ALTA® President Greg Kosin Visits Capitol Hill

January 22, 2007

On January 17th and 18th ALTA President Greg Kosin and VP of Public Affairs Ed Miller visited with over a dozen Members of the House Financial Services Committee. The purpose of the meetings was to welcome these Members of the 110th Congress and give them an overview of the industry. Key areas stressed were the value of the title insurance process and product, public policy goals achieved through title industry efforts, and our willingness to work with the Committee. ALTA informed them of our interaction with the GAO on the title insurance study, expected to be release in early April, and our views on an optional federal insurance charter, predatory lending, identity theft, and GSE reform.

Meetings were held with both senior and newly elected Members of the Committee. Kosin and Miller were able to meet new Chairman Barney Frank (D-MA) briefly, while holding an in-depth session with his Committee staff. They met with Ranking Republican Spencer Bachus (R-AL); Capitol Markets, Insurance and GSE Subcommittee Chair and Ranking Members Paul Kanjorski (D-PA) and Debbie Pryce (R-OH); Financial Institutions Chair Carolyn Maloney (D-NY); Housing Subcommittee Ranking Member Judy Biggert (R-IL); and Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee Ranking Member Gary Miller (R-CA). They also met Committee Members Brad Miller (R-NC); Brad Sherman (D-CA); Peter Roskam (R-IL); Melissa Bean (D-IL); Rick Renzi (R-AZ) and Ron Klein (D-FL). House Small Business Committee Chair and Financial Services Member Nydia Velazquez (D-NY) discussed small business issues and the title industry. Chairwoman Velazquez has reintroduced the Interest on Business Checking bill that includes ALTA supported language. Personal invitations were extended to all to join ALTA members at the Congressional luncheon to be held on March 7th on Capitol Hill. These were productive meetings that let Members know that ALTA plans to be active on Capitol Hill in 2007 and that its members look forward to working with Congress to promote homeownership and the health of the real estate economy.


Contact ALTA at 202-296-3671 or communications@alta.org.