The REALTORS® Political Action Committee (RPAC) collects voluntary contributions from members just like you who care about the future of your real-estate business. RPAC gives money to candidates who support REALTOR-friendly issues.
Every spring, the RPAC of Virginia Trustees evaluate all current state legislators (RPAC of Virginia does not contribute to local candidates) on their performance in the preceding General Assembly session. Funding is based on these resulting points.
These points are awarded (and deducted) with both objective and subjective means. No one category is weighted differently than another. These include:
- how often the legislator did or did not vote with VAR bills (these set of bills are pre-approved by the Public Policy Advocacy Group);
- if the legislator was the patron of a REALTOR®-friendly bill (and, conversely, if the legislator was the patron of a REALTOR®-unfriendly bill);
- if the legislator serves on a "key committee" (those that directly affect the outcome of bills and issues);
- whether or not the legislator is a REALTOR® or affiliated with the real-estate industry; and
- if the legislator is a leader (Speaker, Majority/Minority Leader, etc).
- local association and state staff also have a chance to award or deduct points for the legislator's willingness to work with the associations
The RPAC of Virginia Trustees are able to approve more money for a legislator at any time; most commonly, this is done in an election year where the legislator is in a tight race.
Local associations also have RPAC Trustees. They have their own PAC accounts out of which they are able to fund both local and state lawmakers, provided that the candidates support issues that are REALTOR®-friendly.
Click here for an example of a sample RPAC of Virginia Scorecard with explanations about each of its components.