I 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 7688 

To amend the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery, and Enforcement 

Act of 1989 to establish a Portal for Appraiser Credentialing and AMC 

Registration Information, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 20, 2020 

Mr. KUSTOFF of Tennessee (for himself and Mr. PERLMUTTER) introduced 

the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services 

A BILL 

To amend the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery, and 

Enforcement Act of 1989 to establish a Portal for Appraiser Credentialing and AMC Registration Information, 

and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Portal for Appraisal 

5 Licensing Act of 2020’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. PORTAL FOR APPRAISER CREDENTIALING AND 

2 AMC REGISTRATION INFORMATION. 

3 Section 1103 of the Financial Institutions Reform, 

4 Recovery, and Enforcement Act of 1989 (12 U.S.C. 3332) 

5 is amended— 

6 (1) in subsection (a)— 

7 (A) in paragraph (3), by striking ‘‘and’’ at 

8 the end; 

9 (B) in paragraph (4), by striking the pe10 riod on the end and inserting a semicolon; 

11 (C) in paragraph (5)— 

12 (i) by striking ‘‘. The report’’ and in13 serting ‘‘, and which’’; and 

14 (ii) by striking the period on the end 

15 and inserting a semicolon; 

16 (D) in paragraph (6), by striking the pe17 riod on the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

18 (E) by adding at the end the following: 

19 ‘‘(7) establish and maintain the Portal for Ap20 praiser Credentialing and AMC Registration Infor21 mation described under subsection (c).’’; and 

22 (2) by adding at the end the following: 

23 ‘‘(c) PORTAL FOR APPRAISER CREDENTIALING AND

24 AMC REGISTRATION INFORMATION.— 

25 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Appraisal Sub26 committee shall establish and maintain a cloudVerDate Sep 11 2014 21:04 Aug 06, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7688.IH H7688

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1 based system to be called the ‘Portal for Appraiser 

2 Credentialing and AMC Registration Information’ 

3 (the ‘Portal’), which— 

4 ‘‘(A) shall provide appraisers and appraisal 

5 management companies a central depository for 

6 license, certification, and registration applica7 tions and renewals; 

8 ‘‘(B) shall provide connectivity with State 

9 appraiser certifying and licensing agencies for 

10 their access to all application and renewal infor11 mation, including completed qualifying and con12 tinuing education, experience logs, examination 

13 results, background check information, where 

14 applicable, and any other information the Ap15 praisal Subcommittee determines appropriate 

16 (after consideration of any advice from the ad17 visory committee established under paragraph 

18 (6)); 

19 ‘‘(C) shall make available payment of all li20 cense, certification, and registration fees and 

21 delivery of letters of good standing to State ap22 praiser certifying and licensing agencies; and 

23 ‘‘(D) may utilize an existing platform, if 

24 available. 

25 ‘‘(2) BACKGROUND CHECKS.— 


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1 ‘‘(A) ACCESS TO RECORDS.—Notwith2 standing any other provision of law, in pro3 viding appraisal functions, the Attorney General 

4 shall provide access to all criminal history infor5 mation to the appropriate State officials respon6 sible for regulating State-licensed and State7 certified appraisers or appraisal management 

8 companies to the extent criminal history back9 ground checks are required under the laws of 

10 the State for the licensing or certification of 

11 such appraisers and registering appraisal man12 agement companies. 

13 ‘‘(B) AGENT.—For the purposes of this 

14 paragraph and in order to reduce the points of 

15 contact which the Federal Bureau of Investiga16 tion may have to maintain for purposes of sub17 paragraph (A), the Appraisal Subcommittee 

18 may be used as a channeling agent of the 

19 States for requesting and distributing informa20 tion between the Department of Justice and the 

21 appropriate State agencies. 

22 ‘‘(C) OTHER PERSONS REQUIRING A BACK23 GROUND CHECK.—To the extent FBI criminal 

24 history background checks are required under 

25 the laws of a State, appraisers and any other 


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1 person that may require such a background 

2 check shall submit fingerprints to the Portal 

3 and authorize the Appraisal Subcommittee to 

4 process a criminal background check with the 

5 Federal Bureau of Investigation. 

6 ‘‘(D) TREATMENT OF BACKGROUND

7 CHECKS.—Background checks completed under 

8 this paragraph shall satisfy any third-party 

9 oversight requirements imposed by Federal fi10 nancial institutions regulatory agencies. 

11 ‘‘(3) ADDITIONAL CONTENT INFORMATION.— 

12 ‘‘(A) EDUCATION COURSES.—For purposes 

13 of the education information maintained by the 

14 Portal— 

15 ‘‘(i) a State appraiser certifying and 

16 licensing agency may notify the Portal of 

17 which particular courses have been ap18 proved by the agency; and 

19 ‘‘(ii) both education providers and 

20 State appraiser certifying and licensing 

21 agencies of States may submit to the Por22 tal lists of individuals who have completed 

23 such courses. 

24 ‘‘(B) UNIQUE IDENTIFIERS.—The Ap25 praisal Subcommittee shall use a unique identiVerDate Sep 11 2014 21:04 Aug 06, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7688.IH H7688

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1 fier to identify each individual who submits an 

2 application through the Portal or otherwise 

3 makes use of the Portal. The Appraisal Sub4 committee may also use a unique identifier to 

5 identify each appraisal management company 

6 that submits an application through the Portal 

7 or otherwise makes use of the Portal. 

8 ‘‘(4) NO EFFECT ON STATES’ RIGHTS.—States 

9 shall retain the ability to act independently upon li10 cense, certification, and registration applications and 

11 renewals for appraisers and appraisal management 

12 companies. 

13 ‘‘(5) TREATMENT OF FEES.—State credential14 ing fees and any State-specific information shall con15 tinue to be provided to States by appraisers and ap16 praisal management companies, but transmitted 

17 through the Portal via a streamlined process and ap18 plication. 

19 ‘‘(6) ADVISORY COMMITTEE.— 

20 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Appraisal Sub21 committee shall establish an advisory committee 

22 to advise the Appraisal Subcommittee on the 

23 establishment of the Portal. 

24 ‘‘(B) MEMBERSHIP.—The advisory com25 mittee shall consist of representatives of indusVerDate Sep 11 2014 21:04 Aug 06, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7688.IH H7688

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1 try associations, appraisers, lenders, appraisal 

2 management companies, and State appraiser 

3 certifying and licensing agencies, to be deter4 mined by the Appraisal Subcommittee. 

5 ‘‘(7) FUNDING.— 

6 ‘‘(A) USER FEES.—For the sole purpose of 

7 paying for the cost of establishing and main8 taining the Portal and carrying out the back9 ground checks required under paragraph 

10 (2)(A), the Appraisal Subcommittee may charge 

11 a reasonable fee to individuals and appraisal 

12 management companies making use of the Por13 tal. The fee shall be revenue neutral to the 

14 costs of developing and maintaining the Portal. 

15 ‘‘(B) STATE GRANTS.—The Appraisal Sub16 committee shall make grants available to State 

17 appraiser certifying and licensing agencies, in 

18 accordance with policies to be developed by the 

19 Appraisal Subcommittee, to support the efforts 

20 of such agencies to connect State systems with 

21 the Portal.’’. 

Æ 


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