CHAPTER 148
SB 53 - FINAL VERSION
03/09/2017 0570s
2017 SESSION
17-0782
10/06
SENATE BILL 53
AN ACT relative to regulation of appraisal management companies by the real estate appraiser board.
SPONSORS: Sen. D'Allesandro, Dist 20
COMMITTEE: Executive Departments and Administration
-----------------------------------------------------------------
This bill adds definitions and requirements for the operation in this state of appraisal management companies registered by the real estate appraiser board.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Explanation: Matter added to current law appears in bold italics.
Matter removed from current law appears [in brackets and struckthrough.]
Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.
03/09/2017 0570s 17-0782
10/06
STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE
In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Seventeen
AN ACT relative to regulation of appraisal management companies by the real estate appraiser board.
Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:
148:1 New Section; Licensed Real Estate Appraisers; Definitions for Appraisal Management Companies. Amend RSA 310-B by inserting after section 2 the following new section:
310-B:2-a Definitions for Appraisal Management Companies In addition to the definitions in RSA 310-B:2 the following shall apply to appraisal management companies:
I. "Affiliate" means affiliate as provided in 12 U.S.C. section 1841.
II. "AMC National Registry" means the registry of state-registered appraisal management companies and federally regulated AMCs maintained by the Appraisal Subcommittee.
III.(a) "Appraisal management company" or "AMC" means a person that:
(1) Provides appraisal management services to creditors or to secondary mortgage market participants, including affiliates;
(2) Provides such services in connection with valuing a consumer’s principal dwelling as security for a consumer credit transaction or incorporating such transactions into securitizations; and
(3) Within a given 12-month period oversees an appraiser panel of more than 15 state-certified or state-licensed appraisers in a state or 25 or more state-certified or state-licensed appraisers in 2 or more states;
(b) An AMC does not include a department or division of an entity that provides appraisal management services only to that entity.
IV. "Appraisal management services" means one or more of the following:
(a) Recruiting, selecting, and retaining appraisers;
(b) Contracting with state-certified or state-licensed appraisers to perform appraisal assignments;
(c) Managing the process of having an appraisal performed, including providing administrative services such as receiving appraisal orders and appraisal reports, submitting completed appraisal reports to creditors and secondary market participants, collecting fees from creditors and secondary market participants for services provided, and paying appraisers for services performed; and
(d) Reviewing and verifying the work of appraisers.
V. "Appraiser panel" means a network, list, or roster of licensed or certified appraisers approved by an AMC to perform appraisals as independent contractors for the AMC. Appraisers on an AMC’s appraiser panel include both appraisers accepted by the AMC for consideration for future appraisal assignments in covered transactions or for secondary mortgage market participants in connection with covered transactions and appraisers engaged by the AMC to perform one or more appraisals in covered transactions or for secondary mortgage market participants in connection with covered transactions. An appraiser is an independent contractor if the appraiser is treated as an independent contractor by the AMC for purposes of federal income taxation.
VI. "Appraisal Subcommittee" means the Appraisal Subcommittee of the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council.
VII. "Consumer credit" means credit offered or extended to a consumer primarily for personal, family, or household purposes.
VIII. "Covered transaction" means any consumer credit transaction secured by the consumer’s principal dwelling.
IX. "Creditor" means:
(a) A person who regularly extends consumer credit that is subject to a finance charge or is payable by written agreement in more than 4 installments (not including a down payment), and to whom the obligation is initially payable, either on the face of the note or contract, or by agreement when there is no note or contract.
(b) A person who regularly extends consumer credit if the person extended credit (other than credit subject to the requirements of 12 C.F.R. section 1026.32) more than 5 times for transactions secured by a dwelling in the preceding calendar year. If a person did not meet these numerical standards in the preceding calendar year, the numerical standards shall be applied to the current calendar year. A person regularly extends consumer credit if, in any 12-month period, the person originates more than one credit extension that is subject to the requirements of 12 C.F.R. 1026.32 section or one or more such credit extensions through a mortgage broker.
X. "Dwelling" means a residential structure that contains one to 4 units, whether or not that structure is attached to real property. The term includes an individual condominium unit, cooperative unit, mobile home, and trailer, if it is used as a residence. A consumer can have only one “principal” dwelling at a time. Thus, a vacation or other second home would not be a principal dwelling. However, if a consumer buys or builds a new dwelling that will become the consumer’s principal dwelling within a year or upon the completion of construction, the new dwelling is considered the principal dwelling.
XI. "Federally regulated AMC" means an AMC that is owned and controlled by an insured depository institution, as defined in 12 U.S.C. section 1813 and regulated by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, or the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.
