IIB 

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 

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, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Accelerating Apprais3 als and Conservation Efforts Act’’ or the ‘‘AACE Act’’. 

4 SEC. 2. APPRAISAL AND VALUATION SERVICES FOR REAL 

5 PROPERTY. 

6 (a) LICENSE, CERTIFICATION REQUIREMENT.—A 

7 covered appraiser needs to be licensed or certified in only 

8 1 State to perform appraisal or valuation services for real 

9 property in any State for a transaction over which the Sec10 retary has jurisdiction. 

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

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

13 perform appraisal or valuation services for real property 

14 for a transaction described in subsection (a), the Sec15 retary— 

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

17 use a non-Federal covered appraiser who is a cer18 tified general real property appraiser licensed in a 

19 State in which the real property that is the subject 

20 of the transaction is located; and 

21 (2) may only use a non-Federal covered ap22 praiser who is a certified general real property ap23 praiser licensed in a State other than one in which 

24 the real property that is the subject of the trans25 action is located if a non-Federal covered appraiser 


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

2 Secretary— 

3 (A) unavailable to complete an assignment 

4 within a reasonable period of time; 

5 (B) not assignment qualified; or 

6 (C) not cost competitive. 

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

8 of the enactment of this section, and annually thereafter 

9 for at least the following 4 years, the Secretary shall sub10 mit to Congress a report that includes the following: 

11 (1) A comparison using quantitative data of— 

12 (A) the number of requests for appraisal 

13 and valuation services received by the Depart14 ment during the reporting period and the num15 ber of requests for such services received by the 

16 Department in each of the 5 years before the 

17 reporting period; and 

18 (B) the amount of time required for the 

19 Department to complete a request for appraisal 

20 or valuation services before the date of the en21 actment of this section and after the date of the 

22 enactment of this section. 

23 (2) A qualitative assessment of the impact of 

24 subsection (a) in providing flexibility to the SecVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:07 Jul 10, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5443.RFS H5443

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1 retary when contracting with non-Federal covered 

2 appraisers. 

3 (3) Recommendations, if any, for congressional 

4 action that could help the Department operate more 

5 efficiently or overcome challenges with respect to 

6 timely completion of requests for appraisal or valu7 ation services while ensuring the independence, im8 partiality, and objectivity of such services. 

9 (4) An overview of the workforce of the Depart10 ment with regard to appraisal and valuation services 

11 provided by the Department, including hiring and 

12 staffing during the reporting period with respect to 

13 employees and contractors of the Department. 

14 (5) A complete list of cases in which the au15 thority granted under section 2 of this Act was used 

16 during the reporting period, describing for each case 

17 the specific criteria used to satisfy the conditions of 

18 this Act. 

19 (d) STATUTORY CLARIFICATIONS.— 

20 (1) APPLICABILITY OF RELEVANT LAWS AND

21 REGULATIONS.—Except as provided in paragraph 

22 (3), nothing in this section shall be interpreted to af23 fect the application of any Federal or State law or 

24 regulation to a non-Federal covered appraiser with 

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1 ered appraiser of appraisal and valuation services for 

2 real property. 

3 (2) JURISDICTION REQUIREMENT.—Nothing in 

4 this section shall be interpreted to authorize a non5 Federal covered appraiser to perform appraisal and 

6 valuation services for real property in a State in 

7 which such non-Federal covered appraiser is not li8 censed or certified to perform such services except to 

9 the extent that such services are performed for a 

10 transaction over which the Secretary has jurisdic11 tion. 

12 (3) NONAPPLICABILITY OF CERTAIN RELEVANT

13 LAWS AND REGULATIONS.—Any provision of a Fed14 eral or State law or regulation enacted before the 

15 date of the enactment of this section that requires 

16 a covered appraiser to be licensed or certified in a 

17 specific State to perform appraisal or valuation serv18 ices for real property in that State shall not apply 

19 to any transaction over which the Secretary has ju20 risdiction. 

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 


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1 scoping, contracting, and review of appraisals performed 

2 for the Department by Federal or non-Federal covered ap3 praisers, shall be made publicly available online and pro4 vided upon 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 

17 the several States, the District of Columbia, and 

18 each territory and possession of the United States. 

Passed the House of Representatives July 8, 2024. 

Attest: KEVIN F. MCCUMBER, 

Clerk. 


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