As the Board and its staff get prepared for its next meeting on Monday, August 14th, I am pleased to tell you that the summer has been very productive. All of the agency teams are handling very high volumes of matters, even with daily staff numbers reduced due to summer vacations. Despite this, the teams are keeping up with demand, but not as many or as quickly as we want. 
SB 1516 amends Chapter 1104 to address some recent changes in federal law regarding the regulation of AMCs, to provide consistency in terminology, and to repeal some outdated provisions. The bill also makes some conforming changes to align Chapter 1104 with the amendments made last session to Chapter 1103, the appraiser licensing act administered by the Board.
The Texas Appraiser Licensing and Certification Board (TALCB) is pleased to announce an important win for consumers in Texas. On April 6, 2017, former real estate appraiser Robert Chandler Smith, Jr. (Smith) pled guilty in Travis County District Court to felony charges of false statement to obtain property or credit. As a result, the Court placed Smith on six years of community supervision, imposed a fine and prohibited him from performing real estate appraisals. This criminal prosecution protects Texas consumers from Smith’s illegal and deceptive appraisal activities.
TALCB will appoint a working group of subject matter experts and industry participants to participate in developing a new Appraiser Continuing Education Course focused on Texas requirements. Meetings will be held in Austin and also via tele-conference. Invited working group members will not receive any compensation for their participation. TALCB invites license holders, industry participants and members of the public to apply.
The typical path to becoming a licensed appraiser in Texas is to first become an appraiser trainee supervised by a certified appraiser in Texas. Like an apprentice learning a skilled trade, trainees work under the direction of their supervisory appraiser while gaining experience in the appraisal profession.
Texas Appraisers Licensure exams are now conveniently available at over 200 Pearson VUE test centers as well as on military installations across the globe for service members, spouses, dependents, and contractors with authorized base access.
Members of the military community who want to gain Texas Appraisers Licensure from their assigned base either stateside or overseas may now have the option to take their exams without having to return to Texas to test. This is a benefit to those who are frequently relocated or are transitioning to civilian careers.
TALCB is pleased to announce the Senate confirmation of Governor Abbott's appointments of eight TALCB board members on May 16, 2017.
Chair, Jamie Wickliffe of Midlothian, Vice-Chair, James Jefferies of Georgetown, Clayton Black of Stanton, Chance Bolton of Austin, Tony Peña of Lubbock, Martha Gayle Reid Lynch of El Paso, Alejandro Sostre-Odio of San Antonio, Joyce Yannuzzi of New Braunfels.
TALCB is pleased to announce the results of the 2017 Appraiser and AMC Fee Survey. TALCB engaged the Hobby School of Public Affairs at the University of Houston and the Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University to conduct a survey to learn more about the practices of appraisers and appraisal management companies (AMCs) that operate in the state of Texas. A total of 1,038 appraisers and 59 appraisal management companies doing business in the state of Texas participated in the survey.
You may have heard about or read an article published in the Spring 2017 edition of Appraisal Buzz magazine entitled “When You Get Notice of a State Complaint”. This article discusses the complaint process in general and what to consider if you receive a complaint about your appraisal practice. Near the beginning of the article, reference is made to residential appraisers in Texas having “roughly one in six” odds of a complaint being filed against them with the Texas Appraiser Licensing and Certification Board during “one particularly busy year”.