California Association of Mortgage Professionals:

2017 Legislative Priorities

  • The California Association of Mortgage Professionals (CAMP) serves as a forum for financial education, community outreach, innovation, networking, and legislative and regulatory advocacy. CAMP also provides exclusive benefits and public relations for our members.
  • CAMP's mission is to advocate on behalf of responsible mortgage professionals and consumers for the availability of affordable financing, while promoting expert knowledge, accountability, sound lending, and ethical conduct throughout the mortgage industry.

State of the State

  • California is experiencing staggering and chronic housing supply shortage. There are not enough housing units being built in the state to meet the demand.
  • Three million additional housing units are needed by 2030.
  • California’s population is nearly 40 million but there is only enough housing for 25 million.
  • The CA Department of Housing and Community Development estimates that there must be 180,000 housing units built in the state each year to keep up with population growth each year. Only half that amount is being built.
  • The state’s median home price of $502,250 is more than double the nation’s median price.
  • Average home rental costs are 50% higher than the rest of the country.
  • The state’s homeownership rate of 54% is among the lowest in the nation.
  • The housing shortage costs the state more than $140 billion every year.
  • Over 130 bills introduced impacting housing.
  • CAMP believes lawmakers can help increase the housing supply by:
  • Requiring local government to implement housing needs numbers per the California "Housing Element Law" passed in 1969,
  • Streamlining the permitting process,
  • Fixing CEQA to Fast-Track affordable housing,
  • Requiring local government to implement housing needs numbers,
  • Funding affordable housing, and
  • Defeating proposed laws that discourage rental-housing construction.

Legislation:

Top Priority:

SB 2 (Atkins) – Building Homes and Jobs Act

CAMP Position:OPPOSE

Location:Governor’s Desk

Summary: SB 2 would enact the Building Homes and Jobs Act. Specifically, this bill would impose a fee of $75, not to exceed $225 per transaction, at the time of recording of specified real estate instruments, papers, or notices, not including residential or commercial property sales. After deducting administrative costs incurred by the county recorder, the fee revenues would be sent to the Controller on a quarterly basis for deposit in the Building Homes and Jobs Trust Fund (BHJ Trust Fund), created by the bill.

  • SB 2 creates a permanent $75 fee on any recorded real estate documents. An exception has been made for documents connected to the sale of a home, however no exceptions have been made for mortgage refinancing.
  • Please consider authoring a bill to make this exception apply to mortgage refinancing!

SB 640 (Hertzberg) Taxation

CAMP Position:OPPOSE

Location:Senate Governance and Finance Committee, Two-Year Bill

Summary: SB 640 expands our current sales tax to impose a service tax on services provided in California, including real estate transaction services. Real Estate services under SB 640 include appraisal, loan origination and brokerage fees, home inspections, Natural Hazard Disclosure (NHD) reports, pest control inspection and repair, title insurance, escrow, and home warranty.

  • New service taxes would significantly increase the cost of homeownership.
  • Oppose SB 640 in 2018!

Other Important Legislation:

AB 53 (Steinorth) – Personal Income Taxes: Deduction: Homeownership

CAMP Position:SUPPORT

Location:Held in Assembly Appropriations on Suspense, Two-Year Bill

Summary: Amends the Personal Income Tax Law to allow a deduction for contributions to a homeownership savings account. Provides that a qualified taxpayer may withdraw amounts from a homeownership savings account to pay for qualified homeownership savings expenses. Provides that any amount withdrawn from that account that is not used for these expenses would be included as income for that taxpayer.

  • CAMP supports increasing pathways to homeownership and protecting consumers. Our association is built from a core membership of mortgage professionals who place consumer protection above all else.
  • Please vote YES on AB 53!

AB 71 (Chiu) – Taxes: Credits: Low-Income Housing

CAMP Position:OPPOSE UNLESS AMENDED

Location:Assembly Floor, Two-Year Bill

Summary: Eliminates the mortgage interest deduction on second homes and subsequently increases the state Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) Program by $300 million.

  • CAMP opposes eliminating mortgage interest paid on a qualified second home as a deduction that taxpayers can take against their state income tax.
  • Please ask for AB 71 to be amended to NOT eliminate the mortgage interest tax on a second home!

SB 173 (Dodd) – Real Estate: Bureau of Real Estate

CAMP Position: SUPPORT

Location: Governor’s Desk

Summary: In 2012, the Brown Administration made changes to the state's organizational structure in an effort to streamline government practices. These changes included moving the Department of Real Estate to the Business, Consumer Services, and Housing Agency (BCSH) to function under the Department of Consumer Affairs as a Bureau. This bill returns CalBRE to its standing as the Department of Real Estate within BCSH.

  • Reinstating the Department of Real Estate will remove several layers of bureaucracy and allow the BRE to better serve mortgage professionals and consumers.
  • Please ask Governor Brown to sign SB 173!

Questions? Contact CAMP Executive Director, Nicole Virga Bautista, ; 916-448-8236