H. R. 5443 
One Hundred Eighteenth Congress 
of the 
United States of America 
AT THE SECOND SESSION 
Begun and held at the City of Washington on Wednesday, 
the third day of January, two thousand and twenty-four 
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. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Accelerating Appraisals and 
Conservation Efforts Act’’ or the ‘‘AACE Act’’. 
SEC. 2. APPRAISAL AND VALUATION SERVICES FOR REAL PROPERTY. 
(a) 
LICENSE, 
CERTIFICATION
REQUIREMENT.—A 
covered 
appraiser needs to be licensed or certified in only 1 State to perform 
appraisal or valuation services for real property in any State for 
a transaction over which the Secretary has jurisdiction. 
(b) USE OF NON-FEDERAL COVERED APPRAISERS.—If the Sec-
retary uses a non-Federal covered appraiser to perform appraisal 
or valuation services for real property for a transaction described 
in subsection (a), the Secretary— 
(1) shall, to the maximum extent practicable, use a non- 
Federal covered appraiser who is a certified general real prop-
erty appraiser licensed in a State in which the real property 
that is the subject of the transaction is located; and 
(2) may only use a non-Federal covered appraiser who 
is a certified general real property appraiser licensed in a 
State other than one in which the real property that is the 
subject of the transaction is located if a non-Federal covered 
appraiser described in paragraph (1) is, as determined by the 
Secretary— 
(A) unavailable to complete an assignment within a 
reasonable period of time; 
(B) not assignment qualified; or 
(C) not cost competitive. 
(c) REPORT.—Not later than 1 year after the date of the enact-
ment of this section, and annually thereafter for at least the fol-
lowing 4 years, the Secretary shall submit to Congress a report 
that includes the following: 
(1) A comparison using quantitative data of— 
(A) the number of requests for appraisal and valuation 
services received by the Department during the reporting 
period and the number of requests for such services 
received by the Department in each of the 5 years before 
the reporting period; and
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(B) the amount of time required for the Department 
to complete a request for appraisal or valuation services 
before the date of the enactment of this section and after 
the date of the enactment of this section. 
(2) A qualitative assessment of the impact of subsection 
(a) in providing flexibility to the Secretary when contracting 
with non-Federal covered appraisers. 
(3) Recommendations, if any, for congressional action that 
could help the Department operate more efficiently or overcome 
challenges with respect to timely completion of requests for 
appraisal or valuation services while ensuring the independ-
ence, impartiality, and objectivity of such services. 
(4) An overview of the workforce of the Department with 
regard to appraisal and valuation services provided by the 
Department, including hiring and staffing during the reporting 
period with respect to employees and contractors of the Depart-
ment. 
(5) A complete list of cases in which the authority granted 
under section 2 of this Act was used during the reporting 
period, describing for each case the specific criteria used to 
satisfy the conditions of this Act. 
(d) STATUTORY CLARIFICATIONS.— 
(1) APPLICABILITY OF RELEVANT LAWS AND REGULATIONS.— 
Except as provided in paragraph (3), nothing in this section 
shall be interpreted to affect the application of any Federal 
or State law or regulation to a non-Federal covered appraiser 
with regard to the performance by such non-Federal covered 
appraiser of appraisal and valuation services for real property. 
(2) JURISDICTION REQUIREMENT.—Nothing in this section 
shall be interpreted to authorize a non-Federal covered 
appraiser to perform appraisal and valuation services for real 
property in a State in which such non-Federal covered appraiser 
is not licensed or certified to perform such services except 
to the extent that such services are performed for a transaction 
over which the Secretary has jurisdiction. 
(3) NONAPPLICABILITY
OF
CERTAIN
RELEVANT
LAWS
AND 
REGULATIONS.—Any provision of a Federal or State law or 
regulation enacted before the date of the enactment of this 
section that requires a covered appraiser to be licensed or 
certified in a specific State to perform appraisal or valuation 
services for real property in that State shall not apply to 
any transaction over which the Secretary has jurisdiction. 
(e) PUBLIC AVAILABILITY.—Not later than 90 days after the 
enactment of this Act, the text of all policies (including any suc-
cessor policies), including reference manuals, guidance documents, 
handbooks, standard operating procedures, and statements of policy 
specific to the scoping, contracting, and review of appraisals per-
formed for the Department by Federal or non-Federal covered 
appraisers, shall be made publicly available online and provided 
upon request. 
(f) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 
(1) COVERED
APPRAISER.—The term ‘‘covered appraiser’’ 
means a State-licensed or -certified real property appraiser. 
(2) DEPARTMENT.—The term ‘‘Department’’ means the 
Department of the Interior.
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(3) REPORTING PERIOD.—The term ‘‘reporting period’’ means 
the 1-year period before the date on which a report is submitted 
under subsection (c). 
(4) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means the Secretary 
of the Interior. 
(5) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means each of the several 
States, the District of Columbia, and each territory and posses-
sion of the United States. 
Speaker of the House of Representatives. 
Vice President of the United States and
President of the Senate.