The future of the Plumbing Board has been on the minds of many inspectors since the end of the legislative session. As a result of action taken by Governor Abbott, the Plumbing Board will continue until 2021; please be sure to see our article on this to get all the information you need.

This month we published two articles that I thought would be helpful to share with you that reflect some of the required changes outlined in the final report from the agency’s sunset review process.

As a result of changes recommended by TREC and implemented by the Agency’s sunset bill, a separate license certificate displaying the address for each branch office maintained by a broker or brokerage will no longer be required as of September 1, 2019,

Scott Kesner was appointed chair of the Texas Real Estate Commission on April 25, 2019. With more than 25 years of experience, this appointment is another highlight in Scott's long career.  Chair Kesner recently traveled to Austin from his home city of El Paso to meet with Agency senior staff and learn more about the Commission. He spent the day speaking to each director, learning about everything from enforcement to communications to technology. We sat down with Scott to ask him some questions about his experiences and learn more about his plans.

The 2019 Legislative Session is finished. While there was no legislative action that specifically relates to the regulation of inspectors, the Agency Sunset Bill passed, which deals directly with the regulatory authority of this Agency. Several other bills that impact the licensing authority of all regulatory agencies also passed. The Agency is determining what rules need to be recommended, some of which will likely come before the Inspector Committee at its July 15 meeting. 

The Commission met for its regular quarterly business meeting on Monday, May 6^th and we had a full agenda.  It was my very first meeting presiding as the newly appointed and confirmed Chair, so it was quite an experience getting prepared in the very short period after my confirmation on April 24^th.  At this meeting, we also welcomed two new Commissioners who were confirmed on May 1^st - Barbara Russell of Denton and Chief Deputy Sherriff Jason Hartgraves of Dallas County.

UPDATE:

I am thrilled to be able to lead with some great news – because of enhanced staffing, improved training, real-time flexibility in response management, and more precise phone system programming we’ve employed, in recent weeks the average hold times for calls received by the agency’s contact center are under five minutes! Also, the average for all of April was about five and a half minutes, so we are still improving. Our goal is to keep doing so methodically and sustainably.

The Inspector Committee had a full agenda for its April meeting.  The meeting was accompanied by the newest appointments to the Inspector Committee, as well as the incoming General Counsel for the Real Estate Commission, Chelsea Buchholtz.  There was also significant representation from multiple trade associations and education providers as well.

AUSTIN, TX – The Texas Real Estate Commission is pleased to announce the confirmation of broker member Barbara Russell and public member Jason Hartgraves as new commissioners for terms to expire on January 31, 2025.  Governor Abbott nominated them to the post in March and they were confirmed by Senate vote on May 1^st.  Broker member Scott Kesner was confirmed and appointed as Chair of the Commission last week.