Florida Senate - 2014 SB 692
By Senator Stargel
15-00544A-14 2014692__
1 A bill to be entitled
2 An act relating to engineers; amending s. 471.007,
3 F.S.; revising qualifications and procedures for the
4 appointment and reappointment of members to the Board
5 of Professional Engineers; providing staggered terms;
6 amending s. 471.013, F.S.; revising requirements for
7 an applicant who fails a certain examination and wants
8 to retake it in order to practice in the state as an
9 engineer; authorizing an applicant who is delayed in
10 taking the examination because of military service to
11 have additional attempts to take the examination;
12 amending s. 471.017, F.S.; revising requirements for
13 professional development hours and license renewal for
14 engineers; providing an effective date.
15
16 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
17
18 Section 1. Section 471.007, Florida Statutes, is amended to
19 read:
20 471.007 Board of Professional Engineers.—
21 (1) There is created in the department the Board of
22 Professional Engineers. The board shall consist of 11 members, 9
23 nine of whom shall be licensed engineers and 2 two of whom shall
24 be laypersons who are not and have never been engineers or
25 members of any closely related profession or occupation.
26 Licensed engineers shall be selected and appointed based on
27 their qualifications and experience to provide expertise to the
28 board in civil engineering, structural engineering, electrical
29 or electronic engineering, mechanical engineering, plumbing
30 engineering, fire protection engineering, or engineering
31 education Of the members who are licensed engineers, three shall
32 be civil engineers, one shall be a structural engineer, one
33 shall be either an electrical or electronic engineer, one shall
34 be a mechanical engineer, one shall be an industrial engineer,
35 one shall be an engineering educator, and one shall be from any
36 discipline of engineering other than civil engineering.
37 (2) Members of the board shall be appointed by the Governor
38 for terms of 4 years each. Members shall be appointed from a
39 list of qualified nominees submitted by the Florida Engineering
40 Society if such list is submitted.
41 (3) When the terms of members serving as of July 1, 2014,
42 expire, the terms of their immediate successors shall be
43 staggered so that three members are appointed for 2 years, four
44 members are appointed for 3 years, and four members are
45 appointed for 4 years, as determined by the Governor. Each
46 member holds office until the expiration of his or her appointed
47 term or until a successor has been appointed.
48 (4) Members may be reappointed for successive terms. If a
49 vacancy on the board, due to resignation, death, or any other
50 cause, is not filled by the Governor within 3 months after the
51 vacancy occurs, the board may elect a provisional member to
52 serve until the Governor appoints a successor.
53 Section 2. Paragraph (e) of subsection (1) of section
54 471.013, Florida Statutes, is amended to read:
55 471.013 Examinations; prerequisites.—
56 (1)
57 (e) An Every applicant who is qualified to take the
58 fundamentals examination or the principles and practice
59 examination may shall be allowed to take either examination
60 three times, notwithstanding the number of times either
61 examination has been previously failed. If an applicant fails
62 either examination three times, the board shall require the
63 applicant to complete additional college-level education courses
64 or a relevant examination review course as a condition of future
65 eligibility to take that examination. If the applicant is
66 delayed in taking the examination due to his or her service in
67 the United States Armed Forces, the applicant is allowed two
68 additional attempts to take the examination before the board may
69 require additional college-level education or examination review
70 courses.
71 Section 3. Subsection (3) of section 471.017, Florida
72 Statutes, is amended to read:
73 471.017 Renewal of license.—
74 (3)(a) The board shall require a demonstration of
75 continuing professional competency of engineers as a condition
76 of license renewal or relicensure. Each Every licensee must
77 complete at least 10 4 professional development hours, for each
78 year of the license renewal period. For each renewal period for
79 such continuing education:
80 1. Four , 4 hours must shall relate to this chapter, and
81 the rules adopted under this chapter, and professional ethics;
82 2. Four and the remaining 4 hours must shall relate to the
83 licensee’s area of practice; and
84 3. The remaining hours may relate to any topic pertinent to
85 the practice of engineering.
86
87 Up to 12 hours may be earned by presenting or attending
88 seminars, in-house courses, workshops, or professional or
89 technical presentations given at meetings, conventions, or
90 conferences, including those presented by vendors with specific
91 knowledge related to the licensee’s area of practice. Up to 4
92 hours may be earned by serving as an officer or actively
93 participating on a committee of the Florida Engineering Society.
94 The courses required under s. 471.0195 may apply to the
95 requirements of this paragraph except the requirement under
96 subparagraph 1.
97 (b) The board shall adopt rules that are substantially
98 consistent with the Continuing Professional Competency
99 Guidelines of the National Council of Examiners for Engineering
100 and Surveying for multijurisdictional licensees for the purpose
101 of avoiding proprietary continuing professional competency
102 requirements and shall allow nonclassroom hours to be credited.
103 The board may, by rule, exempt from continuing professional
104 competency requirements retired professional engineers who no
105 longer sign and seal engineering documents and licensees in
106 unique circumstances that severely limit opportunities to obtain
107 the required professional development hours.
108 Section 4. This act shall take effect July 1, 2014.