November has arrived, the World Series is done, NFL Football is halfway over, and the extended Holiday season is just around the corner. Before you know it, Thanksgiving Day, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Winter solstice, Christmas and New Year’s will be upon us, affording each of us at least one tradition to celebrate.
We welcome Sara Oates as the newly appointed Chair of the Board and Stephanie Robinson and Lisa Sprinkle as two new public members of the Board. For more information about our new Board members, please review the appointment announcement on the TALCB website. These new members will be hitting the ground running as we gear up for the strategic planning process and November meetings.
AUSTIN, TX – The Texas Appraiser Licensing and Certification Board (TALCB) is pleased to announce the Governor’s appointment of new Chair Sara Jones Oates, and public members, Stephanie Robinson, and Lisa H. Sprinkle to the Board for terms to expire on January 31, 2025. The new appointees succeed Chair, Jamie Wickliff, and public members, Alejandro “Alex” Sostre-Odio and Joyce Yannuzzi. The Board thanks the outgoing members for their dedicated service to the people of Texas.
The AMC Registry is a national database of Appraisal Management Companies (AMCs) that is maintained by the Appraisal Subcommittee (ASC) to facilitate the sharing of information between states that regulate AMCs. The AMC Registry is also open to the public and may be used by clients and consumers to view certain information about an AMC. The ASC previously adopted rules requiring AMCs to report certain information to the states for inclusion on the AMC Registry.
In April of 2018, the Executive Director of the Agency reached out to our stakeholders and to the public to acknowledge that the customer service the Agency was providing was unacceptable and that we were working diligently to find sustainable solutions to resolve these issues. Since that time, the Agency has made great strides to improve the level of service by employing a holistic approach, including a combination of technological improvements, additional staff, and enhanced process efficiencies.
August is here with all of its heat, and it’s the last month of the fiscal year for the Agency. August also means both the Commission and Board will have their regularly scheduled meetings this month and that the agendas will be busy –as they always are after a legislative session. And for this session especially since we underwent a Sunset Commission review and need to implement all of the changes that resulted from that process. Many rule amendments are needed to implement these changes and also some significant budget adjustments to accommodate those requirements.
The Texas Appraiser Licensing & Certification Board (TALCB) is pleased to announce the appointment of John Eichelberger and Lisa Rodriguez to the Appraisal Management Company (AMC) Advisory Committee with terms to expire in January 2021. The Vice-Chair of TALCB, Martha Gayle Reid Lynch, will continue to serve as the chair of the AMC Advisory Committee. This Committee advises the Board on all matters related to the regulation of Appraisal Management Companies.
TALCB is pleased to announce the launch of our new application status tracker!
This new tool is an easy way for anyone to track the status of initial applications, reducing delays and confusion about what comes next. This new tool is available for all appraiser license types, including Appraiser Trainees.
The 2019 Legislative Session concluded on May 27. With over 7,000 bills filed by legislators, this session was a busy one. While the Agency’s primary focus this session was on our Sunset legislation, we did keep our eye on the progress of several bills that could have impacted the Agency in one way or another.
Below is a list the bills that passed and a brief summary of their impact the regulatory authority of the Agency. In case you missed it, we hosted a Facebook LIVE session where we discussed these bills and more. Check out the video below:
I thought it would be helpful to share with you a report card on our progress implementing the requirements and suggestions outlined the final report from the agency’s recent Sunset review.