Voters Reject Excessive Regulation in November Elections
On issues of interest to the nation's housing industry — ranging from ergonomics to smart growth — voters in last week's elections chose sensible policies  over excessive government regulation.

“The Nov. 4 election results demonstrate that voters will respond with common sense judgments when government regulations go too far,” said NAHB President Kent Conine. “Voters understand that excessive regulations do more harm than good, and they delivered that message in important votes all over the country.”

Perhaps the most important decision came in Washington state's I-841 initiative, where voters said “yes” to jobs and “no” to the state’s stringent ergonomics standard, which they repealed. The repeal effort was led by the Building Industry Association of Washington.

“Voters obviously are concerned with our state’s economy and the 96,000 jobs that have already been lost,” said Randy Gold, who served as chairman of “Yes on I-841.” “By voting yes on I-841, voters knew they were doing something to help businesses and the economy.”

The ergonomic standard, which would have gone into effect in 2005, was significantly more demanding than its federal OSHA counterpart. It would have required employers to identify jobs likely to cause musculoskeletal disorders and to do whatever is “technologically or economically feasible” to eliminate ergonomic hazards.

Members of the home building industry worked closely with the state’s other pro-business groups to support the initiative.

Smart growth was another issue that emerged from Tuesday's elections with a winning margin.

One critical election took place in Loudoun County, VA, where voters repudiated the actions of a slate of anti-growth county supervisors — elected in 1999 — who passed strict development regulations and downzoned roughly half the county to one home on 10, 20 or 50 acres, depending on where the houses were located.

Six of the nine supervisors who were chosen by Loudoun County voters last week are considered to be pro-housing.

“Growth and transportation issues were foremost in voters' minds,” said Louis V. Genuario, Jr., president of the Northern Virginia Building Industry Association. “We look forward to working with our newly elected leaders, who campaigned to provide appropriate solutions, while ensuring that we keep up with Northern Virginia's growing housing needs.”

In Brookhaven, NY, on Long Island, a builder-led effort helped get an initiative on real estate transfer taxes removed from the ballot. Builders also organized a public education campaign that informed voters of the consequences of a transfer tax (Read the related story in this issue at Long Island Builders Beat Back Real Estate Transfer Tax). [ return to top ]