BUILD-PAC Updates with Kim Hefner

As your newly elected Build PAC trustee for South Dakota, I thought it wise to refresh myself on all things BUILD-PAC, so I started my week at IBS by attending the NEW Trustee Orientation session.

Our legal counsel, Mark Braden, gave us an overview of the “do’s and don’t” of Build PAC.   We discussed how to keep everyone within the law, as well as how to disburse checks to candidates (and the protocol for not combining check presentations at the same time as discussing advocacy issues).   We also reviewed how to maintain relationships with Members of Congress and our grassroots efforts of fundraising.   This was a very informative session and will help us to kickstart our Build PAC effort in 2024.   Doug Top and I look forward to assisting other associations with a Build PAC event.

At the Build PAC Trustee meeting, we again reviewed the responsibilities of a Build PAC Trustee and how we can all stay in compliance with Federal Guidelines that govern PACs.

As an update to our financials, we have raised $1.91M of our $3.25M goal for this two-year cycle. We have disbursed $1.12M to candidates and have $1.3M on hand. Since this is an election year, we will need to raise more dollars for Build PAC to meet our goals.

South Dakota led the Associate’s Challenge, as we added 15 new members who gave in this cycle. We will continue that charge and try to win this challenge. Thank you to Candi Menke for leading us in this drive.

As I’ve discussed before, we do use a Grading System in the Trustee meeting when giving money to members of Congress and candidates for Congress seats.  We changed the Candidate Ratings Reporting System during our Trustee meeting.   We will now be awarding more points to those in Key Leadership Roles in Congress (i.e., Speak, Majority Leader & Whip, Minority Leader & Whip, Secretary and Caucus Chairs, etc.).   This assists us with the Grading System we use to disburse money to candidates.  We will continue to use our Key Votes system to Grade members of Congress.

 

Key Wins in 2023 – as a RECAP:

1. NAHB Chairman Alicia Huey testified in the House on the flawed WOTUS rule. Texas homebuilder Frank Murphy also testified in the House Small Business Committee against it. These efforts led to the House and Senate passing a joint resolution of disapproval calling on Biden to rescind it.
2. Rob Dietz (Chief Economist for NAHB) testified before the Senate Banking Committee on the barriers we face when trying to build Affordable Housing. He asked Congress to pass legislation to alleviate bottlenecks on the supply side, ease regulations that hinder housing, and promote the skilled trades.  Throughout 2023, NAHB went on to testify 6 times on these issues, along with repealing onerous regulations, speeding up permitting times and boosting the housing supply.
3. Within ONE week of our June 2023 legislative conference, the House approved the REINS Act, and the House approved two gas stove bills (defending a consumer’s right to have gas stoves and use natural gas to fuel their homes).
4. Transformers—The House Energy and Commerce Committee passed HR 4167 in December, which would repeal the DOE’s authority to impose any new energy efficiency standards for the next five years.
5. Workforce—The House Committee on Education & the Workforce approved NAHB-supported legislation that reaffirms congressional support for Job Corps and would help address the shortages in our nation’s skilled labor arena.

These, along with other wins, are what we are working for at NAHB and what your Build PAC dollars go towards supporting.

Lastly, as a side note, both Jim Tobin (CEO) and Lake Coulson (Chief Lobbyist) stated multiple times during our week in Vegas that part of our NEW NAHB Strategic Plan is to continue on with our Advocacy Goals.   We need to step up our game to lawmakers in Congress so they come to the US prior to introducing bills…we ARE the industry experts, and we want to always be TOP OF MIND to lawmakers when it comes to housing.   We may not always agree, and bills may be introduced that we don’t agree with, but we ALWAYS want to be the “GO TO” experts in housing.

 

WEBSITE INFORMATION – Please note:  Build PAC has an all-new website which is Buildpac.org.    YOU, as a member, can go to this site and do the following:

• Contribute directly to Build PAC
• See where we are in our efforts of fundraising in South Dakota (and nationwide)
• See our members of Congress and their contact information
• Meet the team of Build PAC officers and our support staff
• Get talking points monthly to help you talk intelligently about key issues facing housing
• Learn how to set up a Government Affairs Committee in your local
• …most importantly…sign up for Builderlink. Builderlink is how we can easily communicate with our members of Congress when there is a hot topic on the Senate or House floor that we need to take action on quickly.   With a few “clicks of a button,” you can send a pre-written letter to our Congressional Delegation asking for their support of homebuilding issues.

Thank you all for the opportunity to serve South Dakota as your Build-PAC trustee.   I look forward to many discussions in the upcoming year regarding how we’re doing.   Doug Top and I are COMMITTED to coming to any local that needs help with a Build PAC event.   Call us, and we will help you plan, hold the event, and send in your Build PAC Dollars.

Kim K Hefner