Anchorage, Alaska 5/22/98

On Friday, May 22, Governor Tony Knowles, Democrat, signed House Bill #33 an Act relating to Real Estate practices in the State of Alaska. The comprehensive bill was the first major rewrite of the state real estate licensing laws in 25 years. The bill provided for the mandatory licensing of condo/community association managers, with continuing education requirements for the same. The bill also provided for the non-licensing of self managed condo and community associations when a resident owner of the association manages them. Other areas of the law covered non-licensed activities and the adoption of the restriction of payments of commissions to only licensed real estate practitioners. This follows the example set by the State of Mississippi Real Estate Commission, which was sued over their similar regulations, and was up held in Federal District Court under Summary Judgement.