DOS-22-10-00004-A Qualifying Education and Experience for Real Estate Appraisers

8/4/10 N.Y. St. Reg. DOS-22-10-00004-A

NEW YORK STATE REGISTER

VOLUME XXXII, ISSUE 31

August 04, 2010

RULE MAKING ACTIVITIES

DEPARTMENT OF STATE

NOTICE OF ADOPTION

 

I.D No. DOS-22-10-00004-A

Filing No. 749

Filing Date. Jul. 20, 2010

Effective Date. Aug. 04, 2010

Qualifying Education and Experience for Real Estate Appraisers

PURSUANT TO THE PROVISIONS OF THE State Administrative Procedure Act, NOTICE is hereby given of the following action:

Action taken:

Repeal of Parts 1103 and 1105, and section 1107.8; addition of new Parts 1103 and 1105; and amendment of sections 1107.2, 1107.4 1107.5, 1107.9 and 1107.21.

Statutory authority:

Executive Law, section 160-d

Subject:

Qualifying education and experience for real estate appraisers.

Purpose:

To conform regulations with recent statutory amendments.

Substance of final rule:

Part 1103 is repealed and a new part enacted.

1103.1 is added to define frequently used terms.

1103.2 is added to set forth the education requirements for appraisal applicants.

1103.3 is added to require the approval of appraisal courses by the Department of State and to set forth the qualifications of appraisal schools and procedures for obtaining course approval.

1103.4 is added to provide the required qualifications for appraisal instructors.

1103.5 is added to set forth the procedures and basis for approval, denial, suspension and revocation of appraisal courses by the Department.

1103.6 is added to set forth the residential course outlines.

1103.7 is added to set forth the national Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice course requirements.

1103.8 is added to set forth the statistics, modeling and finance course outline.

1103.9 is added to set forth the residential elective course outlines.

1103.10 is added to set forth general course outlines.

1103.11 is added to set forth the course outlines for general elective courses.

Sections 1105.1 through 1105.8 are repealed and new sections 1105.1 through 1105.7 are added.

1105.1 and 1105.2 are added to set forth the procedures for obtaining approval to offer appraisal examinations.

1105.3 is added to set forth examination registration and scheduling requirements.

1105.4 is added to require examination administrators to include state specific examination questions as prescribed by the Department.

1105.5 is added to require examination administrators to report examination results in form and manner prescribed by the Department.

1105.6 is added to set forth when the Department may deny, suspend or revoke the approval of examination administrators.

1105.7 is added to require examination administrators to copy the Department on any Appraisal Qualifications Board reports.

Section 1107.4 is amended to set forth the number of continuing education credits which may be granted for the authorship of publications.

Section 1107.8 is repealed.

Sections 1107.2, 1107.5 and 1107.9 are amended to clarify that applicants seeking a renewal of their license/certificate must successfully complete the 7 hour USPAP update course.

Section 1107.21 is amended to specify course attendance requirements.

Final rule as compared with last published rule:

Nonsubstantive changes were made in sections 1103.1, 1103.2, 1103.3 and 1107.8.

Text of rule and any required statements and analyses may be obtained from:

Whitney Clark, NYS Department of State, Division of Licensing Services, Alfred E Smith Office Building, 80 South Swan Street, Albany, NY 12231, [phone], email: [e-mail]

Revised Regulatory Impact Statement

A revised Regulatory Impact Statement is not required because the changes made to this rule are not substantial.

Revised Regulatory Flexibility Analysis

A revised Regulatory Flexibility Analysis for Small Business and Local Government is not required because changes made to this rule are not substantial. The rule making merely conforms existing education regulations to the new statutory amendment and requirements of the Appraisal Subcommittee. The rule making will not have any foreseeable impact on jobs or employment opportunities for real estate appraisers.

The rule does not apply to local governments.

Revised Rural Area Flexibility Analysis

A revised rural flexibility analysis is not required because changes made to this rule are not substantial. Additionally, this rule does not impose any adverse impact on rural areas, and the rule does not impose any new reporting, record keeping or other compliance requirements on public or private entities in rural areas.

Revised Job Impact Statement

A revised job impact statement is not required because changes made to the rule are not substantial. The rule will not have any substantial impact on jobs or employment opportunities for licensed or certified real estate appraisers.

Assessment of Public Comment

The Department of State received comments from two entities regarding the rule as proposed: The Federal Appraisal Subcommittee and the NYS Board of Real Estate Appraisal. As set forth in the Regulatory Impact Statement, the proposed rulemaking was necessitated by changes to the Executive Law and the need to bring the Department's appraisal regulations into compliance with mandatory Federal appraisal standards.

In reviewing the regulations as proposed, the Federal Appraisal Subcommittee, which oversees New York State's appraisal program noted that three concepts in the regulations were out of compliance with Federal requirements. The first is the concept of correspondence courses, which are not longer permitted by the Appraisal Subcommittee. Accordingly, all references to correspondence courses have been removed in the regulations as adopted.

The second issue commented upon by the Appraisal Subcommittee was the course attendance requirements. As proposed, the regulations required a student to attend 90% of a qualifying course, 100% of a 2 to 7 ½ hour continuing education course and 80% of an 8 to 28 hour continuing education program. The Appraisal Subcommittee noted that Federal regulations now require students to attend 100% of a course to receive credit, but that instructors have discretion to allow students to make up missed course material. The regulations have been revised accordingly.

The Appraisal Subcommittee also commented that extensions of time within which to complete continuing education are not permitted under its regulations. The rule, as adopted, has been revised to bring the regulations into compliance with this requirement.

The NYS Board of Real Estate Appraisal commented upon the requirements that qualifying courses be taken in sequential order and that only certain elective courses be permitted. These were requirements of the Board, and not ones imposed by the Federal Appraisal Subcommittee. Due to the changes in Federal Law and New York State statute, there has been a shortage of available appraisal courses in certain areas of the State. To accommodate appraisal students, without compromising the quality of the education received, the Board requested that the proposed regulation be amended to permit students to take appraisal courses out of sequence and to permit the Department of State to approve elective courses other than those specifically mentioned in the regulations. The rule, as adopted, has been amended accordingly.