Statehouse

September 2021: Build Back Better

This was originally published in the September 29, 2021 Newsletter.

State News

Revised Financial Literacy Bill Clears House Panel

A measure that would require Ohio high school students to receive financial literacy instruction advanced in the House on Tuesday after it saw a raft of changes.

The bill passed the Senate in May 32 – 0. The House Primary & Secondary Education Committee reported the measure after adopting a substitute version of the legislation (SB 1) and two amendments. Chair Rep. Gayle Manning (R-N. Ridgeville) said the substitute bill:

  • Makes changes to the Ohio Literacy Fund recommended by the state treasurer's office.

  • Requires students who enter ninth grade on or after July 1, 2022 to complete one-half unit of financial literacy as an elective or in place of one-half unit of math. That math course cannot be algebra II or another class with a required end-of-course exam.

  • Requires instruction to be aligned with academic content standards for the subject.

  • Mandates that an advisory committee tasked with consulting with the State Board of Education Track on the standards to include four or more classroom teachers and one financial literacy instruction expert.

  • Exempts educators with valid social studies, business education and family and consumer science licenses or endorsement from new financial literacy license validation requirements.

  • Adds educational service centers to the list of entities that can receive reimbursements for license validation costs.

Federal News

Build Back Better Act in Flux

The Build Back Better Act is a transformational plan to invest in America’s people and communities that includes affordable housing and community development ($300 Billion+), permanently extending the child tax credit, establishing universal pre-K, federally paid family and medical leave, climate change mitigation and renewable energy, among other initiatives. This would be paid for by tax increases on large corporations and the wealthy (2017 witnessed substantial tax reductions). The Build Back Better Act is unfortunately referred to by the oft-cited (without context) amount of $3.5 Trillion in spending. It’s important to note that political attacks and media coverage rarely cite the important nuances of corresponding revenue raised and that the amount is over a whole decade and only represents 1.2% of the American economy over this time period.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has planned an infrastructure vote (bi-partisan $1 Trillion for traditional infrastructure) on September 30 as the safety net bill (budget reconciliation bill aka $3.5 Trillion package) that includes community development and housing investments remains mired. The move appears to decouple the two packages after the Democratic consensus strategy to move them concurrently. This is also occurring as the necessity to increase the debt ceiling is being used as a destructive wedge to stall much-needed investments in America’s people and communities. Needless to say the situation is changing constantly.

From NLIHC: The House Budget Committee voted September 25th to advance the “Build Back Better Act,” a $3.5 trillion comprehensive infrastructure and economic recovery package, to the House Rules Committee in preparation for a full vote on the House floor. The full vote in the House could take place as soon as the coming week. While the vote was procedural and did not allow members to make any substantive changes to the bill text, the Rules Committee may make sweeping changes to the bill, including major cuts in funding. Any reduction to the “Build Back Better Act” could result in harmful cuts to the $327 billion proposed for affordable housing currently in the bill and put at risk the HoUSed campaign’s top priorities: $90 billion for rental assistance, $80 billion to preserve public housing, and $37 billion in the national Housing Trust Fund to build and preserve homes affordable to people with the lowest incomes.

From NACEDA: The updated bill out of the House Budget Committee includes:

  • $34.77 billion for the HOME Investment Partnerships Program;

  • $5.7 billion for the Community Restoration and Revitalization Fund in competitive grants;

  • $4.26 billion in competitive grants under the Unlocking Possibilities Program to eliminate exclusionary zoning and land use policies;

  • $6.6 billion for the Community Development Block Grant program.

The Neighborhood Homes Investment Act is also progressing through the budget reconciliation process. The bill would create a new federal tax credit to support the construction and rehabilitation of single-family, owner-occupied homes in distressed communities. Learn more.

OCC Issues NPR to Rescind 2020 CRA Rulemaking

From Enterprise: On September 8, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) issued an official notice of proposed rulemaking (NPR) to rescind its June 2020 Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) rulemaking and replace it with rules largely based on the 1995 CRA rules, as revised. This NPR follows the OCC’s announcement in July to rescind its May 2020 final rule, which it issued independently in an unprecedented break from the other governing agencies, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. The CRA, which aims to help low- and moderate-income communities gain access to financial services, loans, and community development investments, was first enacted into law in 1977 and has only been amended twice since – in 1995 and 2005.

The OCC’s NPR notes that replacing the OCC’s 2020 CRA rule with regulations based on rules that were previously adopted jointly by the three banking regulators would facilitate the ongoing interagency work to modernize the CRA regulatory framework and promote consistency for all financial institutions subject to CRA examination. Last month, the U.S. banking regulators issued a joint statement, committing to working together on developing a joint rule that would strengthen and modernize the CRA. The OCC is accepting public comments on its NPR through Friday, October 29.

