REALTORS 2012 Legislative Priorities

Submitted by Dave Somers, 2012 Industry Issues Chairman

Without knowing whether proper accounting was used, it is hard to tell if we won or lost the recent license fee increase, but we certainly softened the blow by reducing the renewal fee to $375.00 from $685.00. There was an incredible effort put forth by a large number of our members that brought close scrutiny by our legislators forcing the division to rethink their position. Not only did this save licensees approximately $750,000.00, it forced a complete review of how the division allocates costs and accounts for our money. The fee increase was the first part of the battle. Now we follow up by keeping the issue on the front burner until things are headed in the right direction. There is also an outside consultant that has been hired by the state to review and make recommendations to the cost allocation analysis process. This review will be completed during this legislative session. An internal review brought about by our industries reaction to the questionable accounting practices already showed that the real estate licensees were paying 16% too much in the allocation of the general pool in the division. We will also be following the discussion on how fines levied in the real estate sector can be properly credited back to us.

The following is a list of bills we will be monitoring or involved with this session:

HB 267 by Munoz and Olson: This is a bill that AAR put together to address three issues. The first item this bill covers is the temporary assignment of a licensee to oversee the affairs of a real estate business by the real estate commission in the event the broker has been misappropriating trust funds. The flaw in our statutes was made very apparent in a recent case where a broker had “borrowed” approximately $150,000.00 of trust funds and the same broker was left in charge of the trust funds to close things out because there was no other option. The second area covered is on AS08.88.398. This statute was changed years ago to allow a licensee to pay another licensee as an assistant. The law at that time mandated that only the employing broker could pay a licensee. Even though the law clearly states otherwise, some have interpreted this to mean that they can have licensed assistants that have their license hanging in a different office. The language added to our current bill clarifies that a licensed assistant has to have their license hanging in the same office. The last area this bill covers deals with licensees donating part of their commission to charities. Current law does not allow this. The bill, if passed as filed, states that a licensee may contribute part of their commission to a charitable organization  and advertise their intent to do so. 

HB 40 by Kawasaki: This would allow a municipality to adopt an ordinance increasing the property tax exemption  for real property from $20,000 to $100,000.00.

HB 90: This would allow a widow/widower of a disabled veteran to continue to receive personal property tax exemptions.

HB 240 by Chenault: Allows a person with a state permit for a cabin to rebuild the cabin if destroyed by fire.

SB 104 by French: Establishes a process to convert manufactured homes to real property.

SB 122 BY Egan: This would require a title company doing business in Alaska have a title officer licensed in the State of Alaska sign all title commitments. This bill would also ban the use of private transfer fees.

HB 264 by Munoz: This law would allow the deferral of municipality property taxes on the increase of value of real property attributed to subdivision of that property.

We are also still looking at changes to the Landlord Tenant Act in the areas of how long a broker should have to refund deposits, definition of wear and tear and finding a way to mandate that carpets should be cleaned in certain circumstances. We have not filed a bill here as we feel we need more input and direction.

In our next update report we should have our positions established on the above referenced bills. As these and other issues arise during the session we may be calling once again on all our members to get involved. Please be ready to respond to your calls for action. Your response to the license fee increase is a shining example of what we can all accomplish together.