Meetings, Meetings and more Meetings!
2010 is shaping up to be a busy year, as our Legislative meetings in the first quarter include US Representatives Altmire and Murphy, State Auditor General Jack Wagner, State Rep Metcalfe, Public Safety Director Mike Huss, City Councilman Patrick Dowd and Allegheny County Council President Rich Fitzgerald. One of the many ways that BOMA works for YOU!
 
Supreme Court rules in BOMA's favor on "Displaced Workers"
In November of 2006, Judge Stanton Wettick ruled that the City of Pittsburgh had exceeded its authority by creating 'displaced worker' legislation. Bill 2004-0794 required buildings changing contractors to require the new contractor to hire the previous contractor's employees. The City and intervening defendant SEIU appealed the ruling. A Commonwealth Court hearing was held in May, and on July 19, 2007 The Commonwealth Court affirmed Judge Wettick's decision.
The SEIU (without the City's participation) filed an appeal with the Supreme Court. On December 28, 2009 the Supreme Court upheld Judge Wettick and The Commonwealth Court.
While we work locally to represent our industry, we have a dedicated and experienced staff in Washington DC working full time to protect and advance the interests of Commercial Real Estate.
President Signs Stimulus Legislation Into Law; Includes Benefits to Commercial Real Estate
President Obama signed into law the recently passed stimulus bill, H.R. 1, The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. Last week, the conference report was approved by both the House and Senate, largely along party lines. In addition to providing grants to the states and funding a variety of infrastructure investments, the new law contains three provisions that will have varying degrees of impact on the commercial real estate industry: bonus depreciation, cancellation of debt (COD) income and Net Operating Loss carryback (NOL) relief.
The bonus depreciation is an extension of a provision enacted in 2008 that allows for immediate write–off of fifty percent of the cost of depreciable property, including qualified leasehold improvements, placed into service in 2008. This temporary benefit will be applied to capital expenditures incurred in 2009 as well.
The COD provision enacted provides significant tax relief for businesses that reacquire, satisfy or otherwise discharge debt obligations at a discount in 2009 and 2010. The new law allows companies to defer any tax on 2009 and 2010 COD income until 2014. It then taxes that COD income ratably over the following five years (2014–2018). Before this change, COD income was recognized the same year it was claimed and based on the total amount of the discount.
Finally, the NOL carryback provision allows companies to receive a tax refund by using current losses to offset taxes paid in prior years, but only for companies with gross annual receipts of less than $15 million in revenues. Current law only allows businesses to get refunds of taxes paid within two years. The initial proposal did not have the gross receipts limitation, which was unfortunately inserted during House–Senate conference negotiations.
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House Legislation Could Mean Mandates for Utilities Distributors
On Feb. 4, Representative Ed Markey (D–Mass.), chair of the Energy and Environment Subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, introduced H.R. 889, the "Save American Energy Act." The legislation would establish a federal energy efficiency resource standard for retail electricity and natural gas distributors. If enacted, retail electricity distributors would be required to achieve an electricity savings of 15 percent and natural gas distributors would be required to achieve a natural gas savings of 10 percent. The program would be phased in gradually between 2012 and 2020.
This type of program would place the onus and the mandate on the utilities—not buildings. Utilities would be motivated to create meaningful rebate or incentive programs and work cooperatively with the built environment in order to meet their efficiency targets. If the utilities are unable to meet the targets, they are required to pay a penalty that would be used to fund state energy efficiency programs.
No hearings have been scheduled yet, though we expect action to begin soon. BOMA International looks forward to working with Congress to enact proactive policy options that provide meaningful incentives to the real estate community to continue to work to achieve energy efficiency in a cost–effective manner.
How an investment in BOMA Membership pays off:
Codes: We've kept several onerous and costly proposals from being written into the model building codes. Savings to the industry: $900 million annually
Taxes: BOMA was instrumental in legislation that lowered the capital gains tax rate from 20% to 15%. In addition the leasehold depreciation schedule for tenant improvements reduced from 39 years to 15 years. An estimated $1.2 billion in annual tax savings.
Energy Policy: After five years of debate, we persuaded Congress to include tax incentives for energy efficient commercial buildings. Potential savings? $1.80/sf or $360,000 for a typical 200,000 sf building.
Terrorism Insurance: BOMA worked hard on TRIA (Terrorism Risk Insurance Act) in 2002 to ensure that terrorism coverage would be avilable and affordable. Additional hard work has extended the Act beyond 2005. Value? Priceless
As anyone in advocacy can relate, actions by constituents
have the greatest impact on elected officials. BOMA
monitors and responds to legislative and regulatory
initiatives, and at the same time we proactively offer
our member's expertise on the various issues Congress
or the federal agencies are seeking to address. BOMA's
effectiveness in conveying the concerns of building
owners and managers is strengthened by members' testimony,
targeted letter writing campaigns, and meetings with
the representatives.
Advocacy's up-to-the-minute information is relayed
to our members through a variety of vehicles. Developments
are transmitted via our biweekly newsletter (Potomac
Currents), our quarterly codes update (Up to Code),
BOMA monthly magazine (BOMA.org), emails, faxes, and
direct mailings. Additionally, most of our written
resources such as sample letters or submitted testimony,
can be downloaded from BOMA's homepage at www.boma.org
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