February 2021: State & Federal Budget Updates

This was originally published in the March 2, 2021 OCDCA newsletter.

State News

ohio statehouse.jpg

State Budget Updates

Recently the DeWine administration introduced the biennium budget. Of note is a proposal that would invest $200 million to provide grants to pay for community infrastructure projects. This would happen in the form of $2 million grants for only smaller communities (those with populations between 1,000 and 75,000 and with an annual median household income of less than $50,000 per year) for projects that include water and sewer projects, downtown revitalization, demolition of blighted properties and redevelopment purposes. This proposal and the entire budget will reworked by the House and Senate.

OCDCA is also advocating for additional community development resources at the state level through the Main Street Job Recovery Program and the Ohio Financial Empowerment Fund.

Please sign your organization onto the Main Street Job Recovery Program support letter by March 9th!

Sign the letter

Brownfield Funding Legislation Introduced in the State Legislature

From Greater Ohio Policy Center: House Bill 143 (HB143) and Senate Bill 84 (SB84) were introduced in the Ohio House of Representatives and the Ohio Senate by Representative Brett Hudson Hillyer (R – Uhrichsville) and Senators Sandra Williams (D – Cleveland) and Michael Rulli (R – Salem). These bills provide dedicated funding to the Clean Ohio Revitalization Fund (CORF). CORF was a highly successful program which, between 2002 and 2013, provided state funding to revitalize brownfields, and in turn, provided the state with a four-to-one economic return. CORF is recognized as a community-responsive tool for brownfield redevelopment efforts. Therefore, public and private stakeholders agree that providing CORF with a dedicated funding source is the most logical solution to addressing the brownfield remediation need in Ohio’s communities.

SB17 will cost $20M in red tape while helping no one

An Ohio Senate bill that seeks to catch fraud among people applying for and receiving social services will result in increased work for county case workers, as well as fewer low-income people obtaining food aid, Medicaid, and unemployment benefits. Read more about it in the Highland County Press or Cleveland.com. Follow #OhioansagainstSB17 to stay up to date.

Final PY21 Housing Development Gap Financing Guidelines Now Available

The Final Program Year 2021 HDGF Guidelines are now available on OHFA's HDAP webpage. The HDGF program will award Ohio Housing Trust Funds and National Housing Trust Funds to affordable housing developments consisting of four to 24 units. OHFA will begin accepting Intents to Apply from applicants on May 3, 2021. Questions regarding HDGF can be sent to kbanyai@ohiohome.org.

Federal News

House Passes Coronavirus Relief Package with Over $40 Billion for Housing and Homelessness

The House of Representatives passed by a vote of 219 to 212 the “American Rescue Plan Act,” a $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package containing $40 billion in essential housing and homelessness assistance, including $26 billion for rental assistance and $5 billion to assist people who are homeless. Although the Senate parliamentarian ruled on the evening of February 25 that the provision to increase the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour violates the parameters of the reconciliation process, congressional leaders in the House kept the provision in the bill. As the bill moves to the Senate, Democratic leaders will determine whether to remove the provision from the Senate bill or keep the provision and likely have it subjected to a “Point of Order” during debate and removed. Senate leaders are expected to skip committee votes and bring the bill to the Senate floor for up to 20 hours of debate, followed by a “vote-a-rama,” during which senators will have the opportunity to offer an unlimited number of amendments to the bill before a floor vote. The House and Senate are aiming to have the bill finalized and sent to President Biden before March 14, when the pandemic-extended unemployment benefits are slated to expire. Read more from NLIHC.

Federal Sign On Letters

Maximize HUD Funding

Urge Congressional appropriators to allocate the largest possible slice of the pie to the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development (THUD) subcommittee. It's critical that the THUD subcommittee get the resources they need to fund housing and community development programs at HUD and USDA. Sign the letter by March 5th!

CRA Can be Race-Conscious

NCRC is re-opening a comment letter we submitted last week for further sign-on that urged the Federal Reserve Board to adopt a more race-conscious Community Reinvestment Act (CRA). Sign the letter by March 5th!

OCDCA Submits CRA Comment Letter

Thank you to the many members who submitted comments on the Federal Reserve's Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPR) on CRA. OCDCA submitted our comments earlier in February. Read them here.

Restoring Communities Left Behind Act

The Restoring Communities Left Behind Act (H.R. 816) was introduced in the House of Representatives by Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-OH) and Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI). The Restoring Communities Left Behind Act would authorize the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to establish a $5 billion program, that would operate from fiscal years 2021 to 2031, to award competitive grants to eligible local partnerships for neighborhood revitalization activities.

HUD Announces Fair Housing Protections for LGBTQ Americans

HUD announced this month that it will now accept and review Fair Housing Act complaints alleging discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. We, along with Enterprise Community Partners, applaud HUD for taking this important step towards addressing housing discrimination against LGBTQ individuals.