February 2021 Government Affairs Report

Salt Lake City

MBI worked with Salt Lake City to adopt a new modular program utilizing the new MBI/ICC standard that is about to be published. On February 16 MBI Government Affairs Director, Jon Hannah-Spacagna and Salt Lake City Building Official, Orion Goff presented the new proposal to the City Council. They voted unanimously to adopt the new program in its first reading. It is effective immediately.

For more details about this great development, click here for Episode 17 of our Inside Modular podcast, where MBI's Government Affairs Director Jon Hannah-Spacagna shares about this important news in Salt Lake City and how this could affect other cities and states around the country.

Canada

MBI has been informed by the Canadian Mortgage Housing Corporation that they received 679 eligible applications totaling $4.2 billion for their Rapid Housing Initiative using only modular construction. The $1 billion initiative has approved and notified each applicant who will receive the initial $1 billion in funding. They are now waiting to see if Canadian leaders will approve additional funding to meet the additional requests in their 2021 budget.

Washington, DC

MBI hosted the first Town Hall call of the year with our Washington, DC lobbyists, Max Perkins and Justin Lewis. They provided an overview of the new Congress and an update on initiatives and priorities for the new Congress, new leadership in the Department of Labor and President Biden that could impact the modular industry. MBI and our lobbyists continue to monitor new legislation and new regulations that could impact the industry and have started building coalitions with others in the building industry. We continue to work with FEMA and HUD on initiatives to utilize modular for disaster relief and housing.

California

In California MBI is working with our lobbying team to build relationships with decision makers at the local and state level to increase opportunities for modular. The last day to file new bills was on Friday, February 19. There are many that we’re working on that could present both opportunities and possibly some challenges. We will keep members informed as new information is available.

National Governors Association

On February 25, MBI Government Affairs Director, Jon Hannah, participated in the National Governors Association (NGA) Virtual Winter Meeting. President Joe Biden was the Keynote Speaker and committed to working with the states to provide coordinated vaccination rollouts and to improve state infrastructure funding and support to help them recover from the pandemic.

National Governors Association Executive Director, Bill McBride, contacted MBI to offer a special thank you to MBI and the modular industry for their support and quick response during the pandemic on behalf of all their governors.