Vol. 6, No. 13 – June 18, 2007

 

 

MANAGEMENT WORKSHOPS – 6/22 deadline!

 

Plan now to attend one of the MLA Risk Management Workshops on Wednesday, August 15 in Wichita, or Thursday, August 16 in St. Louis. This is an opportunity for business owners and their designated risk managers to gain valuable insight into causes and solutions for workplace risk – helping you improve your every day practices to close the loopholes in hiring, vehicle usage and other areas that can cost you big.

 

The workshops will be filled with valuable information designed to increase profitability and improve employee safety. This program will show you how to reduce operating costs and control insurance increases. Here’s a sampling of what you’ll learn:

 

?         Industry and Individual Loss Analysis

?         Motor Vehicle Records

?         Hiring Practices – Human Resources

?         Controlling Workers Compensation Costs

?         Employment-related Practices Liability

?         Business Planning

 

The workshops will be held from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. and attendance will be limited. The registration fee is just $50 per person.

 

Sign up right away to assure your place: Federated Insurance risk experts will prepare a loss history analysis and action plans designed specifically for your company. This benefit is available regardless of whether or not you are currently a Federated Insurance policyholder. While results will vary, statistics show that companies participating in this training have reduced losses as much as 30 percent and improved their insurance expense accordingly.

 

To register, please complete and return a registration form today. (Either call MLA at 800-747-6529 – or go to http://www.themla.com/MLA-DRM2007.pdf.) Don’t pass up this opportunity to learn tried-and-true ways to effect savings in your business.

 

LEGISLATIVE NEWS FROM NATIONAL

 

House Passes Legislation to Overhaul Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac

On May 22, the House voted 313-104 to approve the “Federal Housing Finance Reform Act of 2007” (H.R. 1427), legislation to reform the regulation of housing-related government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs), including Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and the Federal Home Loan Banks. The bill establishes the Federal Housing Enterprise Finance Oversight Board and authorizes its Director to raise minimum capital levels, set forth enterprise conforming loan limits for small family residences, and establish a Multifamily Special Affordable Goal for mortgages that finance units for low-income families and those assisted by the low-income housing tax credit.  H.R. 1427 also authorizes the establishment of an affordable housing fund. The bill has been referred to the Senate for further action.

 

Permanent Death Tax Repeal Legislation Introduced in the House

On May 17, Representatives Kenny Hulshof (R-MO) and Bud Cramer (D-AL) introduced the Death Tax Repeal Permanency Act of 2007 (H.R. 2380).  This bill, which is identical to legislation passed by the House in the 109th Congress (H.R. 8), would permanently extend death tax repeal beyond 2010. NLBMDA is working with the Family Business Estate Tax Coalition (FBETC) to enact H.R. 2380, although action on death tax repeal is unlikely in the immediate future.

 

Green Building Debated in Senate Committee

The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee held a hearing May 15 on the costs and benefits of green building. Green Building Institute President Ward Hubbell testified on the work of GBI to develop consensus-based standards and the success of the NAHB Model Green Home Building Guidelines and Green Globe programs. The Committee is considering several green building bills and NLBMDA continues to work with American Forest & Paper Association (AF&PA) and the broader green building coalition to ensure all ratings systems are included in any legislation.

  

Source: NLBMDA Advocate, June 5, 2007

 

NLA 2007 Mill Tour
 

Whether you’ve been to Vancouver or not, this is a trip you will not want to miss. A fantastic trip is set for the 2007 Mill Tour, scheduled for September 9-14, 2007. Starting in Bellevue, the upscale suburb of Seattle, the first visit is to a wall plant, winery, and cedar fencing mill on the way north to Canada. The first night across the border will be spent in Victoria on Vancouver Island. The following day you will have time to explore Victoria, and visit the spectacular Butchart Gardens before taking the ferry to Vancouver/Surrey where the group will remain for the next three nights.

 

While in the Vancouver area, you will visit Interfor’s cedar mill, Watkins cedar shake and shingle mill, and i-Level by Weyerhaeuser’s parallam mill. Excursions will take you up Grouse Mountain — with magnificent views of the city along with a theater, lumberjack show, ski lift ride, restaurants, and more. After the visit to the mountain, the group will head to the harbor for a cruise of the largest active port in North America. If you are still looking for more to do, you can spend the rest of the day and evening exploring the city of Vancouver.

 

On Friday, you’ll leave Canada and head to the final industry tour at the APA – Engineered Wood Association’s lab in Tacoma, where they perform the only three-dimensional whole house testing. Friday evening the tour ends back in Bellevue.

 

For a registration form, click here, or call Sally at 800-896-5134/763-595-4058 or e-mail smeansnla@megapathdsl.net.

 

 

 

 

LUMBER NEWS – QUICK GLIMPSES

 

Price Growth for Homes Slowest in 14 Years… According to Freddie Mac, prices of American homes in 1Q 2007 rose at their slowest rate in 14 years.

"Existing home sales rose in the first quarter relative to the fourth quarter, on a seasonally adjusted basis, but were down more than 9 percent from a year ago and as a result home price growth decelerated further," said Freddie Mac vice president and chief economist Frank Nothaft. "At the moment, we're forecasting home price appreciation to slow further later in the year, with a total average rise in home values nationally of around one percent over the whole year as measured by the purchase-only series."

