I am also opposed to this requirement on principle, and I guess I don’t understand the problem we’re trying to solve.  Has there been some documented increase in infrastructure failures or harm to the public caused by the failure of current programs for primary and continuing education for engineers?  Is the licensing process flawed?  Will a sixteen hour by-annual training requirement fix either?  I’m one of those with several decades of design experience.  I have worked in both private practice and the government.  As others have said, you cannot successfully practice engineering without staying current in your field.   The best trainers in my career were the professional engineers sitting next to me who had been there and done that, knew what they were talking about, and who shared their experience to my benefit and that of the profession and the public.  I never perceived any of them were not current in their field.  I wish I could be as enthusiastic about all the seminars I have attended.  As a group we speak highly of professional ethics and recognition, and certify at renewal that we have maintained our skills and professional competency, but this proposal says that’s not good enough anymore.  From my government experience, this kind of legislated requirement rarely produces positive, measurable results.  Any final regulation exemptions and alternate means of meeting the standard for special groups will make it all the more questionable.  The economic cost for the individual and the Commonwealth are understated.  This will not change the engineer’s ability or responsibility to provide sound infrastructure for the public, nor will it change the occurrences of unprofessional conduct of licensed engineers that current regulations are already adequate to deal with.  The main benefit of the program will be to the training industry.  What the engineer gets out of any training is a very personal matter.  In reality this requirement will be easy to meet for most engineers, but I suspect most will get as much educational benefit out of mandatory training as they do from writing a check to Virginia when its time to renew their license.  I also suspect the State will continue on with this initiative despite the overwhelming majority of opinions written here.