New Videos Outline Key Issues for NAHB's Legislative Conference

Members will meet with their elected officials on June 7 during the 2023 Legislative Conference, urging policymakers to act on key housing affordability issues impacting the home building industry.

NAHB encourages members to watch three videos that outline the main messages to convey to lawmakers to prepare for the meetings.

In the first video, NAHB Legislative Director Heather Voorman discusses the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). Building codes are typically something debated at the state and local levels. Recently there have been efforts to pressure jurisdictions to adopt the latest additions of the code at the federal level.

• NAHB supports repealing section 50131 of the IRA, which provides state and local governments funding to adopt costly and restrictive energy codes.
• NAHB is also concerned about adopting zero energy provisions in the 2021 IECC. Zero energy targets are not realistic and cost-effective for some jurisdictions.

In the second video, NAHB Senior Legislative Director Alex Strong outlines the actions Congress should take to help ease distribution transformer delays. The delays are halting projects in certain areas and stifling recovery efforts in communities damaged by natural disasters.

• Congress should support appropriation efforts to finance a labor incentive program to hire and retain more workers, and boost output at existing distribution transformer facilities.
• Congress should urge the Department of Energy to reconsider a recent proposal to mandate new energy efficiency standards for distribution transformers.

In the third video, NAHB Legislative Director Ben Arcuri discusses ways Congress can help grow the skilled labor workforce vital for home builders and housing affordability.

• Congress must invest the necessary resources to develop America’s construction workforce by passing legislation to reauthorize the Workforce Innovation Opportunity Act (WIOA). 
• Congress should pass an appropriations bill that fully funds the needs of the Jobs Corps program, which is a vital source of skilled labor for the construction industry.

A summary of the issues is available in NAHB’s 2023 Legislative Priorities brochure. View the videos on the 2023 Legislative Conference webpage.