Government Affairs Team

     HBA’s Government Affairs staff is charged with the very important responsibility of representing members, as well as the housing industry in general, before local jurisdictions throughout our five-county area.  In addition to the five county governments, there are more than 40 cities, numerous special service districts (for sewer, water, parks, etc.), and Metro, the nation’s only elected regional government.  The end result is that each and every day there’s a pretty good chance that at least one or more Government bodies somewhere within our membership territory are considering a fee, regulation, or policy change that will affect the business of building homes.

    To meet the challenges presented by such a wide array of public sector agencies, the Government Affairs team uses a variety of strategies.  First and foremost, they work to build relationships of trust and credibility with the hundreds of elected officials, planners, building officials, and others who work in the government buildings throughout our region.  This might involve everything from regular one-on-one meetings, to attending city council and county commissioner sessions, and serving on advisory committees.

      Establishing such relationships also involves recruiting and supporting candidates to run for elective office, and HBA’s political action committee is one of the most active in the region.

      Once an issue has been identified for action by staff and the Government Affairs/Legal Action Committee, our lobbying team goes to work researching the possible impacts for housing, tries to bring in other business organizations that are likely to also be affected, write testimony, testify at public hearings, write letters to the editor or op-ed columns for newspapers, alert members that possible changes might occur, and generally do everything possible to modify or stop proposals that could cause adverse effects for home building.  On the other side of the coin, HBA has also been just as aggressive in pushing for maintaining an adequate buildable land supply within the regional urban growth boundary.

HBA’s Government Affairs staff includes: 

Jim McCauley, Vice President for Government Affairs.  Jim has held this position since 2005. In addition to overall management of HBA’s Government affairs efforts, he devotes special attention to the activities of Metro, the City of Portland, and assisting our state lobbyists with housing bills at the Oregon Legislature.

      Jim has worked within the public affairs arena for nearly 20 years with a thorough knowledge of government process and legislative affairs in Oregon, Washington, and California.  Jim has a degree in Forestry from Oregon State University and spent half of his career in forestry and issues related to the Clean Water Act, Endangered Species Act, and a full range of other state and federal regulatory overlays.  Jim has held positions with forest products companies, investment organizations, government and several trade associations.

 Misty Slagle, Director of Political Affairs.  Misty has been with HBA just over six years, and came to us after working in the Oregon Senate Majority Office and as a legislative assistant to State Senator Neil Bryant.  She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in political science from Western Oregon State College.

      Misty oversees all activities concerning HBA’s political action committee (PAC), including an ambitious two-year fundraising program, recruiting candidates to run for a long list of local offices, arranging candidate interviews with the PAC for its endorsement process, and providing all possible assistance to any endorsed candidates.  Also in the fudraising department, Misty is responsible for the continued development of the Building Industry Legal Defense (BILD) Fund. In addition, she also has responsibility for monitoring the governments in east Multnomah County and regularly attends meetings involving proposals from the cities of Gresham and Troutdale.

Ernie Platt, Director of Local Government Affairs.  Ernie has been a member of the HBA Government Affairs staff for over five years and keeps track of all Government activity in Clackamas and Washington Counties, including all cities therein.  A past president of both the Home Builders Association of Metro Portland and in 2004, the Oregon Home Builders Association, Ernie brings a wealth of actual hands-on land development and building experience gained from more than three decades in the business.

      He has over 45 years experience in the development of single family and multi-family residential communities in Oregon, Washington and California.

      In  recent years, he has devoted special attention to two projects—incorporation of  the new City of Damascus in Clackamas County where much of the region’s future growth is slated to occur, and efforts by our state and national associations to challenge possible environmental regulations to protect salmon under the Endangered Species Act.  Partially as a result of Ernie’s leadership on the salmon issue, he will serve in 2005 as Vice-Chair of the  NAHB Environmental Issues Committee.