Our President's Message

The 2024 legislative session is ending in a flurry of debate and controversy.  One advantage to the turmoil is that the bills still hanging out in committee are almost surely going to die there.  But we can’t rest as there will be a whole new crop of new anti-private housing provider bills that will be introduced in January 2025.  It will be a long session with 90 business days for bad bills to percolate.  We plan to engage with current and newly elected senators who will make up the new legislature this fall. 

 

We will continue to work through the Statewide Property Owners Association of which REOMA is a member.  Our Omaha colleagues at MOPOA are working on some contacts and doing some research in preparation for the next legislative session.  We hope to introduce proactive bills that will swing the pendulum of change in our direction. This month’s REOMA meeting will be our candidate forum with a couple of legislative candidates from the Lincoln area.  Please come and participate in this opportunity to share our story with these potential state senators.  If we can begin early to educate our candidates about our important issues, our job to protect our industry will be a little bit easier.

If you are not aware you should know there is an organization from Chicago called “The People’s Action Movement”.  They were key in the socialist ordinance passed in Kansas City Missouri this year that will prohibit a private property housing provider from considering credit score, source of income, or criminal background on most rental applications.
Can you imagine the result of this in that market? Would you want to be a rental housing provider with your hands tied like this? This is just one example of how critical it is for us to be proactively engaged to protect our private property rights.

To eke out a profit and be able to serve our rental customers we will have to maintain our ability to screen properly. Don’t ignore this and other socialist movements.  Right here in Lincoln Nebraska, there are socialists and even communists working against free enterprise and a free market economy.  This is no chicken little idea.  We must vote for candidates who believe that a free market and private property rights are foundational to maintaining enough affordable housing to satisfy the demand.  Government regulations and taxes make up over one-third of the cost of buying or renting a home.

Let’s stick together to stay in business and help bring more members to REOMA in the future.

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Lynn Fisher

President