Enrolled Bill Summary

            Senate Bill 405 enacts the Texas Geoscience Practice Act to provide for the licensing and regulation of professional geoscientists, and it creates the Texas Board of Professional Geoscientists to administer and enforce the provisions of the act. The bill requires a person who engages in the public practice of geoscience in this state to have a license issued by the board, sets forth the qualifications for the license, and specifies the particular activities that licensed geoscientists are authorized to perform as well as activities that do not require a license. Senate Bill 405 establishes specific and separate responsibilities of the board and the executive director appointed by the board. The bill outlines eligibility requirements, terms, and grounds for removal of board members and grants the board certain disciplinary and rulemaking authority, subject to judicial review. The bill authorizes the board's executive director to be responsible for the administration of funds received by the board and the maintenance of an account designated as exempt from certain requirements for its use.

            Senate Bill 405 also amends the Local Government Code to authorize a licensed geoscientist to certify certain information on a plat for a subdivision. The bill takes effect September 1, 2001, except for the license requirement and administrative penalty provisions, which take effect September 1, 2003.