H.R. 2454 (Cap and trade bill)
- From: <raykeller@xxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 12 Nov 2009 09:13:43 -0700
Subject: A look at H.R. 2454 (Cap and trade bill)
Thinking about selling your house - A look at H.R. 2454 (Cap and trade bill)
All that remains to become law is to get it thru the Senate and the
President's signature, as of this writing!
Home owners take note & tell your friends and relatives who are home
owners!!! Beginning 1 year after enactment of the Act, you won't be able to
sell your home unless you retrofit it to comply with the energy and water
efficiency standards of this Act.
H.R. 2454, the "Cap & Trade" bill passed by the House of Representatives,
if also passed by the Senate, will be the LARGEST INDIVIDUAL TAX INCREASE
any of us has ever experienced. The Congressional Budget Office (supposedly
non-partisan) estimates that in just a few years the average cost to every
family of four will be $6,800 per year. No one is excluded. However, once
the Lower Paid classes feel the pinch in their wallets, you can be sure
these voters get a tax refund (even if they pay no taxes at all) to offset
this new cost. Thus, Middle Class America will have to pay even more since
additional tax dollars will be needed to bail out everyone else.
But wait. This bill (that NO ONE IN CONGRESS has actually read) has many
more surprises in it.
Probably the worst one is this: A year from now you won't be able to sell
your house unless
you have enough money to make required major upgrades to your home. Even
pre-fabricated homes ("mobile homes") are included. In effect, this bill
prevents you from selling your home without the permission of the EPA
administrator.
To get this permission, you will have to have the energy efficiency of your
home measured. Then the government will tell you what your new energy
efficiency requirement is and you will be forced to make modifications to
your home under the retrofit provisions of this Act to comply with the new
energy and water efficiency requirements. Then you will have to get your
home measured again and get a license (called a "label" in the Act) that
must be posted on your property to show what your efficiency rating is; sort
of like the Energy Star efficiency rating label on your refrigerator or air
conditioner. If you don't get a high enough rating, you can't sell. And the
EPA administrator is authorized to raise the standards every year, even
above the automatic energy efficiency increases built
into the Act.
The EPA administrator, appointed by the President, will run the Cap & Trade
program (AKA the "American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009") and is
authorized to make any future changes to the regulations and standards he
alone determines to be in the government's best interest. Requirements are
set low initially y so the bill will pass Congress; then the Administrator
can set much tougher new standards every year. The Act itself contains
annual required increases in energy efficiency for private and commercial
residences and buildings. However, the EPA administrator can set higher
standards at any time.
Sect. 202 Building Retrofit Program mandates a national retrofit program to
increase the energy efficiency of all existing homes across America .
Beginning 1 year after enactment of the Act, you won't be able to sell your
home unless you retrofit it to comply with the energy and water efficiency
standards of this Act. You had better sell soon, because the standards will
be raised each year and will be really hard (i.e., expensive) to meet in a
few years. Oh, goody! The Act allows the government to give you a grant of
several thousand dollars to comply with the retrofit program requirements if
you meet certain energy efficiency levels. But, wait, the State can set
additional requirements on who qualifies to receive the grants. You should
expect requirements such as "can't have an income of more than $50K per
year", "home selling price can't be more than $125K", or anything else to
target the upper middle class and prevent them from qualifying for the
grants. Most of us won't get a dime and will have to pay the entire cost of
the retrofit out of our own pockets.
Sect. 204 Building Energy Performance Labeling Program establishes a
labeling program that for each individual residence will identify the
achieved energy efficiency performance for "at least 90 percent of the
residential market within 5 years after the date of the enactment of this
Act." This means that within 5 years 90% of all residential homes in the
U.S. must be measured and labeled.
The EPA administrator will get $50M each year to enforce the labeling
program. The Secretary of the Department of Energy will get an additional
$20M each year to help enforce the labeling program. Some of this money
will, of course, be spent on coming up with tougher standards each year. Oh,
the label will be like a license for your car. You will be required to post
the label in a conspicuous location in your home and will not be allowed to
sell your home without having this label. And, just like your car license,
you will probably be required to get a new label every so often - maybe
every year. But, the government estimates the cost of measuring the energy
efficiency of your home should only cost about $200 each time. Remember what
they said about the auto smog inspections when they first started: that in
California it would only cost $15. That was when the program started. Now
the cost is about $50 for the inspection and certificate; a 333% increase.
Expect the same from the home labeling program.
Sect. 304 Greater Energy Efficiency in Building Codes establishes new energy
efficiency guidelines for the National Building Code and mandates at 304(d)
that 1 year after enactment of this Act, all state and local jurisdictions
must adopt the National Building Code energy efficiency provisions or must
obtain a certification from the federal government that their state and/or
local codes have been brought into full compliance with the National
Building Code energy efficiency standards.
--
It's not rocket science!
.
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