Legislative/ARPAC

Arkansas REALTORS® Protecting Arkansas

The 2011 legislative session was a great one for the consumers of Arkansas! It truly takes a great offense and defense to be a successful team and the real estate team was loaded on both sides of the line in 2011. It is not often that you score every time you touch the ball while still holding your opponents scoreless, but that is exactly what the Arkansas Real Estate Commission did in passing three important bills and what your Association did in passing our entire 2011 ARA legislative package.

We had a great team that deserves a lot of credit for a job well done. First, there was great preparation for the session starting last year by Mitch Hart, the ARA’s 2010 Legislative Chair. Secondly, starting with the first Monday in January your legislative team met at 8:30 a.m. via conference call every week to review bills being introduced and the progress being made on our ARA and AREC legislative agendas. With over 2,200 bills introduced during the session (each and every one had to be read to determine its effect, if any, on real estate licensees or consumers), it was a busy and intense three months that required a lot of defense as well as offense. I am proud to say it was a game plan that worked to perfection.

Your Arkansas REALTORS® Association and the Arkansas Real Estate Commission affected so much legislation on your behalf that the list is just too long for this article. In fact, in some cases your team was so effective that we were able to deflect or stop bills before they were even introduced! We directly tracked and monitored over 70 bills that could or would have negatively affected Arkansas consumers and our real estate profession.

After having been involved in ARA for 30 years, I am still amazed at the passion our members have when they are asked to serve. This year was no exception. When some of our appraiser members expressed concern with our BPO bill, we made contact with Rep. Tommy Wren, the only licensed appraiser in either chamber, to help us develop an even better bill – one that he then came to support. In my humble opinion, what makes the legislative process great is our ability to debate and then unite behind a common cause. It is also what makes the Arkansas REALTORS® Association the most successful trade association in Arkansas.

In closing, a few quick thank yous are a must starting with President Andy Meyers for asking me to serve. Thanks as well to Tim Grooms and Jeb Joyce for their outstanding legal counsel; Congratulations and thanks to Gary Isom and Andrea Alford from AREC – our organizations are made stronger by our continued support of one another; mega-thanks to the tireless efforts of our entire legislative committee including our new Director of Governmental Affairs, Amy Hair and our Director of Communications, Amy Glover Bryant. A big ARA thanks to Ted and Julie Mullenix who are an invaluable part of our REALTOR® family.

And last but far from least, thanks to my wife, Lesia, who picked up my slack day-after-day and made it possible for me to volunteer my time.  It has been a wonderful experience serving our Association as the 2011 Legislative Chair. Congratulations to all Arkansas consumers, the AREC and the ARA on an outstanding year!

Michael Ford, 2011 ARA Legislative Chair and 1995 President, Arkansas REALTORS® Association