What is RPAC?
Founded in 1969, the REALTORS® Political Action Committee was created to financially support those individuals seeking elective office who believe in the same governmental principles who do – our free enterprise system, capitalistic economy and the importance of home ownership to our economy.

How Does RPAC Work?
It is funded by donations from individual REALTORS® like you. RPAC contributes to thousands of candidates on the national, state, and local levels each year. What these contributions do is let the candidates know that REALTORS® are politically involved and that they care about preserving private property rights. It also gives us access to them, because we’ve become part of their election effort. All contributions are used to fund candidate elections.

Who Controls RPAC?
Committees of REALTORS® meet on the local, state, and national levels to review the credentials of candidates seeking office. Based on this review, they make decisions and recommendations on candidates all the way from city council to the United States Senate.

Your RPAC Dollars at Work
According to figures released by the Federal Election Commission, the REALTORS® Political Action Committee was the largest PAC contributor to federal candidates for the third straight cycle, with more than $3.6 million in candidate contributions. The Association of Trial Lawyers of America placed second, with just $2.8 million. An additional $1.4 million of RPAC funds went to hard-dollar contributions to congressional leadership. RPAC also set the record as the most bi-partisan among the major PAC’s, with 53 percent of the disbursements going to Republicans and 47 percent going to Democrats.

What Has RPAC Done For Me?
RPAC’s accomplishments are too numerous to list entirely, but here are a few:

Passage of Law to:
• Allow Real Estate Agents to incorporate for tax purposes
• Implementation of 3 year license renewal
• Permit real estate licensees in another state to participate in Ohio Commercial Real Estate Transactions under certain conditions
• Authorize real estate commission to impose fines against unlicensed entities engaged in practice of real estate without a license.
• Implement staggered license renewal on real estate licensees’ birthdate.

Defeated:
• Legislation that would have eliminated inflationary controls on residential property taxes.
• Efforts to restrict property tax rollback relief for Ohio property owners.
• Proposed statewide real estate transfer tax.
• Efforts to place limits on mortgage interest deduction.
• Governor Taft’s proposal to place sales tax on real estate commissions, appraisals, inspections, title work, and property management fees.

Ohio RPAC has an entitlement program where at least 15% of all funds raised are sent back to Local Boards to use for local candidates. These funds are used entirely at the Board’s discretion. The formula works so that the more money a Board raises, the more it keeps at home.