XII. "Federally related transaction regulations" means regulations established by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, or the National Credit Union Administration, pursuant to sections 1112, 1113, and 1114 of FIRREA, Title XI, 12 U.S.C. sections 3341-3343.
XIII. "Person" means a natural person or an organization, including a corporation, partnership, proprietorship, association, cooperative, estate, trust, or government unit.
XIV. "Secondary mortgage market participant" means a guarantor or insurer of mortgage-backed securities, or an underwriter or issuer of mortgage-backed securities. Secondary mortgage market participant only includes an individual investor in a mortgage-backed security if that investor also serves in the capacity of a guarantor, insurer, underwriter, or issuer for the mortgage-backed security.
XV. "States" mean the 50 states and the District of Columbia and the territories of Guam, Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
XVI. "Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice" or "USPAP" means the current standards of the appraisal profession, developed for appraisers and users of appraisal services by the Appraisal Standards Board of the Appraisal Foundation.
148:2 New Sections; Appraisal Management Companies. Amend RSA 310-B by inserting after section 12-o the following new sections:
310-B:12-p Appraiser Panel; Annual Size Calculation. For purposes of determining whether, within a 12-month period, an AMC oversees an appraiser panel of more than 15 state-certified or state-licensed appraisers in a state or 25 or more state-certified or state-licensed appraisers in 2 or more states:
I. An appraiser is deemed part of the AMC’s appraiser panel as of the earliest date on which the AMC:
(a) Affirms acceptance of the appraiser for the AMCs consideration for future appraisal assignments in covered transactions or for secondary mortgage market participants in connection with covered transactions; or
(b) Engages the appraiser to perform one or more appraisals on behalf of a creditor for a covered transaction or secondary mortgage market participant in connection with covered transactions.
II. An appraiser who is deemed part of the AMC's appraiser panel pursuant to paragraph I is deemed to remain on the panel until the date on which the AMC:
(a) Sends written notice to the appraiser removing the appraiser from the appraiser panel, with an explanation of its action; or
(b) Receives written notice from the appraiser asking to be removed from the appraiser panel or notice of the death or incapacity of the appraiser.
III. If an appraiser is removed from an AMC's appraiser panel pursuant to paragraph II, but the AMC subsequently re-admits or engages the appraiser at any time during the 12 months after the AMC's removal, the removal will be deemed not to have occurred, and the appraiser will be deemed to have been part of the AMC's appraiser panel without interruption.
IV. The period for purposes of counting appraisers on an AMC’s appraiser panel may be the calendar year or a 12-month period established by law or rule of each state with which the AMC is required to register.
310-B:12-q Appraisal Management Company Registration; Regulation.
I. As a participating state electing to register AMCs, this state hereby establishes and maintains within the state appraiser certifying and licensing agency a licensing program that is subject to the ownership limitations set forth below and with the legal authority and mechanisms to:
(a) Review and approve or deny an AMC’s application for initial registration;
(b) Review and renew or review and deny an AMC’s registration periodically;
(c) Examine the books and records of an AMC operating in the state and require the AMC to submit reports, information, and documents;
(d) Verify that the appraisers on the AMC’s appraiser panel hold valid state certifications or licenses, as applicable;
(e) Conduct investigations of AMCs to assess potential violations of applicable appraisal-related laws, regulations, or orders;
(f) Discipline, suspend, terminate, or deny renewal of the registration of an AMC that violates applicable appraisal-related laws, regulations, or orders; and
(g) Report an AMC’s violation of applicable appraisal-related laws, regulations, or orders, as well as disciplinary and enforcement actions and other relevant information about an AMC’s operations, to the Appraisal Subcommittee.
II. As a participating state electing to register AMCs, this state hereby imposes requirements on AMCs that are not owned and controlled by an insured depository institution and not regulated by a federal financial institutions regulatory agency to:
(a) Register with and be subject to supervision by the state appraiser certifying and licensing agency;
(b) Engage only state-certified or state-licensed appraisers for federally-related transactions in conformity with any federally-related transaction regulations;
(c) Establish and comply with processes and controls reasonably designed to ensure that the AMC, in engaging an appraiser, selects an appraiser who is independent of the transaction and who has the requisite education, expertise, and experience necessary to competently complete the appraisal assignment for the particular market and property type;
(d) Direct the appraiser to perform the assignment in accordance with USPAP; and
(e) Establish and comply with processes and controls reasonably designed to ensure that the AMC conducts its appraisal management services in accordance with the requirements of section 129E(a) through (i) of the Truth in Lending Act, 15 U.S.C. section 1639e(a) through (i), and regulations thereunder.
