IB 

Union Calendar No. 467 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5443 

[Report No. 118–565] 

To establish a policy regarding appraisal and valuation services for real 

property for a transaction over which the Secretary of the Interior 

has jurisdiction, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

SEPTEMBER 13, 2023 

Ms. LEE of Nevada (for herself and Mr. JOYCE of Ohio) introduced the 

following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources 

JUNE 27, 2024 

Additional sponsors: Mr. Fitzpatrick, Mr. Peters, Mr. Garbarino, Mr. 

Edwards, Mr. Panetta, Mr. Lawler, Mr. D’Esposito, Mr. Moylan, Mr. 

Ciscomani, Ms. Titus, Mr. Amodei, and Mr. Horsford 

JUNE 27, 2024 

Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole 

House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed 

[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] 

[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on September 13, 2023] 


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A BILL 

To establish a policy regarding appraisal and valuation services for real property for a transaction over which the 

Secretary of the Interior has jurisdiction, and for other 

purposes. 


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•HR 5443 RH

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 ‘‘Accelerating Appraisals 

5 and Conservation Efforts Act’’ or the ‘‘AACE Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. APPRAISAL AND VALUATION SERVICES FOR REAL 

7 PROPERTY. 

8 (a) LICENSE, CERTIFICATION REQUIREMENT.—A cov9 ered appraiser needs to be licensed or certified in only 1 

10 State to perform appraisal or valuation services for real 

11 property in any State for a transaction over which the Sec12 retary has jurisdiction. 

13 (b) USE OF NON-FEDERAL COVERED APPRAISERS.— 

14 If the Secretary uses a non-Federal covered appraiser to 

15 perform appraisal or valuation services for real property 

16 for a transaction described in subsection (a), the Sec17 retary— 

18 (1) shall, to the maximum extent practicable, use 

19 a non-Federal covered appraiser who is a certified 

20 general real property appraiser licensed in a State in 

21 which the real property that is the subject of the 

22 transaction is located; and 

23 (2) may only use a non-Federal covered ap24 praiser who is a certified general real property ap25 praiser licensed in a State other than one in which 


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1 the real property that is the subject of the transaction 

2 is located if a non-Federal covered appraiser de3 scribed in paragraph (1) is, as determined by the Sec4 retary— 

5 (A) unavailable to complete an assignment 

6 within a reasonable period of time; 

7 (B) not assignment qualified; or 

8 (C) not cost competitive. 

9 (c) REPORT.—Not later than 1 year after the date of 

10 the enactment of this section, and annually thereafter for 

11 at least the following 4 years, the Secretary shall submit 

12 to Congress a report that includes the following: 

13 (1) A comparison using quantitative data of— 

14 (A) the number of requests for appraisal 

15 and valuation services received by the Depart16 ment during the reporting period and the num17 ber of requests for such services received by the 

18 Department in each of the 5 years before the re19 porting period; and 

20 (B) the amount of time required for the De21 partment to complete a request for appraisal or 

22 valuation services before the date of the enact23 ment of this section and after the date of the en24 actment of this section. 


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1 (2) A qualitative assessment of the impact of 

2 subsection (a) in providing flexibility to the Secretary 

3 when contracting with non-Federal covered apprais4 ers. 

5 (3) Recommendations, if any, for congressional 

6 action that could help the Department operate more 

7 efficiently or overcome challenges with respect to time8 ly completion of requests for appraisal or valuation 

9 services while ensuring the independence, impar10 tiality, and objectivity of such services. 

11 (4) An overview of the workforce of the Depart12 ment with regard to appraisal and valuation services 

13 provided by the Department, including hiring and 

14 staffing during the reporting period with respect to 

15 employees and contractors of the Department. 

16 (5) A complete list of cases in which the author17 ity granted under section 2 of this Act was used dur18 ing the reporting period, describing for each case the 

19 specific criteria used to satisfy the conditions of this 

20 Act. 

21 (d) STATUTORY CLARIFICATIONS.— 

22 (1) APPLICABILITY OF RELEVANT LAWS AND

23 REGULATIONS.—Except as provided in paragraph 

24 (3), nothing in this section shall be interpreted to af25 fect the application of any Federal or State law or 


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1 regulation to a non-Federal covered appraiser with 

2 regard to the performance by such non-Federal cov3 ered appraiser of appraisal and valuation services for 

4 real property. 

5 (2) JURISDICTION REQUIREMENT.—Nothing in 

6 this section shall be interpreted to authorize a non7 Federal covered appraiser to perform appraisal and 

8 valuation services for real property in a State in 

9 which such non-Federal covered appraiser is not li10 censed or certified to perform such services except to 

11 the extent that such services are performed for a 

12 transaction over which the Secretary has jurisdiction. 

13 (3) NONAPPLICABILITY OF CERTAIN RELEVANT

14 LAWS AND REGULATIONS.—Any provision of a Fed15 eral or State law or regulation enacted before the date 

16 of the enactment of this section that requires a covered 

17 appraiser to be licensed or certified in a specific State 

18 to perform appraisal or valuation services for real 

19 property in that State shall not apply to any trans20 action over which the Secretary has jurisdiction. 

21 (e) PUBLIC AVAILABILITY.—Not later than 90 days 

22 after the enactment of this Act, the text of all policies (in23 cluding any successor policies), including reference manu24 als, guidance documents, handbooks, standard operating 

25 procedures, and statements of policy specific to the scoping, 


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1 contracting, and review of appraisals performed for the De2 partment by Federal or non-Federal covered appraisers, 

3 shall be made publicly available online and provided upon 

4 request. 

5 (f) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

6 (1) COVERED APPRAISER.—The term ‘‘covered 

7 appraiser’’ means a State-licensed or -certified real 

8 property appraiser. 

9 (2) DEPARTMENT.—The term ‘‘Department’’ 

10 means the Department of the Interior. 

11 (3) REPORTING PERIOD.—The term ‘‘reporting 

12 period’’ means the 1-year period before the date on 

13 which a report is submitted under subsection (c). 

14 (4) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

15 the Secretary of the Interior. 

16 (5) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means each of the 

17 several States, the District of Columbia, and each ter18 ritory and possession of the United States. 


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Union Calendar No. 467 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5443 

[Report No. 118–565] 

A BILL 

To establish a policy regarding appraisal and valurisdiction, and for other purposes. over which the Secretary of the Interior has ju- ation services for real property for a transaction 

JUNE 27, 2024 

Reported with an amendment, committed to the Comand ordered to be printed mittee of the Whole House on the State of the Union, 


ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS