BILL ANALYSIS C.S.H.B. 200 By: Madden (Ratliff) Economic Development 05-17-95 Senate Committee Report (Substituted) BACKGROUND Current law requires persons who practice professional surveying in Texas to be licensed by the Texas Board of Professional Land Surveying. Recent advances in technology and performance of surveying services have caused the occupation of professional surveying to expand beyond its legal definition. Surveyors are required, by law, to be licensed by the Texas Board of Professional Land Surveying. To be eligible for a license, applicants must have a valid surveyor-in-training certificate and at least two years experience as a surveyor-in-training under a licensed surveyor. PURPOSE As proposed, C.S.H.B. 200 redefines "professional surveying"; provides that a registered land surveyor is not needed to establish an easement or certain construction estimates; sets forth requirements for applicants applying for registration as a professional land surveyor on or before January 1, 2003, and for applicants applying after that date. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, institution, or agency. SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS SECTION 1. Amends Section 2(1), Article 5282c, V.T.C.S. (Professional Land Surveying Practices Act), to redefine "professional surveying" to include any work which involves the application or special knowledge of the principles of geodesy and the measurement and location of sites and points in the air, on the surface of the earth, within underground workings, among others. Provides that these principles are used for the purpose of determining areas and volumes for easements, among others. SECTION 2. Amends Section 3A, Article 5282c, V.T.C.S., to provide that this Act does not require the use of a registered land surveyor to establish an easement or a construction estimate which does not involve the monumentation, delineation, or preparation of a metes and bounds description. SECTION 3. Amends Section 15, Article 5282c, V.T.C.S., by amending Subsections (c) and (e) and by adding Subsection (d), as follows: (c) Sets forth requirements for an applicant who applies for registration as a registered land surveyor on or before January 1, 2003. (d) Requires an applicant who applies for registration as a registered professional land surveyor after January 1, 2003, in addition to the requirements in Subsection (c), to hold an earned bachelor's degree conferred by an accredited higher education institution and including at least 32 semester hours of study, in any combination of courses acceptable to the Texas Board of Professional Land Surveying (board), in civil engineering, land surveying, mathematics, photogrammetry, forestry, land law, or the physical sciences. (e) Requires an applicant who applies for certification as a surveyor-in-training to have earned a bachelor's degree, rather than a bachelor of science degree in another course of study, conferred by an accredited higher education institution including at least 32 semester hours, in any combination of specified courses acceptable to the board, among other requirements. SECTION 4. Effective date: September 1, 1995. Makes application of this Act prospective. SECTION 5. Emergency clause.