Dear Congressman,

As a Pennsylania voter, I strongly urge you to VOTE NO on concurrence to Senate amendments on Senate Bill 1 (Pileggi, R-Chester).

As you know, Senate Bill 1 provides an update to the open records legislation. While revisions are necessary to the current law, the language contains a major flaw that could have serious consequences for real estate consumers and the industry.

Senate Bill 1 states that data sets "shall not be sold or otherwise provided to another person for commercial purposes" (P.N. 1721; page 94, lines 16-18). This would prohibit a Multiple Listing Service (MLS) from purchasing crucial data (tax assessment, housing characteristic, mortgage and other property data) from counties and then integrating it into their proprietary database for use by real estate professionals. Enacting this provision would drastically hinder how realtors provide service to their clients.

This provision is anti-business, anti-competitive, and anti-consumer!

Without the ability of an MLS to compile complex county-level housing data into a user-friendly format, the home buying and selling process will become much more difficult and costly. At a time when the housing market is already struggling, enacting this provision will stymie the market even further.

Again, I urge you to VOTE NO on concurrence to Senate amendments on Senate Bill 1.