On Wednesday, December 20, 2017, Congress voted in favor of the $1.5 trillion Tax Cuts and Jobs Act that will, according to the Tax Policy Center’s analysis, result in eight out of 10 people paying …
GHBA Members Confirmed in City of Houston Commission Positions
On October 4, 2017, several Greater Houston Builders Association (GHBA) members were confirmed in City of Houston commission positions. Developers Mark Kilkenny, Mischer Investments LP, and Lisa Clark, Ryko Development Inc., were both re-appointed to …
The Tree Bill: A Victory for Property Rights
Texas Legislative Special Session Has Adjourned Sine Die On Tuesday, August 15, the Texas Legislature adjourned the First Called Special Session of the 85th Texas Legislature, concluding on the 29th day of the constitutionally mandated …
OSHA’s New e-Reporting Requirements for Workplace Injuries and Illness
OSHA issued a final rule in May 2016 to revise its Recording and Reporting Occupational Injuries and Illnesses regulation. The final rule became effective on January 1, 2017, and requires employers in certain industries to …
WCR Application Process Reset
The Houston Permitting Center is working to improve the Wastewater Capacity Reservations (WCR) application process. On May 1, the Houston Permitting Center launched a new process that introduced an appointment feature to schedule and process …
GHBA to Hold Review Sessions of COH Proposed Amendments to 2015 IRC
The GHBA Code & Standards Committee and the In-Town Builder Taskforce have begun weekly review sessions of the City of Houston’s proposed amendments to 2015 International Residential Code from 12 noon to 2 p.m. at …
The 2017 Session Scoop
85th Texas Legislature adjourns Sine Die; Governor Abbott calls special session to begin July 18 Although the 85th Texas Legislative Session adjourned Sine Die on May 29, the work of the members of the House …
GHBA Members Named as NAHB Life Directors
Five GHBA members were recently recognized as NAHB Lifetime Directors. The announcement was made at NAHB’s mid-year board meeting in Washington, D.C. on Saturday, June 17, 2017. Congratulations to Dan Bawden, KC Cox, Mike Dishberger, …
GHBA Does Washington: Representing homebuilding interests at the national level
GHBA leadership attended the National Association of Builders (NAHB) Mid-Year Board Meeting and Legislative Conference in Washington, D.C. in June, which gave us the opportunity to visit with the Houston area congressional delegation. More importantly, …
85th Texas Legislature Adjourns Sine Die
On Monday, May 29, the Texas Legislature adjourned Sine Die. After 140 days and nights of work, the members of the House and Senate returned home to live under the laws that they passed and …
Lumber Prices and Canadian Tariffs
NAHB has been closely monitoring the situation regarding U.S.-Canadian lumber trade. To provide a quick background, the Softwood Lumber Agreement between the United States and Canada expired on October 12, 2015. There was a one-year …
A Win for Land Development, Homebuilding Nationwide
Update: Waters of the U.S. / Clean Water Act Executive Order On June 29, 2015, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (the Corps) finalized their much-discussed joint Clean Water …
Immigration and its Economic Impacts
Recently, Senator Tom Cotton from Arkansas and Senator David Perdue from Georgia introduced legislation aiming to reduce legal immigration to slightly more than 500,000 per year from the current rate of one million per year. …
Fort Bend County Publishes New Street Acceptance Guidelines
After meeting with members of the GHBA Developers Council, engineers, contractors, builders and other stakeholders beginning last December over questions and concerns with regards to street acceptance policies, the Fort Bend County Engineering Department published …
Rally Day 2017 Brings Industry Voice to Texas Legislators
Rally Day 2017 was a huge success on Wednesday, February 22! Approximately 170 GHBA members registered for Rally Day. The GHBA had 20 teams of members that visited all 46 of our delegation legislators and …