CARH’S BROADCAST E-MAIL – Legislative Update

June 5, 2015

Industry stakeholders sent a letter to all members of the House of Representatives this week in support of Representative Scott Garrett’s (R-NJ) amendment to H.R. 2577, the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year (FY) 2016. The amendment would prohibit the use of government funds to implement, administer or enforce HUD’S disparate impact regulation, found at 24 CFR §100.500.  The full House will continue to debate H.R. 2577 next week.

Although the U.S. Supreme Court is expected to rule this summer on the use of the disparate impact theory in Texas Department of Housing vs. Inclusive Communities Project, Representative Garrett is pushing to limit the use of the theory by federal agencies. In the Supreme Court case, the Texas Department of Housing and Community Development argues that the text and history of the law confirm that fair housing law does not allow disparate impact claims, but instead authorizes only claims based on intentionally discriminatory conduct.

A similar amendment to that proposed to H.R. 2577 was also introduced by Representative Garrett to H.R. 2578, the Fiscal Year 2016 Commerce, Justice, and Science Appropriations Act.  This amendment was agreed to by the House this week.  This amendment would bar the Department of Justice from using funds for enforcing HUD’s disparate impact rules.  The Senate will begin to consider the various FY 2016 funding bills later this month.

If you have any questions, please contact CARH at 703-837-9001 or carh@carh.org.