For All Homeowners

E-Mail ^ | 10/21/09 | E-Mail

[beejaa]

ALL HOMEOWNERS BETTER READ THIS

Cap & Trade legislation:

This bill is only 1428 pages long. The House passed it without reading and it is in the Senate now awaiting to read it after they come back from their August recess "fact finding trips".

Here is the link for the bill

http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=111_cong_bil

Home owners take note & tell your friends and relatives who are home owners!!! Beginning 1 year after enactment of the Act, you won't be able to sell your home unless you retrofit it to complywith the energy and water efficiency standards of this Act.

H.R. 2454, the "Cap & Trade" bill passed last week by the House of Representatives, if also passed by the Senate, will be the largest tax increase any of us has ever experienced. The Congressional Budget Office(supposedly non-partisan) estimates that in just a few years the average cost to every family of four will be $6,800 per year. No one is excluded. However, once the lower classes feel the pinch in their wallets, you can be sure these voters get a tax refund (even if they pay no taxes at all) to offset this new cost. Thus, you Mr. and Mrs. Middle Class America will have to pay even more since additional tax dollars will be needed to bail out everyone else.

But wait. This awful bill (that no one in Congress has actually read) has many more surprises in it. Probably the worst one is this: A year from now you won't be able to sell your house.

Yes, you read that right. The caveat is (there always is a caveat) that if you have enough money to make required major upgrades to your home, then you can sell it. But, if not, then forget it. Even pre-fabricated homes ("mobile homes") are included.

In effect,this bill prevents you from selling your home without the permission of the EPA administrator.

To get this permission, you will have to have the energy efficiency of your home measured. Then the government will tell you what your new energy efficiency requirement is and you will be forced to make modifications to your home under the retrofit provisions of this Act to comply with the new energy and water efficiency requirements. Then you will have to get your home measured again and get a license (called a "label" in the Act) that must be posted on your property to show what your efficiency rating is; sort of like the Energy Star efficiency rating label on your refrigerator or air conditioner. If you don't get a high enough rating, you can't sell. And, the EPA administrator is authorized to raise the standards every year, even above the automatic energy efficiency increases built into the Act.

The EPA

administrator, appointed by the President, will run the Cap & Trade program (AKA the "American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009") and is authorized to make any future changes to the regulations and standards he alone determines to be in the government's best interest. Requirements are set low initially so the bill will pass Congress; then the Administrator can set much tougher new standards every year. The Act itself contains annual required increases in energy efficiency for private and commercial residences and buildings. However, the EPA administrator can set higher standards at any time.

Sect. 202 Building

Retrofit Program mandates a national

retrofit program to increase the energy efficiency of all existing homes across America. Beginning 1 year after enactment of the Act, you won't be able to sell your home unless you retrofit it to comply with the energy and water efficiency standards of this Act. You had better sell soon, because the standards will be raised each year and will be really hard (i.e, ex$pen$ive) to meet in a few years. Oh, goody! The Act allows the government to give you a grant of several thousand dollars to comply with the retrofit program requirements if you meet certain energy efficiency levels. But, wait, the State can set additional requirements on who qualifies to receive the grants. You should expect requirements such as "can't have an income of more than $50K per year", "home selling price can't be more than $125K", or anything else to target the upper middle class (and that's YOU) and prevent them from qualifying for the grants. Most of us won't get a dime and will have to pay the entire cost of the retrofit out of our own pockets. More transfer of wealth, more "change you can believe in."

Sect. 204 Building

Energy Performance Labeling Program establishes

a labeling program that for each individual residence will identify the achieved energy efficiency performance for "at least 90 percent of the residential market within 5 years after the date of the enactment of this Act." This means that within 5 years 90% of all residential homes in the U.S. must be measured and labeled. The EPA administrator will get $50M each year to enforce the labeling program. The Secretary of the Department of Energy will get an additional $20M each year to help enforce the labeling program. Some of this money will, of course, be spent on coming up with tougher standards each year. Oh, the label will be like a license for your car. You will be required to post the label in a conspicuous location in your home and will not be allowed to sell your home without having this label. And, just like your car license, you will probably be required to get a new label every so often - maybe every year. But, the government estimates the cost of measuring the energy efficiency of your home should only cost about $200 each time. Remember what they said about the auto smog inspections when they first started: that in California it would only cost $15. That was when the program started. Now the cost is about $50 for the inspection and certificate; a 333% increase. Expect the same from the home labeling program.

Sect. 304

Greater Energy Efficiency in Building Codes establishes new energy efficiency guidelines for the National Building Code and mandates at 304(d) that 1 year after enactment of this Act, all state and local jurisdictions must adopt the National Building Code energy efficiency provisions or must obtain a certification from the federal government that their state and/or local codes have been brought into full compliance with the National Building Code energy efficiency standards.

[TigersEye]

LMAO Probably. ;-)

[TigersEye]

Sorry. I wasn’t making fun of the song or Steve Forbert. Thanks for the link.

[Neidermeyer]

No offense taken, “nobody” knows who this guy is; Steve was great when he came out in the late 70’s then he po’d his record company and they held several of his albums back , refusing to release them ,,, above all he is a really good songwriter. If he gets to a venue within driving distance of you check him out ...

[beejaa]

The problem is that we have a bunch of people in the government who don’t care about the Constitution. We need to keep making out voices heard...

[beejaa]

“My understanding is that this has been removed from the bill. The Nat’l Assoc. of Realtors pitched a fit and had it removed back in September. At least the Realtors read the bill.”
I hope you’re right. Actually, now that you mention this, it would be easy to find out. Just phone a realtor. (Writing this down on my “to do” list.)