I 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 5443 

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 

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. 

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 Apprais5 als and Conservation Efforts Act’’ or the ‘‘AACE Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. APPRAISAL AND VALUATION SERVICES FOR REAL 

2 PROPERTY. 

3 (a) LICENSE, CERTIFICATION REQUIREMENT.—A 

4 covered appraiser needs to be licensed or certified in only 

5 1 State to perform appraisal or valuation services for real 

6 property in any State for a transaction over which the Sec7 retary has jurisdiction. 

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

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

10 perform appraisal or valuation services for real property 

11 for a transaction described in subsection (a), the Sec12 retary— 

13 (1) shall, to the maximum extent practicable, 

14 use a non-Federal covered appraiser who is a cer15 tified general real property appraiser licensed in a 

16 State in which the real property that is the subject 

17 of the transaction is located; and 

18 (2) may only use a non-Federal covered ap19 praiser who is a certified general real property ap20 praiser licensed in a State other than one in which 

21 the real property that is the subject of the trans22 action is located if a non-Federal covered appraiser 

23 described in paragraph (1) is, as determined by the 

24 Secretary— 

25 (A) unavailable; 

26 (B) not assignment qualified; or 


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1 (C) not cost competitive. 

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

3 of the enactment of this section, and annually thereafter 

4 for at least the following 4 years, the Secretary shall sub5 mit to Congress a report that includes the following: 

6 (1) A comparison using quantitative data of— 

7 (A) the number of requests for appraisal 

8 and valuation services received by the Depart9 ment during the reporting period and the num10 ber of requests for such services received by the 

11 Department in each of the 5 years before the 

12 reporting period; and 

13 (B) the amount of time required for the 

14 Department to complete a request for appraisal 

15 or valuation services before the date of the en16 actment of this section and after the date of the 

17 enactment of this section. 

18 (2) A qualitative assessment of the impact of 

19 subsection (a) in providing flexibility to the Sec20 retary when contracting with non-Federal covered 

21 appraisers. 

22 (3) Recommendations, if any, for congressional 

23 action that could help the Department operate more 

24 efficiently or overcome challenges with respect to 

25 timely completion of requests for appraisal or valuVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:56 Sep 15, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5443.IH H5443

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1 ation services while ensuring the independence, im2 partiality, and objectivity of such services. 

3 (4) An overview of the workforce of the Depart4 ment with regard to appraisal and valuation services 

5 provided by the Department, including hiring and 

6 staffing during the reporting period with respect to 

7 employees and contractors of the Department. 

8 (d) STATUTORY CLARIFICATIONS.— 

9 (1) APPLICABILITY OF RELEVANT LAWS AND

10 REGULATIONS.—Except as provided in paragraph 

11 (3), nothing in this section shall be interpreted to af12 fect the application of any Federal or State law or 

13 regulation to a non-Federal covered appraiser with 

14 regard to the performance by such non-Federal cov15 ered appraiser of appraisal and valuation services for 

16 real property. 

17 (2) JURISDICTION REQUIREMENT.—Nothing in 

18 this section shall be interpreted to authorize a non19 Federal covered appraiser to perform appraisal and 

20 valuation services for real property in a State in 

21 which such non-Federal covered appraiser is not li22 censed or certified to perform such services except to 

23 the extent that such services are performed for a 

24 transaction over which the Secretary has jurisdic25 tion. 


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1 (3) NONAPPLICABILITY OF CERTAIN RELEVANT

2 LAWS AND REGULATIONS.—Any provision of a Fed3 eral or State law or regulation enacted before the 

4 date of the enactment of this section that requires 

5 a covered appraiser to be licensed or certified in a 

6 specific State to perform appraisal or valuation serv7 ices for real property in that State shall not apply 

8 to any transaction over which the Secretary has ju9 risdiction. 

10 (e) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

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

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

13 property appraiser. 

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

15 means the Department of the Interior. 

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

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

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

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

20 the Secretary of the Interior. 

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

22 the several States, the District of Columbia, and 

23 each territory and possession of the United States. 

Æ 


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