Noozhawk: Brian Johnson: Legislative Day — Taking Our Message Straight to the Top

For almost 50 years, the California Association of Realtors has participated in an annual Legislative Day in Sacramento. This event gives our Realtor members the ability to meet firsthand with their elected officials to discuss real estate issues.

In recent years, we have had between 2,000 and 2,500 Realtors descending on the Capitol to make sure our legislators understood the importance of housing and home ownership. Due to COVID-19, those meetings were largely cancelled last year. However, this year we have our first virtual event planned.

Featuring speakers include Gov. Gavin Newsom, Senate President Toni Atkins, Sen. Scott Wilk and Assemblywoman Blanca Rubio. The event will cover critical housing topics including housing supply, fair housing challenges, affordable housing innovation, and the state of the housing market.

This is a chance for our members to share their own stories and experiences firsthand with our state leaders.

Legislative Day is important because legislators hear from Realtors about how policies impact real estate in their hometowns. In addition, it demonstrates the strength of the Realtor community by showing them how many of us are committed to spending time advocating for our industry and homeownership.

Brian Johnson is the new president of the Santa Barbara Association of Realtors. He is a California licensed real estate agent and the managing director of Radius Commercial Real Estate. Brian handles all types of commercial real estate transactions, but has a special focus on multifamily investments. He can be reached at 805.879.9631 or bjohnson@radiusgroup.com.