1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to an exemption from the licensure provisions of The Texas
1-3 Engineering Practice Act for certain research or instructional
1-4 work.
1-5 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-6 SECTION 1. Subsection (a), Section 20, The Texas Engineering
1-7 Practice Act (Article 3271a, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), is
1-8 amended to read as follows:
1-9 (a) The following persons shall be exempt from the licensure
1-10 provisions of this Act, provided that such persons are not directly
1-11 or indirectly represented or held out to the public to be legally
1-12 qualified to engage in the practice of engineering:
1-13 (1) an employee or a subordinate of a person holding a
1-14 license under this Act; provided, his practice does not include
1-15 responsible charge of design or supervision;
1-16 (2) officers and employees of the Government of the
1-17 United States while engaged within this state in the practice of
1-18 the profession of engineering for said Government;
1-19 (3) a person doing the actual work of installing,
1-20 operating, repairing, or servicing locomotive or stationary
1-21 engines, steam boilers, Diesel engines, internal combustion
1-22 engines, refrigeration compressors and systems, hoisting engines,
1-23 electrical engines, air conditioning equipment and systems, or
1-24 mechanical and electrical, electronic or communications equipment
1-25 and apparatus; this Act may not be construed to prevent any citizen
2-1 from identifying himself in the name and trade of any engineers'
2-2 labor organization with which he may be affiliated, however, this
2-3 exemption may not be construed to permit any person other than a
2-4 licensed professional engineer to affix his signature to
2-5 engineering plans, or specifications and may not be construed to
2-6 permit a person to use the term "engineer" or "engineering" in any
2-7 manner prohibited by this Act;
2-8 (4) a person, sole proprietorship, firm, partnership,
2-9 joint stock association or private corporation, erecting,
2-10 constructing, enlarging, altering or repairing, or drawing plans
2-11 and specifications for: any private dwelling, or apartments not
2-12 exceeding eight units per building for one story buildings, or
2-13 apartments not exceeding four units per building and having a
2-14 maximum height of two stories, or garages or other structures
2-15 pertinent to such buildings; or private buildings which are to be
2-16 used exclusively for farm, ranch or agricultural purposes, or used
2-17 exclusively for storage of raw agricultural commodities; or other
2-18 buildings, except public buildings included under Section 19 of
2-19 this Act, having no more than one story and containing no clear
2-20 span between supporting structures greater than 24 feet on the
2-21 narrow side and having a total floor area not in excess of five
2-22 thousand square feet; provided that on unsupported spans greater
2-23 than 24 feet on such buildings only the trusses, beams, or other
2-24 roof supporting members need to be engineered or pre-engineered;
2-25 provided that no representation is made or implied that engineering
2-26 services have been or will be offered to the public;
3-1 (5) any regular full time employee of a private
3-2 corporation or other private business entity who is engaged solely
3-3 and exclusively in performing services for such corporation and/or
3-4 its affiliates; provided, such employee's services are on, or in
3-5 connection with, property owned or leased by such private
3-6 corporation and/or its affiliates or other private business entity,
3-7 or in which such private corporation and/or its affiliates or other
3-8 business entity has an interest, estate or possessory right, or
3-9 whose services affect exclusively the property, products, or
3-10 interests of such private corporation and/or its affiliates or
3-11 other private business entity; and, provided further, that such
3-12 employee does not have the final authority for the approval of, and
3-13 the ultimate responsibility for, engineering designs, plans or
3-14 specifications pertaining to such property or products which are to
3-15 be incorporated into fixed works, systems, or facilities on the
3-16 property of others or which are to be made available to the general
3-17 public. This exemption includes the use of job titles and
3-18 personnel classifications by such persons not in connection with
3-19 any offer of engineering services to the public, providing that no
3-20 name, title, or words are used which tend to convey the impression
3-21 that an unlicensed person is offering engineering services to the
3-22 public;
3-23 (6) any regular full time employee of a privately
3-24 owned public utility or cooperative utility and/or affiliates who
3-25 is engaged solely and exclusively in performing services for such
3-26 utility and/or its affiliates; provided, that such employee does
4-1 not have the final authority for the approval of, and the ultimate
4-2 responsibility for engineering designs, plans or specifications to
4-3 be incorporated into fixed works, systems, or facilities on the
4-4 property of others or which are to be made available to the general
4-5 public. This exemption includes the use of job titles and
4-6 personnel classifications by such persons not in connection with
4-7 any offer of engineering services to the public, providing that no
4-8 name, title, or words are used which tend to convey the impression
4-9 that an unlicensed person is offering engineering services to the
4-10 public; [or]
4-11 (7) qualified scientists engaged in scientific
4-12 research and investigation of the physical or natural sciences,
4-13 including the usual work and activities of meteorologists,
4-14 seismologists, geologists, chemists, geochemists, physicists and
4-15 geophysicists; or
4-16 (8) persons employed by an institution of higher
4-17 education or a private or independent institution of higher
4-18 education, as those terms are defined by Section 61.003, Education
4-19 Code, who are performing research or instructional work within the
4-20 scope of their employment by the institution.
4-21 SECTION 2. Subdivision (4), Section 2, The Texas Engineering
4-22 Practice Act (Article 3271a, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), is
4-23 amended to read as follows:
4-24 (4) "Practice of engineering," or "practice of
4-25 professional engineering" shall mean any service or creative work,
4-26 either public or private, the adequate performance of which
5-1 requires engineering education, training and experience in the
5-2 application of special knowledge or judgment of the mathematical,
5-3 physical, or engineering sciences to such services or creative
5-4 work.
5-5 To the extent the following services or types of creative
5-6 work meet this definition, the term includes consultation,
5-7 investigation, evaluation, analysis, planning, engineering for
5-8 program management, providing an expert engineering opinion or
5-9 testimony, engineering for testing or evaluating materials for
5-10 construction and other engineering uses, and mapping; design,
5-11 conceptual design, or conceptual design coordination of engineering
5-12 works and systems; development or optimization of plans and
5-13 specifications for engineering works and systems; planning the use
5-14 or alteration of land and water or the design or analysis of works
5-15 or systems for the use or alteration of land and water; [teaching
5-16 advanced engineering subjects;] performing engineering surveys and
5-17 studies; engineering for construction, alteration, or repair of
5-18 real property; engineering for preparation of operating and
5-19 maintenance manuals; and engineering for review of the construction
5-20 or installation of engineered works to monitor compliance with
5-21 drawings and specifications.
5-22 The activities included in the practice of engineering
5-23 include services, designs, analyses, or other work performed for a
5-24 public or private entity in connection with utilities, structures,
5-25 buildings, machines, equipment, processes, systems, works,
5-26 projects, and industrial or consumer products or equipment of a
6-1 mechanical, electrical, electronic, chemical, hydraulic, pneumatic,
6-2 geotechnical, or thermal nature and include other professional
6-3 services necessary for the planning, progress, and completion of
6-4 any engineering service.
6-5 In this subdivision:
6-6 (A) "Design coordination" includes the review
6-7 and coordination of technical submissions prepared by others,
6-8 including the work of other professionals working with or under the
6-9 direction of an engineer with due professional regard for the
6-10 abilities of all professional parties involved in a
6-11 multidisciplinary effort.
6-12 (B) "Engineering surveys" includes all survey
6-13 activities required to support the sound conception, planning,
6-14 design, construction, maintenance, and operation of an engineered
6-15 project, but does not include the surveying of real property and
6-16 other activities regulated under the Professional Land Surveying
6-17 Practices Act (Article 5282c, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes).
6-18 SECTION 3. Subsection (c), Section 12, The Texas Engineering
6-19 Practice Act (Article 3271a, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), is
6-20 amended to read as follows:
6-21 (c) In considering the qualifications of applicants,
6-22 [responsible charge of] engineering teaching may not be construed
6-23 as active practice in [responsible charge of] engineering work.
6-24 The mere execution, as a contractor, of work designed by a
6-25 professional engineer, or the supervision of the construction of
6-26 such work as foreman or superintendent shall not be deemed to be
7-1 active practice in engineering work.
7-2 SECTION 4. The change in law made by this Act to Subsection
7-3 (c), Section 12, The Texas Engineering Practice Act (Article 3271a,
7-4 Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), applies only to a person who begins
7-5 the teaching of engineering on or after September 1, 2001. A
7-6 person who has engaged in the teaching of engineering before that
7-7 date is governed by the law in effect immediately before the
7-8 effective date of this Act, and the former law is continued in
7-9 effect for that purpose.
7-10 SECTION 5. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
7-11 a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
7-12 provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this
7-13 Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
7-14 Act takes effect September 1, 2001.
_______________________________ _______________________________
President of the Senate Speaker of the House
I hereby certify that S.B. No. 1797 passed the Senate on
May 1, 2001, by the following vote: Yeas 30, Nays 0, one present
not voting; and that the Senate concurred in House amendment on
May 24, 2001, by the following vote: Yeas 30, Nays 0, one present
not voting.
_______________________________
Secretary of the Senate
I hereby certify that S.B. No. 1797 passed the House, with
amendment, on May 18, 2001, by the following vote: Yeas 140,
Nays 0, two present not voting.
_______________________________
Chief Clerk of the House
Approved:
_______________________________
Date
_______________________________
Governor