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.

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.

This course will replace the two inspector non-elective CE courses, 4-hour Inspector Legal & Ethics, and 4-hour Standards of Practice Review course that will expire on August 31, 2021. 

On June 2, 2021, TREC inactivated broker business entity licenses in error.  Upon discovery of the error, staff worked to resolve the issue and all licenses were restored by Friday, June 4, 2021.  For purposes of full disclosure, we wanted our license holders to know the details of what occurred and what we are doing to avoid any similar incident in the future. 

New inspector pre-licensing education and experience requirements begin March 1, 2021.  The new experience requirement includes a 40 hour Texas Practicum, which must consist of a minimum of five complete and in-person inspections.  In light of the current COVID-19 pandemic, TREC will grant a temporary allowance for on-site inspections to take place virtually, as long as the Practicum instructor conducts inspections live and on-site, and the instructor and students are able to interact with each other in real-time through both audio and video.