Dear Board,  I practice Land Surveying in Richmond, Virginia.  I beleive CE could be helpful but historically anything that is mandated by the government  is dreamed up by Liberals.  We need to be conservative ie (start small and add as needed). Since I have no experience with these matters I thought it more useful to share with you the observations of a Proffesional Engineer/LS from Ga. where CE's have been in place for many years.

  "Dear Board – I have to take 30 hours of Cont. Ed. every two years.  I try to find subjects in which I might have some interest or feel I might need some refreshing.  That is very hard to do and I often end up taking at least 10 to 15 hours of trivial junk in order to accomplish a requirement.

In my present 2 year cycle, I have taken 7 hours in Wetlands identification and 7 hours in making applications to COE for Wetlands Approval.  Very useful.  The only other interest I can find is LEEDs.  Since I’m not an architect, a LEEDs course may not benefit me much more than I already know from reading magazine articles, etc.  That leaves me looking for junk to satisfy my hours requirement.

In my previous 2 year cycle, I took 16 hours to be certified as a Level II designer as required by the Georgia Soil and Water Conservation Commission.  This was absolutely necessary for me to continue working in my field whether Cont. Ed. was required or not.  I also took 6 hours of Minimum Technical Standards which is required every four years.  That was 22 hours out of 30 and the remaining 8 hours was junk that cost me over $200.  I don’t believe I’m a better rounded engineer or surveyor for taking these 8 hours.

Over the years I have taken miscellaneous courses such as Site Planning, Ethics, Sewage Disposal, GPS, Contracts as real refreshers for my field.  However, I do not need all these type courses every two years.  Yes, I could take a concrete design course as a refresher but I haven’t done concrete design in 30 years and don’t foresee needing it to be current in the field I work in.  But it would satisfy the law.  Wow.

Most engineers and surveyors I know have always kept current via means other than Cont. Ed..  For example, if a surveyor is going to be competitive, he must keep up with various types of survey equipment.  He studies the subject and his needs, researches prices and he teaches his staff.  Does he need a certified, paid for course to accomplish this?  Of course not.

I think Cont. Ed. does have a place in keeping us current in our fields.  For an engineer/surveyor some thoughts are:

1. Require a maximum 10 hours/year
2. Require that categories such as Ethics, Technical and Legal be taken at least every four years.  There certainly are other categories to consider also.
3. Require that 80% of the hours be taken directly pertaining to the field in which they work.  That would include items in #2 above.  For example, a surveyor might benefit by taking a sanitary sewage or septic design course but it will do very little to advance his abilities in his specific field.  He shouldn’t take more than 20% in similar courses.

Thanks for hearing me out.

A dedicated, excellent and brilliant PE/LS"