310-B:12-r Ownership Limitations for State-registered AMCs.
I. Appraiser certification or licensing of owners.
(a) An AMC subject to state registration shall not be registered by this state or included on the AMC National Registry if such AMC, in whole or in part, directly or indirectly, is owned by any person who has had an appraiser license or certificate refused, denied, canceled, surrendered in lieu of revocation, or revoked in any state for a substantive cause, as determined by the appropriate state appraiser certifying and licensing agency.
(b) An AMC subject to state registration is not barred by from being registered by this state or included on the AMC National Registry if the appraiser license of the appraiser with an ownership interest was not revoked for a substantive cause and has been reinstated by the state or states in which the appraiser was licensed or certified.
II. Good moral character of owners. An AMC shall not be registered by this state if any person that owns more than 10 percent of the AMC:
(a) Is determined by the state appraiser certifying and licensing agency not to have good moral character; or
(b) Fails to submit to a background investigation carried out by the state appraiser certifying and licensing agency.
310-B:12-s Requirements for Federally Regulated Appraisal Management Companies; Reporting Information for the AMC National Registry. A federally regulated AMC operating in this state must report to the state the information required to be submitted by the state to the Appraisal Subcommittee, pursuant to the Appraisal Subcommittee’s policies regarding the determination of the AMC National Registry fee, including but not necessarily limited to the collection of information related to ownership limitations set forth in this chapter.
310-B:12-t Information to be Presented to the ASC by Participating States. As a state electing to register AMCs for purposes of permitting AMCs to provide appraisal management services relating to covered transactions in this state, this state shall submit to the ASC the information required to be submitted by ASC regulations or guidance concerning AMCs that operate in the state.
310-B:12-u Application; Appraisal Management Company Provisions. Nothing in RSA 310-B:12-b through RSA 310-B:12-t shall be construed to limit the board's ability to enforce the remainder of this chapter or the administrative rules adopted by the board against persons licensed or registered by the board.
148:3 Repeals. The following are repealed:
I. RSA 310-B:2, XVII, relative to the definition of appraisal management company.
II. RSA 310-B:2, XX, relative to the definition of appraiser panel.
148:4 Effective Date. This act shall take effect 60 days after its passage.
Approved: June 16, 2017
Effective Date: August 15, 2017
| Date | Body | Type |
|---|---|---|
| Jan. 25, 2017 | Senate | Hearing |
| Feb. 15, 2017 | Senate | Hearing |
| March 9, 2017 | Senate | Floor Vote |
| April 11, 2017 | House | Hearing |
| April 26, 2017 | House | Exec Session |
| May 4, 2017 | House | Floor Vote |
Aug. 15, 2017: Signed by the Governor on 06/16/2017; Chapter 0148; Effective 08/15/2017
May 11, 2017: Enrolled (In recess 05/11/2017); SJ 17
May 4, 2017: Enrolled 05/04/2017 HJ 15 P. 48
May 4, 2017: Ought to Pass: MA VV 05/04/2017 HJ 15 P. 4
May 4, 2017: Committee Report: Ought to Pass for 05/04/2017 (Vote 19-1; CC) HC 22 P. 5
April 26, 2017: Executive Session: 04/26/2017 LOB 306
April 18, 2017: Subcommittee Work Session: 04/18/2017 09:30 AM LOB 306
April 11, 2017: ==RESCHEDULED== Public Hearing: 04/11/2017 01:15 PM LOB 306
April 5, 2017: ==CANCELLED== Public Hearing: 04/05/2017 01:15 PM LOB 306
March 9, 2017: Introduced 03/09/2017 and referred to Executive Departments and Administration HJ 10 P. 76
March 9, 2017: Ought to Pass with Amendment 2017-0570s, MA, VV; OT3rdg; 03/09/2017; SJ 8
March 9, 2017: Committee Amendment # 2017-0570s, AA, VV; 03/09/2017; SJ 8
March 9, 2017: Committee Report: Ought to Pass with Amendment # 2017-0570s, 03/09/2017; SC 12
Feb. 15, 2017: Hearing: ===RECONVENE=== 02/15/2017, Room 101, LOB, 09:00 am; SC 10
Jan. 25, 2017: Hearing: ===RECESSED=== 01/25/2017, Room 101, LOB, 09:20 am; SC 7
Jan. 5, 2017: Introduced 01/05/2017 and Referred to Executive Departments and Administration; SJ 4