New and Proposed Rules, PAREA, Appraiser Qualifications Review: Meeting Recap

The Texas Appraiser Licensing & Certification Board (TALCB) met August 16 to consider adopting amendments to one rule and proposing amendments to eight others. The highlights also include an update on the new and continually improving Practical Applications of Real Estate Appraisal (PAREA) from the mouth of its only current provider, the Appraisal Institute (AI).

AI's manager of state industry affairs, Scott DiBiasio (pictured below), flew in for the meeting from the Washington D.C. area. During his presentation to the Board, he said, "We currently have 144 people enrolled in the program from around the country. I'm very excited to say that 25 percent of those, 36 people, are from here, the state of Texas."

As announced by TALCB in July, the first person to complete the PAREA program is a Texan. Also previously mentioned was AI's plan to require an entrance exam to ensure PAREA applicants are ready for the program before starting, because the Institute discovered many of them are struggling. DiBiasio said AI is now closer to launching that exam.

He also thanked the Board's licensing staff for making the post-PAREA process seamless on PAREA graduates applying for licensure. PAREA makes it possible for them to fulfill experience requirements, but it is not the only way to do that. The trainee-supervisor model is currently the most common method of gaining experience in the real property appraisal field, either with traditional reports for clients or practice reports.

The AQB's Qualification Review

The Board discussed the Appraiser Qualifications Board's (AQB) review of the Real Property Appraiser Qualification Criteria. This is known as the "Qualifications Reassessment Project". The initiative is broken into three phases with the first considering the college degree requirement. Phase two will explore the potential for allowing experience from related professions to satisfy a certain amount of appraisal experience requirements. Phase three will study the structure and requirements of the national exams for each of the licensing credentials.

New Rule on Discipline

Board members approved changes to the Sanctions Guidelines to allow for more flexibility in first-time discipline of Level 2 violations of the Texas Appraiser Licensing and Certification Act and statute. This type of violation involves serious deficiencies that impact the credibility of an appraisal report. The adopted changes include expanding the penalty matrix to allow for dismissals with warnings-which could allow for less harsh punishments in situations where the appraiser takes remedial steps like improving a deficient appraisal report and receiving additional education or training.

Other changes include new factors that may be considered in determining the disposition of a formal complaint:

• Whether an appraisal or the appraiser's conduct was investigated by another governmental agency.
• The likelihood of the same or similar conduct occurring again.

Proposed Rules

There are eight proposed rules that will be open for public comment.

One allows for changes to the Board's complaint processing. The amendments would clarify when, if needed, the subject of a complaint would be notified during a preliminary investigative review process. There are also corrections to references within this rule.

There are seven proposals under the Quadrennial Rule Review-required by state law for agencies to determine whether the reasons for adopting their rules still exist. The proposed rule changes under this requirement are meant for clarity, consistency, and readability.

The Board is also proposing changes to a rule that covers the investigative conference process. The changes would clarify the timing of when an acknowledgement form may be submitted to the Board.

These proposals will be up for adoption during the next TALCB Meeting on November 15.

Meeting Materials

The August meeting's materials and video recording may be viewed here.

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