| Action | Develop regulations for a mandatory continuing education requirement for architect, professional engineer, and land surveyor licenses. |
| Stage | Proposed |
| Comment Period | Ended on 5/2/2008 |
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I have always been in favor of CE and I believe that making it mandatory will force those of us that need it the most to see how the rest of the proffession works. I believe the best of us already spend time and money with CE. Sometimes the real benifit to a seminar is the discussion with other proffessionals and not the class itself.
I do feel that there needs to be some type of pre-approval of courses. Since this thing will be mandatory I do not believe that we should spend our time and money on something that may not be accepted by whoever is making decisions at the moment about what is relevant. We know that the thinking in this regard will change from one administrator to another. One example may be a seminar being held this week by the Virginia Association of Surveyors on Early Surveying Techniques and Equipment. To some this may seem to be just a history lession but if you are tasked with retracing a 100 year old survey it is very helpfull to know what the first surveyor was thinking and how capable his equipment really was. If I were going to use this class to fill my requirement I would want to know how an auditor would view such a course.
I am also in favor of some exemptions. The following was copied from another comment (it comes from Georgia regs. I think) and seems to be prudent to me. Especially as it relates to military and new proffessionals.
Thank You, Will Nash
A licensee may be exempt from the professional development educational requirements for one of the following reasons:
(1) New licensees by way of examination or reciprocity shall be exempt for their first renewal period.
(2) A licensee serving on temporary active duty in the uniformed services of the United States for a period of time exceeding 120 consecutive days in a year shall be exempt from obtaining the professional development hours required during that year.
(3) Licensees experiencing physical disability, illness, or other extenuating circumstances as reviewed and approved by the board may be exempt. Supporting documentation must be furnished to the board.
(4) Licensees who list their occupation as "Inactive" on the board approved renewal form and who further certify that they are no longer receiving any remuneration from providing professional engineering or land surveying services shall be exempt from the professional development development hours required. In the event such a person elects to return to active practice of professional engineering or land surveying, profesional development hours must be earned in accordance with the requirements of Rule .1708 in this Section before returning to active practice for each year exempted not to exceed the annual requirement for two years.
21-56.1707. EXEMPTIONS