BILL REQ. #:  H-1147.3 

READ FIRST TIME 02/18/13.   

     AN ACT Relating to establishing continuing education requirements for engineers; amending RCW 18.43.080; adding new sections to chapter 18.43 RCW; and providing an effective date.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

Sec. 1   RCW 18.43.080 and 2005 c 29 s 1 are each amended to read as follows:
     (1) Certificates of registration, and certificates of authorization and renewals thereof, shall expire on the last day of the month of December following their issuance or renewal and shall become invalid on that date unless renewed. It shall be the duty of the administrator of the division of professional licensing to notify every person, firm, or corporation registered under this chapter of the date of the expiration of his or her certificate and the amount of the renewal fee that shall be required for its renewal for one year. Such notice shall be mailed at least thirty days before the end of December of each year. Renewal may be effected during the month of December by the payment of a fee determined by the director as provided in RCW 43.24.086. In case any professional engineer and/or land surveyor registered under this chapter shall fail to pay the renewal fee hereinabove provided for, within ninety days from the date when the same shall become due, the renewal fee shall be the current fee plus an amount equal to one year's fee.
     (2) ((Beginning July 1, 2007,)) The department of licensing may not renew a certificate of registration for a land surveyor or engineer unless the registrant verifies to the board that he or she has completed at least fifteen hours of continuing professional development per year of the registration period. ((By July 1, 2006,)) The board shall adopt rules governing continuing professional development for land surveyors and engineers that are generally patterned after the model rules of the national council of examiners for engineering and surveying. An engineer may satisfy the requirements of this subsection with work performed in a volunteer capacity or active participation in outreach activities involving students, so long as the volunteer work or outreach activities are related to science, technology, engineering, or mathematics. Each hour of volunteer work or participation in outreach activities is equivalent to one hour of continuing professional development.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 2   A new section is added to chapter 18.43 RCW to read as follows:
     (1) The requirements of RCW 18.43.080(2) do not apply to an engineer employed by an electric utility or a gas company. An engineer employed by an electric utility or gas company may voluntarily report his or her hours of continuing professional development to the department of licensing in the same manner and at the same time as land surveyors and other engineers under RCW 18.43.080(2), and the department of licensing shall maintain records of the reported continuing professional development hours.
     (2) For purposes of this section, the following terms have the following meanings:
     (a) "Electric utility" means a company owned by investors that meets the definition in RCW 80.04.010 and is engaged in distributing electricity to more than one retail electric customer in the state; a municipal electric utility formed under Title 35 RCW; a public utility district formed under Title 54 RCW; an irrigation district formed under chapter 87.03 RCW; a cooperative formed under chapter 23.86 RCW; or a mutual corporation or association formed under chapter 24.06 RCW that is engaged in the business of distributing electricity to more than one retail electric customer in the state.
     (b) "Gas company" has the same meaning as in RCW 80.04.010.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 3   A new section is added to chapter 18.43 RCW to read as follows:
     The requirements of RCW 18.43.080(2) do not apply to an engineer who affirms that he or she is not engaged in the practice of engineering.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 4   This act takes effect November 1, 2014.