December is upon us and the Holiday Season has begun in earnest. From our agency to your offices and homes, we wish you all the very best of blessings of the Season and a prosperous New Year in 2020. At TREC & TALCB we are celebrating the selection of our next Executive Director and Commissioner who will take on those responsibilities effective January 1^st.

I find it hard to believe it is almost the end of 2019 already! We have been so busy that the time truly seems to have flown by. The Holiday Season is now upon us and we are looking forward to the New Year with great anticipation. Let me wish each of you all the very best during this special time of year!

The newly proposed process for qualifying inspector education was up for adoption at the November TREC meeting.  However, the Commission postponed consideration to adopt these rules at the request of the Governor’s office. Senate Bill 1995 was passed last legislative session that creates a division within the Governor’s office to review all agency proposed rules that affect market competition before the rule is adopted or implemented.

It’s been a busy fall for TREC and the Inspector Committee. We continue to implement the Sunset recommendations and statutory changes, most of which will be considered for adoption at the November 19th Commission meeting, including the amendments to the inspector qualifying education rules. If adopted by the Commission at the November meeting, these new requirements will take effect on May 1, 2020.

November has arrived, the World Series is done, NFL Football is halfway over, and the extended Holiday season is just around the corner.  Before you know it, Thanksgiving Day, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Winter solstice, Christmas and New Year’s will be upon us, affording each of us at least one tradition to celebrate.

The Inspector Committee met on October 7 at the Texas Real Estate Commission.  Many of the items before the committee were proposed at the July meeting.  The Committee received public comments on the proposed changes.  The Committee considered those comments, and the proposals moved forward as written.  The most notable changes in the rules are those to the pre-licensure for home inspectors in Texas.  The new process cuts the number of hours required approximately in half for the most utilized track to become an inspector while equipping inspectors to more readily be able to perform an insp

October marks six months since I began with the Commission.  I am grateful for the warm welcome and generosity shown to me by our staff team, our policymakers and our license holders.

In August the Commission met for its regular quarterly meeting, and the agenda was far from typical!  We said a special thanks to Mr. Brad Philips who has served for twelve years on the Inspector Advisory Committee, with two terms as its Chair. The majority of the lengthy meeting was filled with fiscal year-end updates on a variety of matters that are a result of the 2019 legislative session, and much of which needed to be accomplished before September 1st or by January 1st. 

August 31 marked the end of our fiscal year, and a lot has happened in this last year. Since September 2018, the agency has gone through Sunset review, a legislative session, and changes in the leadership team.  The agency has been busy implementing the Sunset recommendations and statutory changes.  The new leadership has been instrumental in revamping the agency’s front line communications, and the rollout of several new online tools has resulted in significantly shorter hold times and an overall better experience for people contacting the agency. 

August is here with all of its heat, and it’s the last month of the fiscal year for the Agency.  August also means both the Commission and Board will have their regularly scheduled meetings this month and that the agendas will be busy –as they always are after a legislative session. And for this session especially since we underwent a Sunset Commission review and need to implement all of the changes that resulted from that process.  Many rule amendments are needed to implement these changes and also some significant budget adjustments to accommodate those requirements.