In October, the Nebraska State Bar Association approved and adopted revised Nebraska Real Estate Title Standards. Although the Nebraska Real Estate Title Standards are not substantive law, they provide minimum standards for performing searches of chains of title for real estate in Nebraska. These standards ensure title searchers and abstractors […]
Dirt Alert
New EPA Environmental Site Assessment Standards Not Yet in Effect
As we reported in an October 15, 2013, Dirt Alert Article, the United States Environmental Protection Agency adopted a proposed Amendment to Standards and Practices for All Appropriate Inquiries to incorporate ASTM International’s E1527-13 “Standard Practice for Environmental Site Assessments: Phase I Environmental Site Assessment Process.” The period to submit […]
Bluestem Energy Solutions and Baird Holm Report: Impact of Wind Energy on Property Taxes in Nebraska
Bluestem Energy Solutions and Baird Holm have teamed up to produce a report that provides a comprehensive demonstration that wind energy development provides significant property tax benefits in Nebraska. The Omaha World-Herald featured this report in an article on the front page of its Midlands section on November 12, 2013. […]
New California Law Threatens State Funding for Local Public Works
Controversial California legislation threatens a charter city’s ability to avoid the state’s prevailing wage law. Senate Bill 7, which Governor Brown signed into law on October 13, 2013, adds section 1782 to the California Labor Code. The law generally provides that a charter city cannot receive or use state funding […]
New Phase I Environmental Assessment Standards
On August 15, 2013, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency published a proposed Amendment to Standards and Practices for All Appropriate Inquiries that would approve a new standard by which Phase I Environmental Site Assessments may be conducted. In the process of acquiring real property, prospective buyers (or other potential owners or […]