The Texas Real Estate Commission’s Education Standards Advisory Committee (ESAC) met virtually on April 1. Discussion opened with the Principles of Real Estate I and II courses—ESAC is moving forward with a recommendation to revise their course approval forms.

The Committee then reviewed changes to the Law of Agency course approval form which were made based on recommendations from ESAC’s last meeting.

The Texas Real Estate Commission’s Education Standards Advisory Committee (ESAC) opened its first meeting of the year with a welcome to four new members. The new license holder members are Amanda Nichols and Thomas Carl Leatherman. The new education provider member is Cynthia Baas. The new public member is Rita Blevins. 

Officers Election

ESAC held elections and selected Bill Steddum, Jr. as chair, Byron Underwood as vice chair, and Michael Crowley as secretary.

The 88th Texas Legislature, Regular Session, began January 10, 2023, and ends May 29, 2023. This session opened with the Texas Real Estate Commission (TREC) and Texas Appraiser Licensing Board (TALCB) following 358 bills relevant to the administration of the agency.  A much smaller number will become law, one of relevance to Texas real estate license holders.

To reach more license holders, the Texas Real Estate Commission broke away from its Austin headquarters for the first time ever to meet in Houston on May 16. It was TREC’s second meeting of 2023. There were more than 80 attendees.

Welcoming New Commissioners, Thanking the Outgoing

TREC’s Chair, Scott Kesner, opened the meeting with a welcome to TREC’s newest Commissioners: Chance Brown, Renee Harvey Lowe, and Stuart Bernstein.

The Texas Real Estate Commission's Education Standards Advisory Committee (ESAC) met April 3.

ESAC addressed comments received regarding proposed changes to 22 §TAC 535.64, Content Requirements for Qualifying Real Estate Courses.  TREC staff clarified that the rule proposal simply cleans up the rule language to remove the references to topics required for each course, rather, pointing specifically to each qualifying course approval form to define content. 

The Texas Real Estate Inspector Committee (TREIC) met April 18.

The Broker Responsibility Working Group (BRWG) met April 12. Members reviewed public comment submitted in response to a new proposed rule, 535.157 — Obligation to Respond Timely, and proposed changes to 535.2 — Broker Responsibility Rule. The group also continued discussion regarding the difference between a broker and a sponsoring broker, and whether there should be additional education requirements for sponsoring brokers.

TREC is pleased to announce an update to the Posting System that allows all providers of real estate Qualifying Education (QE) courses to post course credit directly into the agency’s system of record. The student must have a TREC real estate sales agent or broker license number to award qualifying credit.

The Commission recently voted to eliminate references in TREC rule §535.92(f) to professional designations and automatic CE credit for taking courses required to obtain one of these designations. These amendments eliminate an alternative path for license holders to request CE credit for professional designations and removes the list of specific designations. 

The Education Standards Advisory Committee (ESAC) met by videoconference on October 4, 2021.  ESAC Chair Kelea Youngblood opened the meeting by honoring the life and accomplishments of ESAC member and long-time license holder, Lynda Conway. Ruben Pena was welcomed back to the committee in her place.