If engineers stop learning when they earn their degree or when they become PE, they're going to be worthless in a decade. The calculating tool of the trade when I earned my degree was a slide rule. I haven't seen any employment opportunities recently where this skill was sought. With other changes in technology, materials, standards, and regulations, the engineer who doesn't keep up will become unemployable. Professional engineering societies know this. For example, the Professional Obligations section of the NSPE Code of Ethics states "Engineers shall continue their professional development throughout their careers and should keep current in their speciality fields by engaging in professional practice, participating in continuing education courses, reading in the technical literature, and attending professional meetings and seminars." (III.8.e) Other professsional societies include similar statements in their Codes. In joining other states that already require continuing education, Virginia is actually doing its engineers and other professionals a favor.

I maintain my VA PE license though I haven't practiced there in over 30 year. The state where I currently live and practice began to require 30 professional development hours (PDH) per biennium about ten years ago. The initial reaction of many engineers and land surveyors was the same negative attitude reflected in many of the foregoing comments. The state, however, was wise enough to define professional development in the comprehensive manner specified in the NSPE statement above, thus affording engineers and land surveyors various options for satisfying the requirement. The grumbling about the PDH requirements has largely disappeared. Some raised complaints three years ago when the state specified that four of the 30 PDH be in the area of engineering ethics, but that has largely died down.

I applaud the Board's actions, although I would suggest that the "board-approved continuing education activities" be reworded to something closer to the NSPE statement. I seriously doubt that the Board wants to be in the position of reviewing and "approving" hundreds, or more likely, thousands of alternative continuing education alternatives.

Jerome Hall