The nation’s largest professional association of real estate appraisers today led nearly three dozen valuation organizations in applauding revisions to a bipartisan Senate bill that would roll back many post-financial-crisis banking rules found in the Dodd-Frank Act.

“Thank you for including several clarifying provisions relating to rural residential appraisals to Section 103 of S. 2155, the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act,” the Appraisal Institute and 33 other real estate valuation groups wrote to Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, chair of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs.

Although the Appraisal Institute took no position on the bill, it endorsed changes to proposed appraisal exemptions found in a previous version of the measure. The bill now clarifies that a bank must engage at least three appraisers on the bank’s approved appraiser list, in the local market area and in compliance with existing appraiser independence requirements. It also establishes a reasonable timeliness standard.

“These provisions will help ensure that banks make a good faith effort to place the appraisal with local market appraisers, consistent with the bill’s intent,” the organizations’ letter said.

If passed, the measure would mark the most significant revision of banking rules since Congress passed the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010, a sweeping financial regulatory law enacted in response to the 2008 economic crisis. Senate leaders said March 8 that a vote by the full Senate is expected the week of March 12.

Citing concerns with the business and regulatory environment for appraisers, the Appraisal Institute and the other organizations also addressed issues with enforcement of risk mitigation standards and asked Crapo’s committee to examine the future of appraisal regulations.

“We encourage the Committee on Banking to examine adherence to existing safety and soundness regulations by financial institutions and the underlying business and regulatory environment of real estate appraisers, finding ways to make the appraisal regulatory structure more efficient and attractive to the next generation of appraisers,” the organizations said in their letter.

Read the letter here.