CALL TO ACTION - HB 3040

This is an URGENT (TODAY!) CALL TO ACTION FOR ALL APPRAISERS! Please FORWARD to ANY and ALL interested APPRAISERS NOW!

ACOW’s House Bill 3040 that will require the Licensing and provides for the regulation of Appraisal Management Companies (AMCs) has PASSED out of the House Commerce & Labor Committee, and now is headed to a hearing TOMORROW MORNING (Thursday, Feb 4) 8 AM with the House General Government Appropriations Committee.

Please read ALL of the following FIRST, then decide what you feel you can and are willing to do NOW, and then please ACT! For your reference, I am attaching the ORIGINAL Bill, the current Substitute Bill (which we yet hope to amend, but had to take out some provisions just to ensure it got out of the initial committee), and my original remarks to the House Commerce & Labor Committee. Feel free to add whatever you feel is pertinent…your own comments, recommendations, stories, etc.

Thank you.

Recommended ACTIONS:

1) Please contact (phone call first, email second) any of the Representatives shown below (you can click on their names, which will link you with their websites) if they are YOUR House Representative that SPONSORED HB 3040, and THANK THEM for sponsoring this bill! Ask the sponsoring reps for their continued support of this bill! I am noting the Legislative Districts by number for the sponsoring reps. If you do not know your district or representative….go to the WA State House of Representatives website and look them up, and make a note somewhere to remind yourself!

2) Please contact (phone call first, email second) any of the House Commerce & Labor Committee members (shown in a chart that follows below) who are YOUR House Representative that VOTED FOR SHB (Substitute House Bill) 3040 (shown in bold – note: all Democrats – bill passed purely on PARTY LINES), and THANK THEM for VOTING FOR this bill. Ask them for their continued support/vote for of this bill! If your rep is an “R”, and did NOT vote for this bill, ask them to RECONSIDER their vote!

3) Please contact (phone call first, email second) as many of the House General Government Appropriations Committee members (shown in a chart that follows below) who are YOUR House Representative, and ask them TO VOTE FOR SHB3040 that will be heard in committee tomorrow morning! (Two of these committee members were also on the Commerce & Labor Committee, and voted FOR this bill – again, thank them!). Let the reps know that, even though there is a fee associated with licensing the AMCs, the fees will be paid by the AMCs, this is intended to be a self-supporting program (dedicated fund, NOT GENERAL FUND monies), and that it is critical for consumer protection and appraiser independence that this bill/law ultimately pass!

These actions will be CRITICAL to the continued support and movement of the AMC licensing bill. If you WANT AMCs to be licensed/regulated in this state, please Take Action NOW!, and watch for further announcements in the coming days. I know this is time-consuming and perhaps a bit tedious, but NO ONE ELSE will act on behalf of appraisers…it is up to US!

Also, please be aware, this bill is being opposed by large national AMCs such as RELS, Landsafe, ClearCapital, LSR/LSI, and even perhaps BOEING!

Do not hesitate to send your AMC “horror stories” on to your legislator!

Thank you!

Stan Sidor
President, Board of Directors
ACOW - Appraiser's Coalition of Washington



HB 3040

Regarding the licensing of appraisal management companies.
Sponsors: Representatives Conway, Wood, Appleton, Rolfes, Sells, Sullivan, Finn

Conway – Dist 29
Wood – Dist 3
Appleton – Dist 23
Rolfes – Dist 23 (same as Appleton)
Sells – Dist 38
Sullivan – Dist 47
Finn - Dist 35