Eminent Domain Report

Last summer, I wrote about the Appraisal Institute’s controversial effort to promote legislation in California (known as AB 624) that would enable licensed real estate appraisers performing appraisals for non-federally-related transactions to use any nationally or internationally recognized standard of valuation. I commented at the time that it wasn’t difficult to envision a parade of horribles that might result should appraisers be permitted to identify obscure international standards for an appraisal assignment in order to drive value up or down for a litigant.

Not surprisingly, there was widespread criticism of AB 624 from other appraisal organizations including: The American Society of Appraisers, the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors, and the Appraisal Foundation. Indeed, at the time AB 624 was being considered, a survey of 175 state regulators from over 30 states revealed that not one thought it was a good idea to enforce multiple sets of appraisal standards.

This morning, I learned from the Appraisal Foundation that AB 624 died in committee. The deadline for action on AB 624 was Friday, August 19, and it was not brought forth. AB 624 had already been approved by the State Assembly, so this outcome was far from certain last summer. At a time when the political process is forefront on the minds of many Americans, it’s nice to know that in the case of AB 624, popular and, frankly, reasonable sentiment prevailed.