II 

Calendar No. 649 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5443 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 9, 2024 

Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural 

Resources 

NOVEMBER 21, 2024 

Reported by Mr. MANCHIN, without amendment 

AN ACT 

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’’. 


ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS
2 

•HR 5443 RS

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 to complete an assignment 

26 within a reasonable period of time; 


ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS
3 

•HR 5443 RS

1 (B) not assignment qualified; or 

2 (C) not cost competitive. 

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

4 of the enactment of this section, and annually thereafter 

5 for at least the following 4 years, the Secretary shall sub6 mit to Congress a report that includes the following: 

7 (1) A comparison using quantitative data of— 

8 (A) the number of requests for appraisal 

9 and valuation services received by the Depart10 ment during the reporting period and the num11 ber of requests for such services received by the 

12 Department in each of the 5 years before the 

13 reporting period; and 

14 (B) the amount of time required for the 

15 Department to complete a request for appraisal 

16 or valuation services before the date of the en17 actment of this section and after the date of the 

18 enactment of this section. 

19 (2) A qualitative assessment of the impact of 

20 subsection (a) in providing flexibility to the Sec21 retary when contracting with non-Federal covered 

22 appraisers. 

23 (3) Recommendations, if any, for congressional 

24 action that could help the Department operate more 

25 efficiently or overcome challenges with respect to 


ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS
4 

•HR 5443 RS

1 timely completion of requests for appraisal or valu2 ation services while ensuring the independence, im3 partiality, and objectivity of such services. 

4 (4) An overview of the workforce of the Depart5 ment with regard to appraisal and valuation services 

6 provided by the Department, including hiring and 

7 staffing during the reporting period with respect to 

8 employees and contractors of the Department. 

9 (5) A complete list of cases in which the au10 thority granted under section 2 of this Act was used 

11 during the reporting period, describing for each case 

12 the specific criteria used to satisfy the conditions of 

13 this Act. 

14 (d) STATUTORY CLARIFICATIONS.— 

15 (1) APPLICABILITY OF RELEVANT LAWS AND

16 REGULATIONS.—Except as provided in paragraph 

17 (3), nothing in this section shall be interpreted to af18 fect the application of any Federal or State law or 

19 regulation to a non-Federal covered appraiser with 

20 regard to the performance by such non-Federal cov21 ered appraiser of appraisal and valuation services for 

22 real property. 

23 (2) JURISDICTION REQUIREMENT.—Nothing in 

24 this section shall be interpreted to authorize a non25 Federal covered appraiser to perform appraisal and 


ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS
5 

•HR 5443 RS

1 valuation services for real property in a State in 

2 which such non-Federal covered appraiser is not li3 censed or certified to perform such services except to 

4 the extent that such services are performed for a 

5 transaction over which the Secretary has jurisdic6 tion. 

7 (3) NONAPPLICABILITY OF CERTAIN RELEVANT

8 LAWS AND REGULATIONS.—Any provision of a Fed9 eral or State law or regulation enacted before the 

10 date of the enactment of this section that requires 

11 a covered appraiser to be licensed or certified in a 

12 specific State to perform appraisal or valuation serv13 ices for real property in that State shall not apply 

14 to any transaction over which the Secretary has ju15 risdiction. 

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

17 after the enactment of this Act, the text of all policies (in18 cluding any successor policies), including reference manu19 als, guidance documents, handbooks, standard operating 

20 procedures, and statements of policy specific to the 

21 scoping, contracting, and review of appraisals performed 

22 for the Department by Federal or non-Federal covered ap23 praisers, shall be made publicly available online and pro24 vided upon request. 

25 (f) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 


ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS
6 

•HR 5443 RS

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

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

3 property appraiser. 

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

5 means the Department of the Interior. 

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

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

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

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

10 the Secretary of the Interior. 

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

12 the several States, the District of Columbia, and 

13 each territory and possession of the United States. 


ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS

ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS
Calendar No. 649 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5443 

AN ACT 

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 

NOVEMBER 21, 2024 

Reported without amendment 


ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS