Happy February to all of you. This month we have passed the one-year mark since the first cases of COVID-19 were reported in the US.  Much has changed in the last year, but I am proud of our team. I genuinely hope that 2021 brings us all peace and a shift towards more time with family and friends.

New Board Member Appointments

TALCB was notified earlier this month that Paola Escalante-Castillo, a commercial banker with Frost Bank from Weslaco, will be replacing former member Tony Pena, whose term expired. Ms. Escalante-Castillo has an extensive background in accounting and banking. She will be a valuable addition to the Board.

Additionally, Martha Gayle Reid Lynch and Chance Bolton were both reappointed. Congratulations to all, and I look forward to working with you.

February Meeting

TALCB is meeting on February 26 at 10 am. This meeting will be a virtual Microsoft Teams meeting. I encourage you to attend but if you can’t be there live, we always post the video and minutes on the website shortly after the meeting. Meeting information will be posted soon on the TALCB “Meetings and Minutes” page.

TALCB New Director 

Congratulations to Melissa Tran, the new director of TALCB. To more accurately reflect the work of TALCB, we recently restructured TALCB to operate two teams: enforcement and licensing.  I eliminated the director of enforcement position and created a director of TALCB.  Melissa will lead both the enforcement team in processing complaints and the licensing team who will conduct experience audits and all other aspects of the licensing process.   

Legislative Session and Sunset Update

As you may know, the legislative session has kicked off in Austin. TREC staff are already hard at work reviewing bills and tracking any that may affect the agency or our license holders.  At a recent Sunset Advisory Commission meeting, an implementation report was presented highlighting the progress of agencies reviewed in the last session.  I am pleased to say that all of our action items are completed.

We do not expect the Texas Legislature to make significant changes affecting TREC and license holders. We will, however, closely monitor their work and encourage you to participate in the process.

I look forward to “seeing” many of you at our next Board meeting. Until then, if you need anything from me, don’t hesitate to reach out.