PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE The Future of Professional Engineering Registration — Where are We Heading? O ver the last three or four years, I have been involved in an effort to clarify where the future of profes s ional engineering registration is heading. An effort has been made by the Structural Engineering Licensing Coalition (SELC), made up of different State Structural Engineering Associations and the ASCE Structural Engineering Institute, to create a Structural Engineering (SE) license in all of the states. If they are successful, an S.E., not a P.E. (Professional Engineer) license would be required to design and seal plans for special structures. The structures requiring this type of seal would be “Designated Structures” — high risk buildings such as hospitals, schools and high rises. So, what about deep foundations, earth retention and other geotechnical engineering design for these “Designated Structures”? Good question! Do structural engineers have to seal these designs? They say “No” but it is yet to be seen how the geotechnical design will be handled if this effort is successful. Since I am originally from Illinois, I was aware of the S.E. registration, which has been in existence since 1915. Illinois structural engineering law predates the P.E. license and was put in place in response to a large number of “high-rise” buildings that were being designed in downtown Chicago around the turn of the century by less than qualified individuals. The Illinois S.E. is required for all structures. A few other states also have S.E. license designations, notably high earthquake hazard states like California and Washington as well as Nevada and Hawaii. Some Background Information In 2011, the National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying (NCEES) began offering a 16-hour P.E. exam for candidates who indicate that they practice structural engineering. This differs from the 8-hour exam to become a registered Civil Engineer (both take place after passing the Fundamental of Engineering (F.E.) exam and 4 years of practice under the supervision of a registered P.E.) Before this “nationwide” exam was offered, several states had their own structural engineering exams, and I believe a few still do. However, this extra requirement, or an added (8 more hours of exam) level of certification, has prompted the SELC to lobby for this additional certification to be considered a Registered Structural Engineer – S.E. The difference in this case (versus Illinois, California and Washington) is that it would be a “partial practice law,” since it would only apply to “Designated Structures.” So, as you might imagine, this idea could open up a big can of worms. Questions: 1. Would currently practicing engineers have to take a new exam? No, they would be grandfathered into practice by submitting an affidavit to their State Board of Examination and Registration that they have and always have made their living by competently practicing structural engineering. The new requirement would only be for future P.E./S.E. examination candidates. 2. What are considered “Designated Struc- tures”? The SELC believes that indivi- dual states should decide this question and that “Designated Structures” only represent about 10% of structures. They are recommending that structures like hospitals, schools and high-rise buildings are included in the list. 3. What happens when a deep foundation or a large retaining wall is part of a “Designated Structure”? The SELC says “don’t worry, geotechnical engineers can provide design input to us for those structures,” but a pragmatist says “muddy water!” John Wolosick, P.E., D.GE President [email protected] Realizing the importance of the matter, the geocoalition of DFI, ASCE/G-I and ADSC formed a task force to discuss this initiative. The team is led by Dr. Rich Finno and includes Hubert Deaton, Dr. Allen Marr and Dr. Paul Sabatini. They are very skeptical that this is a practical idea, especially given that the SELC wants to leave definitions of “Designated Structures” up to the indivi- dual states. Would our deep foundation designs now have to be performed by unqualified S.E.s? We have been doing this for more than 50 years! Recent Developments In August 2015, there was a big hit to this statewide S.E. registration effort. The NCEES voted narrowly to NOT recommend a separate S.E. licensure for all states and preserve the sanctity of the P.E. license. This S.E. registration was also heavily discouraged by the NSPE, the National Society for Professional Engineers. After all, the P.E. license would have been under- mined and weakened by these statutes. A P.E. is already ethically obligated not to practice outside his or her areas of expertise or competence. Also note that in August, the NCEES cancelled a planned enactment of requiring a Master’s degree in engineer- ing to sit for the P.E. license, which was to go into effect in 2020. Skeptical? Don’t like the sound of a required S.E. license for structure design in every state? Contact your local State Representatives and Senators to have your voice heard. DEEP FOUNDATIONS • NOV/DEC 2015 • 7
