This eNews Is Sponsored By:
Business anniversaries, accomplishments, awards, publications, etc.?
Send to judie@ncbia.com for consideration in our next eNews update.
SAVE THE DATE!
Available for All of Our Upcoming Events!
5321 Meadow Lane Court-B
Suite 23, Sheffield Village
27026 Center Ridge Road, Westlake
Saturday, February 1st 5:30-8:30 PM
31972 Walker Road, Avon Lake
2025 NCBIA
Annual Home
& Remodeling Show
Saturday, March 15th 9 AM – 5 PM
Sunday, March 16th 10 AM – 3 PM
Lorain County Community College
Spitzer Conference Center
1005 North Abbe Road, Elyria
NAHB Member Advantage gives members an easy way to reduce expenses,maximize profits and increase efficiency. Through agreements with leading national companies,
NAHB offers exclusive discounts on a variety of products and services that can benefit your business, employees and family.
In the past year, members have saved over $17M through Member Advantage.
For the most up-to-date information about which companies are offering discounts as well as detailed
information on how to access the savings, please visit www.nahb.org/savings
NOVEMBER 25, 2024 REPORT #14
LEGISLATIVE UPDATE
HOUSE AND SENATE LEADERSHIP TEAMS NAMED
In their first week back after the election, both the House and Senate have announced their leadership teams for the next General Assembly. With a few potential challengers in the mix, ultimately, it was an unopposed vote electing Matt Huffman as Speaker of the House. Matt Huffman’s leadership team for the 136th General Assembly includes: Rep. Gayle Manning (R-N. Ridgeville) as speaker pro tem, Rep. Phil Plummer (R-Dayton) as assistant speaker pro tem, Rep. Marilyn John (R-Shelby) as majority leader, Rep. Adam Bird (R-Cincinnati) as assistant majority leader.
In an unusual move, Huffman named four lawmakers to serve as majority whips: Rep. Steve Demetriou (R-Bainbridge Twp.), Rep. Riordan McClain (R- Upper Sandusky), Rep. Nick Santucci (R-Howland Twp.), and Rep. Josh Williams (R-Sylvania Twp.).
In the Senate, Senate Republicans as expected chose Sen. Rob McColley (R-Napoleon) as the next Senate president during a midday caucus vote Wednesday.
Joining McColley are Sen. Bill Reineke (R-Tiffin) as president pro tempore, Sen. Theresa Gavarone (R-Bowling Green) as majority floor leader and Sen. George Lang (R-West Chester Twp.) as majority whip.
Meanwhile, House and Senate Democratic leadership teams finalized their own expected leadership slates, backing Senate Minority Leader Nickie Antonio (D-Lakewood) and House Minority Leader Allison Russo (D-Upper Arlington) to carry on in those posts.
LAME DUCK PRIORITIES TAKING SHAPE
Committee hearings and decisions on what pieces of legislation will be addressed in the lame duck session are ongoing. With a few session days left into December, there will be a fury of activity at the Statehouse. OHBA continues to look for opportunities to address critical land development and housing supply issues before the General Assembly wraps up and starts over again in the new year.
HB 107 ELEVATOR CONTRACTOR/MECHANIC LICENSING UPDATE
After passage of HB 107 (2022), those who install or maintain elevators have one year to obtain an elevator contractor’s or elevator mechanic’s license. Contractors and mechanics will have until Nov. 1, 2025, to be licensed. Previously, only elevator inspectors were required to be licensed.
OHBA was successful in exempting licensure for those performing work in a private residence and on platform lifts and stairway chairlifts within the scope of the safety standard adopted by the American society of mechanical engineers commonly referred to as ASME A18.1.
There were grandfathering provisions included in the legislation for those contractors/mechanics already practicing in the field and able to show meet the experience requirements. The application will be available soon on the Department of Commerce Industrial Compliance website.
RESIDENTIAL DEVELOPMENT LAND PROPERTY TAX EXEMPTION UPDATE EFFECTIVE; NEW APPLICATION ATTACHED
While the initial version of the residential development land exemption was enacted in Fall 2023, additional changes to ORC 5709.56, addressing implementation challenges, became effective September 18, 2024. OHBA was successful in amending HB 50 to include language to clarify the implementation of the current 5709.56 exemption. The new provisions removed the notice and appeal for local school boards and third parties and transferred approval authority from Ohio Department of Tax to County Auditor. OHBA strongly encourages those with eligible property to contact your country auditor about applying for residential development land exemption for property platted during tax year 2023. The new application (DTE 24-R) is attached.
