FEBRUARY 23, 2000

LEGISLATIVE ALERT CONTINUES
YOUR URGENT ACTION STILL IS NEEDED RIGHT NOW!
CALL AND E-MAIL YOUR REPRESENTATIVES RIGHT NOW - - KEEP SSB 5924 ON TRACK!
- Real Estate Appraiser Commission Bill -

HOUSE FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS AND INSURANCE COMMITTEE

 * * * * * * * *   Last Chance Executive Session   * * * * * * * * 

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 25, AT 1:30 P.M., HOUSE HEARING ROOM "D"

THANK YOU to the several appraisers who have written Representative Jim McIntire (D-46, northeast Seattle, appraisers really need to get him comfortable with SSB 5924), or your own Representatives and Senator.  We have to get every appraiser in Washington State, and especially those living in the 46th District to act before Friday.  I have received copies of several of your e-mails, which is appreciated.  They are well written, with personal touches where appropriate and identifying the sender as a constituent when such is the case.

Every member of the legislature needs to know how important this bill is.  Please pass copies of this e-mail and copies of Vince Slupski's Monday night (if you received it) and my Tuesday morning e-mails on to any that appraiser that you can think of, either by fax or e-mail.  Appraisers really need to make all legislators comfortable with SSB 5924.

FII took no action on SSB 5924 during Tuesday's meeting.  The committee is bogging down on ESSB 6513 - "Protecting privacy of personal information in commercial transactions" which the AG is pushing.  FII still has a full agenda for its one remaining (final) meeting on Friday.

We need SSB 5924, but the road is getting tougher as the Friday deadline for policy committee reports hurtles toward us.  The lobbyist for the Washington Bankers Association is raising concerns again that SSB 5924 is but a ploy to bar third-party appraisals.  T.K. Bentler, ACOW's Lobbyist, is working hard to save the bill for us.  He has gotten us past the problem of the obsolete Agency Fiscal Note which came up at and after the public hearing last Friday.

When contacting your Representative, identify yourself as a constituent and professional real estate appraiser.  Ask her/his support of SSB 5924, Establishing the Real Estate Appraiser Commission.  Assure her/him that the joint rule-making authority shared by the proposed commission and the director will adequately safeguard the public interest, and tell him that appraisers should be regulated in a manner equivalent to other professionals by a commission with significant authority, not a mere advisory panel.  Your efforts are sincerely appreciated. 

As you probably know, ACOW has been working during the past several years for passage of a bill that would upgrade the REAAC to a Real Estate Appraiser Commission.  The difference is this: the Advisory Committee advises the Director of Licensing but has absolutely no authority.  The Commission would have joint rule-making authority with the Director.  This is similar to the regulatory set-up for real estate brokers and salespersons, mortgage brokers, and other professions. 

The goal of SSB 5924 is to bring parity to the way that the appraisal profession is regulated as compared to similar and related professions. FIRREA Section 901 defines the term "institution- affiliated party" to include "any independent contractor (including any attorney, appraiser, or accountant) .  .  .".  Neither Attorneys nor accountants, nor real estate brokers and salespersons, nor mortgage brokers are represented in their regulatory process by a body so powerless by statute as the Real Estate Appraiser Advisory Committee (REAAC). 

Please contact the YOUR REPRESENTATIVES, FII Committee members, and then the members of the Rules Committee once the bill is reported out by FII. House committees have Co-Chairs and two Vice Chairs representing both of the two major parties because forty-nine Democrats and forty-nine Republicans were elected as members to their respective caucus in November 1998.  This tie and the resultant power sharing means that controversy must be avoided if a bill is to move forward. 

THIS IS WHERE EACH APPRAISER COUNTS.  IT IS ESSENTIAL THAT EACH OF US CALL OUR TWO REPRESENTATIVES, OR SEND AN E-MAIL, OR SEND A MESSAGE VIA THE LEGISLATIVE HOTLINE AT 1-800-562-6000 RIGHT NOW.  Send a separate message for each of bill, and reference it by the bill number.  Your message should ask that each of your Representatives support the bill in the their party caucus and in floor action, and that he or she "Pull the bill" in on the Rules Committee (if a member).  The helpful hotline staff will give you direct office phone numbers, e-mail addresses and take a hotline message if you give them your District Number.  Bill and member information is on the web at www.leg.wa.gov also.

SB 6642 - PREVENTING REGISTERED SEX OFFENDERS AS APPRAISERS

CORRECTION from earlier ACOW Bulletins - Jim Tesso testified in the Senate CTHF, and again Tuesday evening before the House Commerce and Labor (CL) Committee, on behalf of ACOW rather than as Chair of the Real Estate Appraiser Advisory Committee (REAAC).  Also, Cleotis was expected to testify for DOL.

SB 6642 establishes the basis for the non-issuance of an appraisal certificate or license to certain registered sex offenders in accordance with the provisions of Washington's statutes on criminal rehabilitation (RCW 9.96A.020), and sex offenders and kidnapping offenders registration (RCW 9A.44.130).  RCW 18.140.160 (5) can not prevent DOL's approving an application on the grounds of moral turpitude beyond the provisions of other Washington laws. 

SB 6642 will affect only the more serious classes of registered sex offenders, and is subject to the provisions of other statutes by reference.  Support from appraisers will lead to CL giving a "do pass" report in one of its two meetings today or its final meeting tomorrow, and encourage the Rules Committee to send SB 6642 out for third reading and floor action, so call your Senator to ask for that support.

 MESSAGES ARE A MUST

Contacting your own Senators and Representatives is essential.  Phone and FAX numbers, E-mail and Post Office Addressees, bill copies and any other information which you need can be found by calling the Legislative Hot Line at 1-800-562-6000.  The illustrative model e-mail address for "Your Favorite Legislator" is legislator_yo@leg.wa.gov.  Use the WEB at www.leg.wa.gov for LEGInfo, or access by FTP at ftp.leg.wa.gov or by E-mail at ftpmail@leg.wa.gov.  

APPRAISAL NEWS IN WASHINGTON STATE

See ACOW on the Web at www.acow-wa.org for government and public relations related to appraising.  Request ACOW E-mail from bf777@scn.org until a listserve is implemented.  Sending fewer faxes will help to stretch ACOW's resources.  No part of this effort is too small to matter.  

Go to http://www.onelist.com/subscribe.cgi/Appraisers-WA to subscribe to newsgroup postings for appraisal business matters of interest in Washington State.  Stay abreast of who has or needs what in comparables.  See what's hot, and what's rot.

PLEASE HELP OUR PROFESSION NOW!

GET INVOLVED, ACOW NEEDS YOU!