HOUSE
BILL ANALYSIS
HB
1285
Brief
Description: Relating to
engineers and land surveyors.
Sponsors: Representatives McMorris, Honeyford and Conway;
by request of the Department of Licensing.
Hearing:
January 30, 1997
BACKGROUND:
The
state Board of Registration for Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors
regulates persons and business entities involved in the practice of engineering
and land surveying, or both. The governor appoints the seven-member board for
five-year staggered terms. The responsibilities of the board include
establishing requirements for registering engineers, engineers-in-training,
land surveyors, and land surveyors-in-training. The board issues certificates
of authorization to business entities performing engineering services,
investigates complaints against registered engineers and land surveyors, and
revokes or suspends the registration of an engineer or land surveyor under
certain conditions. Any person may file a complaint with the Secretary of the
Board.
The
board permits the practice of engineering by a corporation, provided the
corporation obtains a certificate of authorization from the board. The practice
of land surveying by a corporation is not regulated.
Regulation
of corporations: The board
requires a corporation to file an application, corporate resolution, and an
affidavit before issuing a certificate of authorization. In evaluating the
application, the board reviews the corporation=s:
Cby laws;
Cengineering experience;
Ccertified financial statement;
Cprofessional records of registered engineers; and
Cability to provide engineering services in the
public interest.
In its application, the corporation must designate
a registered engineer Ain responsible charge@ of each project and each major branch of the
corporation=s engineering activities. After
favorable consideration of the application, the board issues a certificate of
authorization specifying the major branches of engineering for which the
corporation has designated a person in responsible charge. Plans, specifications,
and reports must be prepared under the responsible charge of a registered
engineer.
The board regulates professional engineering
corporations. The board issues a certificate of authorization to an engineering
professional service corporation based only on a review of each engineer=s professional record.
Regulation of partnerships: In engineering firms that are
partnerships, a majority of partners must be engineers, land surveyors, or
architects with one partner being a registered professional engineer or land
surveyor. In an application for a certificate of authorization, the partnership
must designate a person in charge of the partnership=s practice of engineering. The
designated person must meet the same qualifications as a person designated by a
corporation.
SUMMARY OF BILL:
The Board Chair may appoint, with the approval of
the Director, up to two temporary members to the state Board of Registration
for Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors for no more than one hundred
eighty days. Written complaints are filed with the board, and the board may
initiate investigations on its own.
The application requirements for a certificate of
authorization by an engineering corporation are clarified and revised. The
board may allow the practice of land surveying by a corporation. In considering
the corporation=s application for a certificate of
authorization, the board is required to consider:
Cwhether the designated engineer or
land surveyor has a current Washington registration
Cwhether the corporation is a
Washington corporation and holds a Unified Business Identifier number
Cwhether the corporation has the
ability and competence to furnish engineering and land surveying services in
the public interest.
The requirement is deleted that the certificate of
authorization must specify the major branches of engineering of which the
corporation has designated a person in charge. Plans, specifications, and
reports must be prepared under the direct supervision of a registered engineer
or land surveyor.
Engineering and land surveying professional service
corporations are exempted from applying for certificates of authorization.
After July 1, 1998, the board will not regulate partnerships.
The practice of engineering by limited liability
corporations is regulated by the board in the same manner as corporations.
RULES AUTHORITY: The bill does not contain provisions addressing
the rule-making powers of an agency.
FISCAL NOTE: Requested January 29, 1997.
EFFECTIVE DATE: The bill takes effect July 1, 1998.