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Committee approves bill reducing appraisal requirement for RDOT right-of-way property sales
Summary
House Bill 1486 standardizes the market-value appraisal process for surplus property held by the Arkansas Department of Transportation, reducing required appraisals for right-of-way properties from three to two to align with prior changes to capital-asset property rules.
Senator Tyler Deese presented House Bill 1486 to the Senate Public Health, Welfare and Labor Committee; the committee approved the measure after ARDOT explained the appraisal review process.
The bill amends procedures for determining market value of surplus property held by the Arkansas Department of Transportation so that right-of-way properties follow the same appraisal standard recently applied to capital-asset properties: two appraisals rather than three.
Tyler Deese said the change "improves and standardize[s] the market value determination for the surplus property held by RDOT." Deese and ARDOT staff explained that the department generally performs an in-house appraisal and the reviewing appraisers validate that work; external appraisals may also be used when property is sold.
Jared Wiley and RDOT staff described the current practice: an appraisal is performed and then reviewed by reviewing appraisers in the department. "We do 1 appraisal, and then the reviewing reviewing appraiser looks at that second appraisal," a department witness told the committee. The bill applies that two-appraisal process to right-of-way sales to streamline the department's disposal of surplus land.
Committee members asked whether appraisals are internal or external and how values are determined; ARDOT confirmed it typically uses in-house appraisers with reviewing staff and will accept external appraisals for review when available. Senator Bridal (committee member) asked about whether values are averaged or selected; ARDOT explained the process is review-based rather than a simple numeric average.
The committee approved the bill on a voice vote; sponsor Deese and committee members said the measure merely aligns right-of-way property procedures with prior changes for capital-asset properties.
Votes at a glance: committee approved HB 1486 by voice vote; no roll call recorded in committee.
The bill will proceed to the next legislative stage.
