Real Estate Roundtable spent $790K lobbying in 1Q

The group lobbied on terrorism insurance, environmental regulations, climate change, eminent domain, tax issues and the economic stimulus bill President Bush signed in February, according to an April 18 filing with the House clerk's office.

The trade group counts Regency Centers Corp., ProLogis and Taubman Centers Inc. among its members.

Commercial real estate groups, along with hedge funds and private equity interests, have lobbied against efforts to raise taxes on profits by investment partnerships to as much as 35 percent from 15 percent. They contend such an increase would weaken real estate markets nationwide, while supporters say it is unfair for real estate and private equity partnerships to pay a lower rate than other companies.

Besides lawmakers, the roundtable lobbied the Federal Reserve, departments of Labor, Commerce and Treasury, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Securities and Exchange Commission in the first three months of the year.