Will The Bureau Of Real Estate Get A Promotion?

 "Not since Clytemnestra and Agamemnon has there been such a mismatch."

Almost five years ago, I decried the demotion and relocation of the Department of Real Estate:

Although the DRE issues professional licenses, it is fundamentally a business regulatory department that regulates an industry with an enormous impact on California’s economy.  The activities of its licensees, such as real estate lending and escrow services, have much more in common with the Department of Corporations than The Bureau of Electronic and Appliance Repair, Home Furnishings, and Thermal Insulation.  My experience as a Deputy Secretary for Business Regulation at the Business, Transportation & Housing Agency leads me to conclude that the DRE belongs with the state’s other principal business regulatory departments (Alcoholic Beverage Control, Corporations and Financial Institutions).

Then, I was just a voice crying in the wilderness.  Now, at least one legislator is seeing it my way.  Senator Bill Dodd has introduced legislation, SB 173, that remove the Bureau of Real Estate from the Department of Consumer Affairs and instead make it a department within the Business, Consumer Services, and Housing Agency and rename the bureau to the Department of Real Estate.  If enacted, SB 173 would eliminate one level of oversight between the Commissioner of Real Estate and the Governor.

For readers who are curious about the reference to Clytemnestra and Agamemnon, see Book 3 of Homer's Odyssey or Agamemnon, which is part of Aeschylus' trilogy, The Oresteia.