Advocacy Update

Forrest WallWritten by Forrest Wall, CAE, Staff Vice President and Industry Relations

Uniform Assignment of Rents Legislation Proposed

Legislation introduced in October in the Michigan House of Representatives would provide for a uniform act covering assignment of rents. House Bill 5086, sponsored by Rep. Brandt Iden (R-Kalamazoo), would create the “Michigan Uniform Assignment of Rents Act.” The purpose of the legislation is to create one act providing for the creation, perfection, and enforcement of security interests in rents, while at the same time repealing other sections of law currently covering this. The basis for this legislation comes from the Uniform Law Commission (ULC), which in 2005 released a model version for proposed adoption by every state in the U.S. The ULC is an organization made up of practicing lawyers, judges, legislators and law professors, all of whom are appointed by state governments. ULC seeks to draft model legislation for certain areas of critical state law in an effort to create uniformity and save states from the cost of preparing legislation themselves. The bill has been referred to the House Judiciary Committee for action.

 

HUD Proposes Revision to Disparate Impact Rule
In August, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced a proposal to amend its original rule interpreting the Fair Housing Act’s disparate impact standard. Disparate impact is a controversial legal theory, formalized in the 2013 HUD rule which prohibits neutrally-applied practices with a disproportionate impact on protected classes under the Fair Housing Act, even without proving intent to discriminate. A 2015 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs v. Inclusive Communities Project, Inc. upheld the validity of disparate impact liability but highlighted limitations to that liability. The goal of the proposed rule is to align with the limitations cited in the majority ruling in that case to provide more appropriate guidance on what constitutes unlawful disparate impact.
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