1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to the regulation of the practice of professional land
1-3 surveying.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. Section 2(1), Professional Land Surveying
1-6 Practices Act (Article 5282c, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), is
1-7 amended to read as follows:
1-8 (1) "Professional surveying" means the practice of
1-9 land, boundary, or property surveying or other similar professional
1-10 practices. The term includes any service or work the adequate
1-11 performance of which involves the application of special knowledge
1-12 of the principles of geodesy, mathematics, related applied and
1-13 physical sciences, and relevant laws to the measurement or [and]
1-14 location of sites, points, lines, angles, elevations, natural
1-15 features, and existing man-made works in the air, on the surface of
1-16 the earth, within underground workings, and on the beds of bodies
1-17 of water for the purpose of determining areas and volumes for:
1-18 (A) the location of real property boundaries;
1-19 (B) the platting and layout of lands and
1-20 subdivisions of land; or [and]
1-21 (C) the preparation and perpetuation of maps,
1-22 record plats, field note records, easements, and real property
1-23 descriptions that represent those surveys. To the extent these
1-24 services or types of creative work meet this definition, the term
2-1 includes consultation, investigation, evaluation, analysis,
2-2 planning, providing an expert surveying opinion or testimony, and
2-3 mapping.
2-4 SECTION 2. Section 9(a), Professional Land Surveying
2-5 Practices Act (Article 5282c, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), is
2-6 amended to read as follows:
2-7 (a) The board shall have the authority and power to make and
2-8 enforce all reasonable and necessary rules, regulations, and bylaws
2-9 not inconsistent with the Texas Constitution, the laws of this
2-10 state, and this Act for the performance of its duties in
2-11 administering this Act and for the purpose of establishing
2-12 standards of conduct and ethics for surveyors registered or
2-13 licensed under this Act. The board by rule shall prescribe the
2-14 minimum standards for professional surveying. The board by rule
2-15 shall prescribe standards for compliance with Subchapter A, Chapter
2-16 2254, Government Code, but may not otherwise adopt rules
2-17 restricting competitive bidding or advertising by a person
2-18 regulated by the board except to prohibit false, misleading, or
2-19 deceptive practices by the person. The board may not include in
2-20 its rules to prohibit false, misleading, or deceptive practices by
2-21 a person regulated by the board a rule that:
2-22 (1) restricts the use of any medium for advertising;
2-23 (2) restricts the person's personal appearance or use
2-24 of the person's voice in an advertisement;
2-25 (3) relates to the size or duration of an
2-26 advertisement by the person; or
2-27 (4) restricts the person's advertisement under a trade
3-1 name.
3-2 SECTION 3. Section 16(a), Professional Land Surveying
3-3 Practices Act (Article 5282c, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), is
3-4 amended to read as follows:
3-5 (a) Each applicant seeking certification as a
3-6 surveyor-in-training, registration as a registered professional
3-7 land surveyor, or licensure as a licensed state land surveyor shall
3-8 file an application in writing with the Texas Board of Professional
3-9 Land Surveying. An application fee in an amount determined by the
3-10 board[, not to exceed $100,] shall be submitted with the
3-11 application. If the board determines that the applicant is
3-12 qualified to take the appropriate section of the examination, it
3-13 shall set and notify the applicant of the section of the
3-14 examination that the applicant is approved to take and the time and
3-15 place of the examination. The applicant may take the section of
3-16 the examination that the applicant is approved to take on payment
3-17 of an examination fee in an amount determined by the board[, not to
3-18 exceed $100].
3-19 SECTION 4. The importance of this legislation and the
3-20 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
3-21 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
3-22 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
3-23 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
3-24 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
3-25 passage, and it is so enacted.
_______________________________ _______________________________
President of the Senate Speaker of the House
I certify that H.B. No. 1328 was passed by the House on May
4, 1999, by the following vote: Yeas 139, Nays 0, 1 present, not
voting; and that the House concurred in Senate amendments to H.B.
No. 1328 on May 26, 1999, by the following vote: Yeas 145, Nays 0,
2 present, not voting.
_______________________________
Chief Clerk of the House
I certify that H.B. No. 1328 was passed by the Senate, with
amendments, on May 24, 1999, by the following vote: Yeas 30, Nays
0.
_______________________________
Secretary of the Senate
APPROVED: _____________________
Date
_____________________
Governor