GREC
COMMISSION NEWS & NOTES The Georgia Real Estate Commission (GREC) has been quite busy for the past several months.
Check out the updates below to see what’s happening at GREC that could affect your business. Proposed Continuing Education Increase
Email Notification for License Renewal Following an evaluation by the Governor’s staff of the GREC’s proposed
legislation to increase continuing education hours from six hours per year to nine hours per year and after further consideration by the GREC, the GREC voted on November 14, 2012, to delay introduction of this legislation in 2013. Because of the current economic hardships still faced by many licensees, it was decided that no additional educational requirements should be placed on them which could create increased monetary or time expenditures on their part. Hopefully, the GREC can reexamine this proposed increase for passage in 2014.
Legislation Affecting License Renewal As a real estate licensee, you will encounter upon renewal of your license, House
Bill 87 (The Illegal Immigration Reform and Enforcement Act of 2011) which requires that prior to license renewal — or prior to getting a new license — that you submit to the GREC a “secure and verifiable document” of identification (usually a driver’s license) and an affidavit as to “lawful presence” in the United States. As the law is presently interpreted by the Office of the Georgia AttorneyGeneral,
this documentation needs to be submitted at each renewal of a license. Senate Bill 160 amends House Bill 87 to eliminate the need for licensees to submit this docu - mentation at each license renewal. This Bill passed in the 2013 Legislative Session and will make it easier for you to renew after the initial submission of this docu - mentation to GREC, and it will lighten the burden on the GREC staff to process it. Presently, implementation of these requirements has increased the workload
of our Information Specialist department by 20 percent. Reviewing and storing these documents is not only burdensome to the GREC but to other licensing agencies in the state. Most licensing agencies have to submit this same docu - mentation each year as licenses are renewed on a yearly basis. For the first 12 months since its passage, the GREC staff has processed 25,298 lawful presence documents. Hopefully by the time this article is published, Senate Bill 160will have been signed by the Governor.
Georgia Real Estate InfoBase Project There is now a resource available for Georgia licensees which has been deemed
the Georgia Real Estate InfoBase Project. The Project is a free online source funded by the GREC from its Real Estate Education, Research and Recovery Fund, and edited by the Georgia State University Department of Real Estate. This project is an expansion and update of the reference book entitled “The
Georgia Real Estate Guide to License Law, Brokerage, and Related Topics,” which was edited by Dr. Joseph S. Rabianski and Dr. Roy T. Black of the Georgia State University Department of Real Estate in years past. Many thanks go to the numerous individuals who have worked on the revision and update, with particular thanks going to Dr. Jim Vernor of Georgia State University who spearheaded this project. The material includes brokerage and license law, finance and valuation, real
estate principals and terminology, property management, real estate math, and online education for real estate professionals. This information should be used as a real estate law reference, but is not intended to serve as an alternative to hiring professional counsel if needed. To learn more about the Georgia Real Estate InfoBase Project, visit
www.gareinfobase.org. This project has been in de velop - ment since 2009, and we know that you will find it beneficial.
32IGEORGIA REALTOR® On March 13, 2013, the GREC voted to pass a Rule that makes submission of an
email address mandatory on license applications and renewals. This information will allow the GREC to send notifications and other information to you more quickly and less expensively than by regular mail. Written notification fromus to you by mail is very expensive, with approximately 90,000 real estate and appraiser licensees. Currently, an email address of a licensee is requested — but not required — as
part of the information the GREC collects on an application for licensure or renewal of a license. As an accommodation to licensees, the GREC has recently began to notify via email those who have voluntarily provided email addresses to us of their upcoming license renewal due at months end. Written notification of re - newals will continue to be given as currently done by notification to your broker. We have 85 percent of licensee email addresses and feel that this additional email notification of your upcoming license renewal will be helpful to you.
Budgetary Issues The GREC, along with other state agencies, has been asked by Governor Nathan
Deal to cut its budget for the remainder of FY13 and for FY14. Because of attrition in our staff via retirement and other cut backs, this decrease can be handled by the GREC for the remainder of FY13 and FY14, barring a major technical catastrophe. If the GREC were authorized to spend all that it collects through license fees,
the budget would not be an issue. However, the GREC is limited by law to spend only what the General Assembly appropriates to it, plus retained revenues which are costs reimbursements paid to the GREC from disciplined licensees. Even accounting for the estimated cost of Human Resource services provided to us by the Georgia Secretary of State and for a portion of legal services provided to us by the Georgia Attorney General, each of which the GREC does not currently pay directly as budget items, the GREC returned funds to the State Treasury above what was it is allowed to spend. As pointed out to the Appropriations Committees of the House and Senate, funds raised by the GREC are derived from license fees and not from tax revenues. License fees paid by you to us should be used by the GREC and not paid into the State Treasury for some other state use.
Disciplinary Cases As of March 1, 2013, the GREC had a total of 312 real estate and appraisal
disciplinary cases in process. These cases are either waiting assignment to an Investigator, assigned to an Investigator, or at the Office of Attorney General or Special Assistant Attorney General’s office for further prosecution. While this seems like a large number of cases, in May 2011, that number was 760. Our case load has decreased 59 percent since that date. After taking office in January of 2011, I have made it a priority to have these
cases more expeditiously handled. It is not only fairer to the Requestor but also to the Respondent that a decision in a disciplinary action be rendered quickly. I hope this information has been informative to you and I will endeavor to
communicate changes in rules and laws as quickly as possible. WILLIAM J. ROGERS, JR. IS THE REAL ESTATE
COMMISSIONER FOR THE STATE OF GEORGIA. VISIT THE COMMISSION’S WEB SITE AT
WWW.GREC.STATE.GA.US.
MAY I JUNE 2013
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