One of the primary functions of the Massachusetts Board of Real Estate Appraisers (MBREA) is the perpetuation of the profession and protecting the profession and its members from inappropriate or overly restrictive regulations.
The MBREA has a government affairs committee, chaired by Allan Cohen, and a separate political action committee that works diligently in screening proposed legislation that may treat the profession unfairly and in presenting legislative initiatives that will protect the profession and right wrongs that may have been committed.
To that end the government affairs committee put forward four bills that address the needs of the appraising community. Those are:

House Bill 269:
* USPAP requires record keeping for 5 years and 2 years after the adjudication of a court case where testimony was provided.
* Presently there is no time frame restricting complaints on appraisals performed in Massachusetts.
* This lack of time frame forces appraisers to maintain working files on all there appraisals, regardless on when they were performed.
* Work files can be cumbersome and cost money to store, placing an increased financial burden on appraisers.
* This bill would establish a time frame for keeping reports that is consistent with the schedule that is established by USPAP.

Senate Bill 131:
* Requires that all appraisals performed within the state be performed by professional appraisers, who are trained and qualified to perform these services.
* 66% of all states within this country have such a requirement.
* An additional 11% have this requirement for all mandatory federally related transactions.
* Only 12% of the states (none in New England) are voluntary states.
Voluntary states are:
* Alaska
* Iowa
* Massachusetts
* North Dakota
* Oklahoma
* Wyoming

Senate Bill 162:
* 2009-2011 The Board of Professional Licensure arbitrarily set a different more restrictive time frame for compliance with continuing education.
* This time frame was more restrictive than the one established nationally by the Appraisal Qualification Board.
* Non-compliance with the local more restrictive requirement ended up with a: $500 fine for each appraiser; a disciplinary action for non-compliance on their records; an ongoing increase in insurance rates.
* This bill seeks relief from the unnecessary actions against the licenses of these appraisers by directing the Department of Licensure to rescind and permanently remove from their records disciplinary actions taken against these appraisers.

House Bill 197:
* Establishes a licensing process for appraisal management companies

To move these bills forward the MBREA and the Appraisers PAC need your support in the form of a PAC donation (appraiserspac.org), in the form of membership in the MBREA (mbrea.org) and in the form of involvement with the process of calling your legislators and voicing your support of theses bills. Several of us have already canvassed key members of the House and Senate in an effort to move these bills forward. Your support is critical to protect our profession and also to insure that it survives to serve and protect consumers going into the future.
Richard Simmons Jr. is 2015 president of the Mass. Board of Real Estate Appraisers (MBREA) and is assessor for the town of Lynnfield, Mass.