VaCAP has been informed of a Discussion Draft of a Bill introduced into the US House of Representatives that will directly impact every appraiser, appraiser trainee, appraisal firm, and appraisal management company..
From the discussion draft, the purpose of the Bill:
“To establish an independent agency to be known as the Federal Valuation Agency and real estate valuation standards and appraiser criteria, including promoting a fair, unbiased, transparent, repeatable valuation process, and for other purposes.”
VaCAP encourages everyone to read, analyze and think through how this will impact you and your business. It does not matter if you agree or disagree with the content of the Bill, it is important to discuss the the content with all of your US Representatives. Our Representatives will be the ones who ultimately vote on this Bill and they need to understand what they are agreeing to. More importantly, how will this impact the public.
Ideally, having a face to face conversation is preferred, but realizing that is not an easy task for most, email is convenient and provides documentation of your opinions and observations. However, there is no guarantee your representative will actually see the email. Most have staff that filter and respond to email.
Go old school and send a letter. This is more likely to actually been seen and read by your Representative.
We realize some appraisers are still very busy and some have started to slow a bit. If you are able to have a face to face conversation with your Representatives, please follow up highlighting your conversation either by email or letter.
The reality is the more our Representatives hear about the Bill, the more they pay attention. What we don’t want to happen is this bill, or any bill for that matter, to be voted on by our Representatives that have no idea what they are voting on.
Find you Representatives here. https://www.congress.gov/members/find-your-member
You have a voice, please use it!
BILLS-117pih-FairAppraisalandInequityReformFAIRActof2022
Thank you for supporting VaCAP!
This is the bill introduced by Maxine Waters (D) CA. It is my understanding the bill is in committee and likely will go no further as there are too many significant changes, including governmental change that would have to occur should this pass.
The bill also affects a number of current financial laws and institutions. So, based on the number of changes suggested and the impact passing this would have on financial regulation, some experts say it will never pass.
But it always helps if folks contact their congressional representatives and let them know this is not good for the appraisal profession.