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.