Governance in Action: Commercial Legislation & Regulatory Advisory Board - 2017 Legislative Meetings

The COMMERCIAL LEGISLATION & REGULATORY ADVISORY BOARD led with an update from Evan Liddiard, NAR Senior Tax Policy Representative, about commercial real estate tax issues, focusing especially on the possibility of tax reform in the 115th Congress. Liddiard reviewed the Republican’s Tax Reform Blueprint, which proposed immediate expensing of commercial property – but does not include land in that provision. Results were presented from a study NAR commissioned with the Real Estate Roundtable on the potential impact of replacing 1031 Like-Kind Exchanges with immediate expensing for commercial buildings, concluding that immediate expensing is not equivalent to 1031 exchanges. 

The group also discussed NAR’s proposed policy on the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and support for reforms to require notice to be given to businesses before an ADA violation suit can be filed. Randy Woodbury, a NAR and IREM® member, spoke about his experiences dealing with “drive-by” ADA suits at his businesses, all of which seemed designed to generate a settlement without allowing for businesses to make efforts to make the necessary updates required by ADA, reinforcing the need for further advocacy on this matter.

The meeting ended with an Industry Peer Partners panel, which included representatives from the Building Owners and Managers Association, the International Council of Shopping Centers, and the American Bankers Association. The discussion centered upon their organizations’ priority issues, which include internet sales tax fairness, financial regulatory reform, and tax reform. The panel reached consensus on the need for laws and regulations that are better tailored to the issues they are meant to address, as well as ways that existing ones can be improved – for example, by including business interruption insurance options as part of what is offered through the National Flood Insurance Program.