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Mindy Carr
Director of Government Affairs |
Its official – Governor
calls special session on school finance
Governor Rick
Perry has called a special session to begin on April 20th
to address the issue of public school funding also known as “Robin
Hood." The Governor’s “Educational Excellence and Equity Plan”
proposes to eliminate “Robin Hood”, cut school property taxes for
homeowners and spend more money on education. MORE STORY
TLTA Legislative Committee meets to discuss taxes
The TLTA Legislative Committee met
by teleconference on April 1st to discuss possible changes
to the tax structure and how those changes would affect the title
insurance industry in Texas.
MORE STORY
Place your
order now for updates to the Basic Manual
All updates to the Texas
Title Insurance Basic Manual resulting from the 2002 Rule Hearing and
newly approved Home Equity items have been mailed. If you have not
ordered updates for your Basic Manual, you need to do so now.
Updates will not automatically be mailed to you.
MORE STORY
PAC Silent
Auction and
Breakfast with Burka
The TLTA Annual
Conference will be here before you know it, June 4-6 in Corpus
Christi, Texas. Support the
TLTAPAC
by donating to the 3rd Annual
PAC
Silent Auction, held in conjunction with the conference opening night party
Friday, June 4. Also, don’t miss the
PAC
breakfast with guest speaker Paul Burka, Executive Editor, Texas
Monthly, Saturday June 5.
April 13
runoff election summary
It proved to be another tough night for two more democratic
incumbents. Six-term incumbent Roberto Gutierrez (D-McAllen) and
freshman Gabi Canales (D-Alice) lost their re-election bid to the
House of Representatives.
MORE STORY
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P-53 update
Due to the continuing
need for clarification regarding implementation of this rule, we have
urged TDI to provide access to any written correspondence and other
explanations of interpretations that they have provided to industry
members and the public in response to questions.
This information
may
be provided in the form
of a
Frequently Asked Questions page that
could
be posted on the TDI Web site in the near
future. We hope that this will be a helpful compliance tool for your
company.
MORE STORY
TDI clarifies position on
pass-through items
TLTA Counsel recently
inquired with Robert York, Director of Title Examinations at Texas
Department of Insurance, about the current policy on allowable
pass-through items. Following is a transcript of that correspondence.
MORE STORY
2004 Texas
Title Insurance Agent Statistical Call for Information
It's that time
of year again. The Texas
Department of Insurance (TDI) has issued a bulletin requesting
information for the year ending on December 31, 2003.
MORE STORY
HUD withdraws RESPA reform
rule
Score one for the industry!
HUD submitted a letter on March 22 withdrawing the proposed RESPA
regulation from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) which was
reviewing the rule as a precursor to finalizing it. After one year of
visiting with members of Congress, activating our grassroots contacts
and hiring a DC lobbyist, we have finally won more time to work out
our differences with HUD and other proponents of the rule.
MORE STORY
Alphonso Jackson confirmed
HUD Acting Secretary
Alphonso Jackson was confirmed March 31s as Housing
Secretary by a unanimous vote in the Senate. Jackson, a friend and
former neighbor of President Bush in North Dallas, spent the last
three years as Deputy Secretary of Housing and Urban Development.
MORE STORY
Board adopts
recommendation to continue contract with DC firm
The TLTA Board of Directors
has approved the continuation of our contract with DC lobby firm, Piper Rudnick, based
on the assumption we will continue to face adversarial issues on the
federal level.
MORE STORY
Federal
Issues Task Force meets to discuss strategy
The task force
met in late March to discuss strategy regarding RESPA reform, how to
increase our key contacts and the possibility of creating a Federal
PAC.
MORE STORY
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