Arizona legislation that offers licensing exemptions for property-valuation Web sites is expected to receive final approval today from the state House of Representatives — the last stop before the governor’s office.

The bill would specifically exempt any “Internet Web site, automated valuation or other software program or other means of comparative market analysis” from appraiser licensing requirements in the state when they provide estimated real estate values, as long as there is disclosure “that the estimate is not an appraisal,” the bill text states.

Interest rates are rising fast and that could mean one of Chicago’s hottest industries, commercial real estate, is in for an unexpected chill that threatens to drag down property values much like the current malaise in the housing market.

The interest rate hike, fueled by rapidly rising Treasury bond yields that recently hit 5-year highs, may already be changing the game in one of the largest single Chicago-area property sales ever — Blackstone Group’s sell-off of a 22-building portfolio it purchased from Equity Office Properties Trust in February.

The sluggish housing market hasn’t stalled the overall California economy so far, but researchers at a prominent forecasting group expect lower construction employment to drag growth lower next year.

“We’ve been expecting to see housing weakness take a toll on California and the fact that it hasn’t has been a surprise to us,” said Ryan Ratcliff, economist at the UCLA Anderson Forecast, which releases its forecast on the California economy today. “But based on the historical record, it wouldn’t be wise to say we’ll dodge the bullet.”

A statewide survey of real-estate experts released Monday showed that appraisers, brokers and other professionals are decidedly more pessimistic than they were earlier this year.

The second-quarter survey by the University of Florida’s Bergstrom Center for Real Estate Studies reversed a slightly positive trend noted in the center’s first-quarter outlook.

Wayne Archer, the center’s director, said “the mood has grown more somber since January,” with few signs of improvement in Florida’s real-estate markets overall, though the basics of rental property seem to remain healthy.