 

Source: LBM Daily, June 5, 2007

 

Weyerhaeuser Completes Sale of Canada Distribution Centers… Weyerhaeuser announced Monday that it has completed the sale and transfer of its Canadian building materials distribution assets to Platinum Equity of Los Angeles. Terms of the sale were not disclosed. The sale includes all 16 of its distribution centers in Canada.

 

Weyerhaeuser said it will maintain a significant presence in Canada after the sale. The company will continue to employ about 3,500 Canadian employees across the country – producing and distributing softwood and hardwood lumber, engineered wood, oriented strand board, plywood and pulp.

 

Weyerhaeuser is still in preliminary negotiations for the sale of 10 U.S. building materials distribution sites, none in the Northwest.

 

Source: Builder Online Business Update, June 5, 2007 (from the News Tribune, Tacoma, Wash.)

 

Outlook for Home Prices Drops Even Further… The National Association of Realtors (NAR) announced on Wednesday that the median price of existing homes sold fell 1.3 percent this year. That number is almost double the 2007 estimate made just two months ago, and worse than last month's estimate. New home prices are suffering, with projections showing that price will fall 2.3 percent. Existing home sales are expected to be down 4.6 percent this year, and new home sales down 18 percent from last year.

 

Source: LBM Daily, June 7, 2007

 

Market Didn’t Force Dunn Sale… Pro-Build Holdings announced Monday it will purchase six-unit Dunn Lumber, based in Daytona Beach, Fla., a deal that was not forced by the market's downturn, according to outgoing Dunn Lumber president and former owner Sam Dunn, who told ProSales the move has been in the works for more than a year. "We are not bailing out. We made a special effort to build our business over the past 15 years as a company that could stand on its own and grow," he said. After discussing options in a "well-thought-out process" with his cousin Barry Dunn, it was determined that a sale to Pro-Build was in the best interest of the shareholders and of employees of the company who held a 14 percent interest share and cashed in their stake prior to the sale. Terms were not disclosed.

 

The 103-year-old business will continue to operate under its own banners. In the meantime, Sam Dunn is remaining on board as a consultant while Dunn executives Gary Farber and Ron Cannon will continue with the company, overseeing the transition. Englewood, Colo.-based Pro-Build, a subsidiary of Boston-based Fidelity Capital, operates more than 500 locations nationwide and has sales of $6 billion.

 

Source: ProSales Business Update, June 7, 2007

 

Bill Signed by President Will Help Small Business Comply with Regulations... Small businesses will now have better access to compliance guides for federal regulations, due to Senator Olympia Snowe's (R-ME) amendment contained in the "U.S. Troop Readiness, Veterans' Care, Katrina Recovery, and Iraq Accountability Appropriations Act, 2007." Amendment 103, co-sponsored by Senators Michael Enzi (R-WY), Mary Landrieu (D-LA), Harry Reid (D-NV), John Kerry (D-MA), John Sununu (R-NH), and Pat Roberts (R-KS) strengthened section 212 of the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act (SBREFA).

 

Section 212 requires federal agencies to publish a small business compliance guide for each final rule that has a significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities. Amendment 103 strengthens those requirements and further mandates that federal agencies annually report to Congress on their efforts to comply with Section 212.

 

As part of its ongoing training of federal agencies on how to comply with SBREFA and the Regulatory Flexibility Act, the Office of Advocacy will assist agencies with the development of small business compliance guides.

Source: NACM E-News Weekly and SBA, June 12, 2007

 

 

OPTIMIZE YOUR CLAIMS DOLLARS

 

Workers Compensation:

You can control your workers compensation premium dollars by protecting your experience modification factor. Prompt claim reporting, the controllable variable, can provide an enormous cost savings. A recent study conducted by Federated’s claims department found, in a sampling of three states, the cost of claims payments increased between 45 to 135 percent when claims were reported more than seven days from the incidents. Imagine the savings when claims are reported within 24 hours as we strongly suggest.

 

A reduction in workers compensation fraud is another benefit of prompt reporting. In fact, it is one of the best defenses. As time passes from the date of the injury, eyewitnesses are less likely to remember the incident, physical evidence is lost and conducting an accident investigation becomes increasingly difficult.

 

Self-Insured Retention Accounts (SIR):

If you have Federated’s Self-Insured Retention program (large deductible plan), make sure paid claims are applied to the retention amount by reporting them within 60 days after their discovery by you or any of your officers or managers.

 

Pollution losses:

Quickly reporting pollution claims lessens the severity of the pollutant by quickly containing its migration.

 

• For property-covered causes of loss, assure that coverage can be provided by reporting the claim in writing within 120 hours from the time of loss.

 

• For causes of loss covered under your auto policy, if endorsed, report within 120 hours from the time you or anyone in your organization knows or should have known of the release to avoid additional deductibles. Assure that coverage can be provided by reporting within 180 days.

 

The above are summaries from the policy endorsements and should not be substituted for the policy wording. Please refer to the endorsements for full details.

 

 

This article provided courtesy of Federated Mutual Insurance Company, your association’s recommended insurer.

MLA is proud to endorse….

 

 

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY