By Carona S.B. No. 1797
77R12216 JMM-F
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
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. Section 20(a), The Texas Engineering Practice Act
1-7 (Article 3271a, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), is amended to read
1-8 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
2-1 and apparatus; this Act may not be construed to prevent any citizen
2-2 from identifying himself in the name and trade of any engineers'
2-3 labor organization with which he may be affiliated, however, this
2-4 exemption may not be construed to permit any person other than a
2-5 licensed professional engineer to affix his signature to
2-6 engineering plans, or specifications and may not be construed to
2-7 permit a person to use the term "engineer" or "engineering" in any
2-8 manner prohibited by this Act;
2-9 (4) a person, sole proprietorship, firm, partnership,
2-10 joint stock association or private corporation, erecting,
2-11 constructing, enlarging, altering or repairing, or drawing plans
2-12 and specifications for: any private dwelling, or apartments not
2-13 exceeding eight units per building for one story buildings, or
2-14 apartments not exceeding four units per building and having a
2-15 maximum height of two stories, or garages or other structures
2-16 pertinent to such buildings; or private buildings which are to be
2-17 used exclusively for farm, ranch or agricultural purposes, or used
2-18 exclusively for storage of raw agricultural commodities; or other
2-19 buildings, except public buildings included under Section 19 of
2-20 this Act, having no more than one story and containing no clear
2-21 span between supporting structures greater than 24 feet on the
2-22 narrow side and having a total floor area not in excess of five
2-23 thousand square feet; provided that on unsupported spans greater
2-24 than 24 feet on such buildings only the trusses, beams, or other
2-25 roof supporting members need to be engineered or pre-engineered;
2-26 provided that no representation is made or implied that engineering
2-27 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
3-27 not have the final authority for the approval of, and the ultimate
4-1 responsibility for engineering designs, plans or specifications to
4-2 be incorporated into fixed works, systems, or facilities on the
4-3 property of others or which are to be made available to the general
4-4 public. This exemption includes the use of job titles and
4-5 personnel classifications by such persons not in connection with
4-6 any offer of engineering services to the public, providing that no
4-7 name, title, or words are used which tend to convey the impression
4-8 that an unlicensed person is offering engineering services to the
4-9 public; [or]
4-10 (7) qualified scientists engaged in scientific
4-11 research and investigation of the physical or natural sciences,
4-12 including the usual work and activities of meteorologists,
4-13 seismologists, geologists, chemists, geochemists, physicists and
4-14 geophysicists; or
4-15 (8) persons employed by an institution of higher
4-16 education or a private or independent institution of higher
4-17 education as those terms are defined by Section 61.003, Education
4-18 Code, who are performing research or instructional work within the
4-19 scope of their employment by the institution.
4-20 SECTION 2. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
4-21 a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
4-22 provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this
4-23 Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
4-24 Act takes effect September 1, 2001.