[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5443 Enrolled Bill (ENR)]
H.R.5443
One Hundred Eighteenth Congress
of the
United States of America
AT THE SECOND SESSION
Begun and held at the City of Washington on Wednesday,
the third day of January, two thousand and twenty-four
An Act
To establish a policy regarding appraisal and valuation services for
real property for a transaction over which the Secretary of the Interior
has jurisdiction, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Accelerating Appraisals and
Conservation Efforts Act'' or the ``AACE Act''.
SEC. 2. APPRAISAL AND VALUATION SERVICES FOR REAL PROPERTY.
(a) License, Certification Requirement.--A covered appraiser needs
to be licensed or certified in only 1 State to perform appraisal or
valuation services for real property in any State for a transaction
over which the Secretary has jurisdiction.
(b) Use of Non-Federal Covered Appraisers.--If the Secretary uses a
non-Federal covered appraiser to perform appraisal or valuation
services for real property for a transaction described in subsection
(a), the Secretary--
(1) shall, to the maximum extent practicable, use a non-Federal
covered appraiser who is a certified general real property
appraiser licensed in a State in which the real property that is
the subject of the transaction is located; and
(2) may only use a non-Federal covered appraiser who is a
certified general real property appraiser licensed in a State other
than one in which the real property that is the subject of the
transaction is located if a non-Federal covered appraiser described
in paragraph (1) is, as determined by the Secretary--
(A) unavailable to complete an assignment within a
reasonable period of time;
(B) not assignment qualified; or
(C) not cost competitive.
(c) Report.--Not later than 1 year after the date of the enactment
of this section, and annually thereafter for at least the following 4
years, the Secretary shall submit to Congress a report that includes
the following:
(1) A comparison using quantitative data of--
(A) the number of requests for appraisal and valuation
services received by the Department during the reporting period
and the number of requests for such services received by the
Department in each of the 5 years before the reporting period;
and
(B) the amount of time required for the Department to
complete a request for appraisal or valuation services before
the date of the enactment of this section and after the date of
the enactment of this section.
(2) A qualitative assessment of the impact of subsection (a) in
providing flexibility to the Secretary when contracting with non-
Federal covered appraisers.
(3) Recommendations, if any, for congressional action that
could help the Department operate more efficiently or overcome
challenges with respect to timely completion of requests for
appraisal or valuation services while ensuring the independence,
impartiality, and objectivity of such services.
(4) An overview of the workforce of the Department with regard
to appraisal and valuation services provided by the Department,
including hiring and staffing during the reporting period with
respect to employees and contractors of the Department.
(5) A complete list of cases in which the authority granted
under section 2 of this Act was used during the reporting period,
describing for each case the specific criteria used to satisfy the
conditions of this Act.
(d) Statutory Clarifications.--
(1) Applicability of relevant laws and regulations.--Except as
provided in paragraph (3), nothing in this section shall be
interpreted to affect the application of any Federal or State law
or regulation to a non-Federal covered appraiser with regard to the
performance by such non-Federal covered appraiser of appraisal and
valuation services for real property.
(2) Jurisdiction requirement.--Nothing in this section shall be
interpreted to authorize a non-Federal covered appraiser to perform
appraisal and valuation services for real property in a State in
which such non-Federal covered appraiser is not licensed or
certified to perform such services except to the extent that such
services are performed for a transaction over which the Secretary
has jurisdiction.
(3) Nonapplicability of certain relevant laws and
regulations.--Any provision of a Federal or State law or regulation
enacted before the date of the enactment of this section that
requires a covered appraiser to be licensed or certified in a
specific State to perform appraisal or valuation services for real
property in that State shall not apply to any transaction over
which the Secretary has jurisdiction.
(e) Public Availability.--Not later than 90 days after the
enactment of this Act, the text of all policies (including any
successor policies), including reference manuals, guidance documents,
handbooks, standard operating procedures, and statements of policy
specific to the scoping, contracting, and review of appraisals
performed for the Department by Federal or non-Federal covered
appraisers, shall be made publicly available online and provided upon
request.
(f) Definitions.--In this section:
(1) Covered appraiser.--The term ``covered appraiser'' means a
State-licensed or -certified real property appraiser.
(2) Department.--The term ``Department'' means the Department
of the Interior.
(3) Reporting period.--The term ``reporting period'' means the
1-year period before the date on which a report is submitted under
subsection (c).
(4) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary of
the Interior.
(5) State.--The term ``State'' means each of the several
States, the District of Columbia, and each territory and possession
of the United States.
Speaker of the House of Representatives.
Vice President of the United States and
President of the Senate.