the International Builders’ Show in Orlando for advancing housing-friendly initiatives in 2004. The awards presentation was the culmination of the 14th annual State & Local Government Affairs Recognition Awards Program.

The 2004 honorees are: 

• Home Builders Association of Illinois — The state association campaigned to pass a law ensuring that every home built in the state is built to standards of an established building code — without enacting a statewide building code.
  
  
• Home Builders Association of Metropolitan Portland, Ore. — The local association worked through a coalition to get potentially devastating habitat regulations amended to a voluntary program based on educating and providing incentives to property owners.
  
  
• Home Builders Association of Greater St. Louis — The local association formed a political action committee (PAC) to fund and run campaigns for new candidates for area fire protection district boards. To date, the PAC has raised nearly $120,000.
  
  
• Home Builders Association of Greater Cincinnati — The local association armed itself with data from a favorable economic impact study, educated its members about the benefits of new home construction and took those results to the media through a series of briefings and press releases.
  
  
• Building Industry Association of Southern California’s Baldy View Chapter — The local association commissioned a methane gas study to evaluate the real risks of methane gas in construction sites. Study results were used to promote mitigation alternatives that will save area builders an estimated $3 billion in fees.

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Three associations received multiple awards:

• Building Industry Association of Clark County, Wash. — The local association implemented one of the most extensive and sophisticated get-out-the-vote campaigns ever conducted by a local association. They guided voters to the polls using direct mail and phone calls, and 11 of the 14 BIA-endorsed candidates won on Election Day. The association was also honored for forming the Rural Business Coalition, which opposed a proposed ordinance that would have shut down home-operated businesses, including 290 BIA members. The coalition’s lobbying got the ordinance revised to protect existing business owners.
  
  
• Gold Coast Builders Association, Fla. — The local association worked behind-the-scenes to get voters to approve a half-cent sales tax to fund schools. Without the tax, county leaders would have shut down the local home building industry by enacting a growth moratorium. The association also received accolades for turning back a code change that required homes on zero lot lines to be built without overhangs. The favorable new language negotiated by the HBA and state code officials can be used by home builders associations across the nation.
  
  
• Master Builders Association of King & Snohomish Counties (MBA), Wash. — The local association after a three-year effort, got the state legislature to pass a measure in 2004 to help fix the state’s liability insurance crisis for condominium builders. The new law has already spurred insurers to inquire about returning to the market. The MBA also received a Smart Growth Program Achievement Award for promoting housing-friendly changes to Snohomish County’s Planned Residential Development (PRD) Code. The improvements have turned the PRD into a tool that encourages small lot development, infill development and developing on environmentally-constrained land.

In addition to honoring exceptional home builders associations, the State & Local Government Affairs Recognition Awards Program paid tribute to public officials who are strong advocates for the home building industry.

Go to www.nahb.org/SLGAawards to learn about this year’s honorees and entering the 2005-2006 awards program.
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