Government Affairs

BRAGB is pleased to let our members know how active HBRAMA has been this Spring and Summer on government affairs affecting the building industry! Certainly, at the national and state levels, the top priority continues to be housing affordability; that’s certainly relevant for our members, as the greater Boston housing market was recently ranked as the 8^th most expensive housing marketing in the country.

With that as the backdrop, it’s worth noting that HBRAMA recently met with new EOEEA Secretary Kathleen Theoharides to discuss the Baker administration’s priorities, as well as code and building issues. HBRAMA emphasized the importance of balancing energy efficiency concerns with the Administration’s housing production and affordability goals. BRAGB will certainly keep our members updated on additional discussions and plans heading into the Fall when lawmakers reconvene.

HBRAMA personnel also attended a July hearing of the Joint Committee on the Judiciary in connection with HBRAMA’s opposition to An Act Relative to Construction Defect Claims by Condominium Owners (H. 3260/S. 835), which would significantly alter the long-established standards regarding the statute of limitations and statute of repose as they apply to condominiums. For example, the legislation would drastically expand the time period of the statute of limitations by tolling the date that an action accrues until such date as a declarant (builder) relinquishes control of the condominium. Also, the six (6) year statute of repose applicable to a defect claim in the construction of the first phase of a large condominium project would not run until six years after the last unit in the last phase of the condominium is completed, significantly impacting predictability of construction defect claims. You can find a summary of these proposed changes, as well as HBRAMA’s reasons for opposing this bill in our letter of opposition found here. 

HBRAMA also testified in June before the Joint Committee on Municipalities and Regional Government in support of several association-sponsored bills. H. 1799 would amend the Zoning Act to provide that the one-year term to exercise the rights authorized by a variance would not include the time required to pursue or await the determination of an appeal of the granting of such variance. H. 1800 would provide that zoning ordinances or bylaws must provide that a special permit shall lapse within a specified period of time, not less than 3 years from the date of filing of such approval with the city or town clerk. And H. 1801 would amend the Subdivision Control Law to provide subdivision regulations adopted by local planning boards cannot limit the length of a road with a dead end to less than 1,200 feet or as specified by the State Fire Code as set forth in the NFPA Code 1, Publication 1141, whichever length is shorter.

Finally, builders and remodelers should be aware that last month, the Mass DEP promulgated amendments to asbestos regulations. These amendments streamline requirements for repairing and replacing underground asbestos-cement pipe and make various technical corrections to the asbestos regulations. MassDEP has also updated its Asbestos Cement Pipe Guidance Document to reflect the amendments. The updated Asbestos Cement Pipe Guidance Document, July 2019, which explains how to safely remove, repair and dispose of asbestos cement pipes that are repaired or replaced in underground system networks (e.g. water, sewer, electricity and gas) can be found here. 

Suffice to say, BRAGB and our colleagues at the state level have been very busy representing builders and remodelers on Beacon Hill, which is part of where your membership dollars go!