By Uher H.B. No. 1328
76R5173 SMH-F
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
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, mapping,
1-14 or [and] location of sites, points, lines, angles, elevations,
1-15 natural features, and existing man-made works in the air, on the
1-16 surface of the earth, within underground workings, and on the beds
1-17 of bodies of water for the purpose of determining areas and volumes
1-18 for:
1-19 (A) the location of real property boundaries;
1-20 (B) the platting and layout of lands and
1-21 subdivisions of land; or [and]
1-22 (C) the preparation and perpetuation of maps,
1-23 record plats, field note records, easements, and real property
1-24 descriptions that represent those surveys.
2-1 SECTION 2. Section 9(a), Professional Land Surveying
2-2 Practices Act (Article 5282c, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), is
2-3 amended to read as follows:
2-4 (a) The board shall have the authority and power to make and
2-5 enforce all reasonable and necessary rules, regulations, and bylaws
2-6 not inconsistent with the Texas Constitution, the laws of this
2-7 state, and this Act for the performance of its duties in
2-8 administering this Act and for the purpose of establishing
2-9 standards of conduct and ethics for surveyors registered or
2-10 licensed under this Act. The board by rule shall prescribe the
2-11 minimum standards for professional surveying. The board by rule
2-12 shall prescribe standards for compliance with Subchapter A, Chapter
2-13 2254, Government Code, but may not otherwise adopt rules
2-14 restricting competitive bidding or advertising by a person
2-15 regulated by the board except to prohibit false, misleading, or
2-16 deceptive practices by the person. The board may not include in
2-17 its rules to prohibit false, misleading, or deceptive practices by
2-18 a person regulated by the board a rule that:
2-19 (1) restricts the use of any medium for advertising;
2-20 (2) restricts the person's personal appearance or use
2-21 of the person's voice in an advertisement;
2-22 (3) relates to the size or duration of an
2-23 advertisement by the person; or
2-24 (4) restricts the person's advertisement under a trade
2-25 name.
2-26 SECTION 3. Section 16(a), Professional Land Surveying
2-27 Practices Act (Article 5282c, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), is
3-1 amended to read as follows:
3-2 (a) Each applicant seeking certification as a
3-3 surveyor-in-training, registration as a registered professional
3-4 land surveyor, or licensure as a licensed state land surveyor shall
3-5 file an application in writing with the Texas Board of Professional
3-6 Land Surveying. An application fee in an amount determined by the
3-7 board[, not to exceed $100,] shall be submitted with the
3-8 application. If the board determines that the applicant is
3-9 qualified to take the appropriate section of the examination, it
3-10 shall set and notify the applicant of the section of the
3-11 examination that the applicant is approved to take and the time and
3-12 place of the examination. The applicant may take the section of
3-13 the examination that the applicant is approved to take on payment
3-14 of an examination fee in an amount determined by the board[, not to
3-15 exceed $100].
3-16 SECTION 4. Section 17(d), Professional Land Surveying
3-17 Practices Act (Article 5282c, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), is
3-18 amended to read as follows:
3-19 (d) As a condition for renewal of registration to practice
3-20 as a registered professional land surveyor, the board shall require
3-21 the registrant to successfully complete [successfully] continuing
3-22 professional education courses, as prescribed by board rule. The
3-23 rule shall specify the minimum number of hours of [provide that
3-24 the] continuing professional education courses required annually to
3-25 renew registration, which [requirement] may not be less [met by
3-26 the completion of no more] than eight hours[, a calendar day, of
3-27 professional development courses or programs in any annual period].
4-1 The board may also grant professional development credit for
4-2 satisfactory completion of academic work at an accredited
4-3 institution, teaching or consultation in programs approved by the
4-4 board, or authorship of technical papers approved by the board.
4-5 [The requirements of this subsection do not apply to registrants
4-6 who are also registered as registered professional engineers until
4-7 December 31, 1995.]
4-8 SECTION 5. Section 24, Professional Land Surveying Practices
4-9 Act (Article 5282c, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), is amended to
4-10 read as follows:
4-11 Sec. 24. ENFORCEMENT; COMPLAINTS; HEARINGS. (a) Any person
4-12 may file a complaint with the Texas Board of Professional Land
4-13 Surveying regarding a violation of this Act or any rule or
4-14 regulation of the board. The board may also institute proceedings
4-15 against a registrant or licensee on its behalf without a formal
4-16 written third party complaint. Each alleged violation of
4-17 applicable statutes, when duly reported and substantiated by sworn
4-18 affidavits, shall be investigated. The board may employ the
4-19 investigators or inspectors necessary to enforce properly the
4-20 provisions of this Act. The board may use the services of
4-21 volunteers in performing investigations. A volunteer is immune
4-22 from civil or criminal liability arising from an act or omission in
4-23 the course of performing an investigation unless the person acted
4-24 in bad faith or with malice.
4-25 (b) If after an investigation of a complaint the board
4-26 determines that a registrant or licensee did not violate this Act
4-27 or a board rule or regulation, the board shall expunge the
5-1 complaint from the registrant's or licensee's file. The complaint,
5-2 and any information obtained by the board in the investigation of
5-3 the complaint, is confidential and not subject to disclosure under
5-4 Chapter 552, Government Code.
5-5 (c) If the board proposes to suspend or revoke a person's
5-6 certificate of registration or licensure, the person is entitled to
5-7 a hearing before the board or a hearings officer appointed by the
5-8 board. The board shall prescribe procedures by which all decisions
5-9 to suspend or revoke are made by or are appealable to the board.
5-10 (d) [(c)] The board for reasons it may deem sufficient may
5-11 reissue a certificate of registration or licensure to any surveyor
5-12 whose certificate has been revoked provided six or more members
5-13 vote in favor of the reissuance. A new certificate of registration
5-14 or licensure to replace a certificate revoked, lost, destroyed, or
5-15 mutilated may be issued, subject to the rules of the board and a
5-16 charge of $20.
5-17 (e) [(d)] The attorney general or his assistants shall act
5-18 as legal advisor to the board and shall render such legal
5-19 assistance as may be necessary in enforcing the provisions of this
5-20 Act and the rules and regulations of the board.
5-21 SECTION 6. The importance of this legislation and the
5-22 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
5-23 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
5-24 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
5-25 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
5-26 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
5-27 passage, and it is so enacted.