SENATOR KIRK SCHURING PASSES AWAY
State Sen. J. Kirk Schuring, the second-longest serving lawmaker in the Ohio Legislature who authored dozens of laws on issues ranging from health care to sports betting, has died. He was a He was 71. Senator Schuring was a housing champion and close to many of his local home builder constituents. His knowledge and expertise will be greatly missed around the Statehouse.
Feel free to contact OHBA with any questions or comments at 614-228-6647 or build@ohiohba.com.
DTE-DTE Link HERE
EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT’S COLUMN
By Vincent J. Squillace
Executive Vice President
SEASONS GREETINGS
A lot going on here at OHBA. We just wrapped up our Fall Board Meeting and elected new officers. Merle Stutzman of Wayne County will lead OHBA in the coming year. He will be supported by Vice President Jason Scott of Cleveland and Brad Olinger from Cincinnati as fellow Senior Officers. Many thanks to Enzo Perfetto who guided us well this year.
We could not help but suffer through hundreds of million dollars in political ads as well as wonder just what the election may hold. We all now know the results of the key federal and state elections. Now we will see just how the new government leaders prioritize the rules and regs which govern us. Stateside, the next legislature will resemble the current one though with new leaders in the House and Senate.
The current legislative session continues until December 31st. After a brief post-election session where leaders for the next General Assembly were chosen, we will experience the “lame duck” session. Most of what will be considered then is being conjured up and we do not know for sure just what will happen; that is what makes all this so challenging.
Also, the looming appointment to replace Vice President Elect JD Vance has many transfixed on being the chosen one. With this election settled, races for Ohio’s top offices will be in full swing as Governor down to Treasurer will find new electees as all the current officers are term limited.
Our course our activity continues finding ways to increase residential lot development and the construction of affordable housing. We are well beyond reports of our housing shortage which is well known. We must now address the issue of getting to “Yes” approving housing sites and building homes.
Court Vacates New Overtime Rule in Major Win for NAHB
tward@nahb.org
VP, Legal Advocacy
(202) 266-8230
Brad Mannion
bmannion@nahb.org
Director, Labor, Health & Safety
(202) 266-8265
In a major win for NAHB members on Friday, the Eastern District of Texas issued a nationwide injunction in a coalition lawsuit NAHB filed challenging the Department of Labor’s 2024 Overtime Rule. As a result of the ruling, the salary level for determining overtime pay eligibility for salaried employees — categorized as executive, administrative or professional workers — has been lowered to the pre-2024 level of $35,568.
“This is a huge win for NAHB, home builders and remodelers, and associated subcontractors,” said NAHB Chairman Carl Harris. “The ruling means that bureaucrats in Washington cannot arbitrarily mandate salary levels when regulating how employees are paid and must abide by established labor laws.”
In late 2023, the DOL proposed a rule that would increase the current salary level for determining overtime pay requirements for executive, administrative, professional, outside sales and computer employees from $684 a week ($35,568 annualized) to $1,059 a week ($55,068 annualized) — a nearly 55% increase.
The court noted that the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), which allows DOL to define and delimit which employees are exempt from overtime pay requirements, focused on the duties an employee performs rather than their wages to determine whether they should be exempt from overtime pay. Although the court acknowledged that DOL has authority to include a salary threshold component in determining whether an employee is exempt, the court held that the salary threshold must be a reasonable proxy for the duties test.
The court held that “because the 2024 Rule’s changes make salary predominate over duties for millions of employees, the changes exceed [DOL’s] authority to define and delimit the relevant terms.” The court further noted: “When a third of otherwise exempt employees who the [DOL] acknowledges meet the duties test are nonetheless rendered nonexempt because of an atextual proxy characteristic — the increased salary level — something has gone seriously awry.”
The court also held that the FLSA requires DOL to define and delimit the exemption through the formal notice-and-comment rulemaking process, which means that the 2024 Rule’s automatic updating feature is unlawful and exceeds DOL’s statutory authority.
As explained by the court, the DOL “endorses the Automatic Indexing Mechanism based on its conclusions that (1) it hasn’t done a bang-up job administering the EAP Exemption over the years; (2) its sporadic regulation has been driven by the difficulty of its task; so (3) the best way forward is to abdicate from more frequent and thorough rulemaking efforts by placing the regulation of the EAP Exemption on autopilot through the Automatic Indexing Mechanism. While this may be a satisfying solution for [DOL], it is unlawful under the [Administrative Procedures Act]. As it turns out, the APA’s notice-and-comment provisions must be followed even when an agency finds them inconvenient.”
The court relied on the Supreme Court’s recent decision in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo, which overturned the long-held Chevron deference,
NAHB remained active throughout the rulemaking process and submitted comments when DOL issued the proposed rule, citing the negative impact such a significant increase would have on housing affordability, among other concerns.