CHAPTER 219
(SB 35)
Technical profession regulation and licensing revised.
ENTITLED, An Act to
revise certain provisions relating to the licensing and regulation of
technical professionals.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF SOUTH DAKOTA:
Section
1.
That subdivision (13) of
§
36-18A-1
be amended to read as follows:
(13)
"Engineering intern" or "engineer-in-training" or
"EIT" or
"EI
,
"
or "EIT,"
a person
enrolled by the board as an engineering intern and who has successfully passed the
fundamentals of engineering examination;
Section
2.
That subdivision (16) of
§
36-18A-1
be amended to read as follows:
(16)
"Land surveying intern" or "land surveyor-in-training" or
"LSIT" or
"LSI
,
"
or "LSIT,"
a person enrolled by the board as a land surveying intern who has successfully passed
the fundamentals of land surveying examination;
Section
3.
That chapter
36-18A
be amended by adding thereto a NEW SECTION to read as
follows:
For the purposes of this Act, the term, inactive licensee, means a licensee who ceases to
practice or offer to practice in the licensee's profession and who does not wish to renew but would
like his or her files to be kept active for possible reinstatement. An active licensee may be granted
inactive status. No inactive licensee may practice or offer to practice professional services in South
Dakota unless otherwise exempted in this chapter. Any inactive licensee is exempt from the
continuing education requirements.
Section
4.
That
§
36-18A-2
be amended to read as follows:
36-18A-2.
For the purposes of this chapter, the term, practice of architecture, means the
practice or offering to practice any service in connection with the design, evaluation, construction,
enlargement, or alteration of a building or group of buildings and the space within and surrounding
such buildings, which have as their principal purpose human occupancy or habitation. Such service
includes consultation; evaluation;
expert technical testimony;
planning; providing preliminary
studies; designs; overall interior and exterior building design; preparation of drawings,
specifications, and related documents and other technical submissions; construction administration
services which include the review or observation of construction for the purpose of determining
whether the work is in general accordance with the design, drawings, specifications, codes, and
other technical submissions; and coordination of services furnished by the architect, licensed
professional engineers, and other consultants as they relate to architectural work in connection with
the design and construction of any private or public building, building project, or integral part or
parts of buildings, or any addition or alteration thereto. The term also includes representation of
clients in connection with the construction administration services entered into between clients and
contractor and others.
Section
5.
That
§
36-18A-3
be amended to read as follows:
36-18A-3.
For the purposes of this chapter, the term, practice of engineering, means the
practice or offering to practice of any service or creative work, the adequate performance of which
requires engineering education, training, and experience in the application of special knowledge
of the mathematical, physical, and engineering sciences to such services or creative work. Such
service or work includes consultation; investigation;
expert technical testimony;
evaluation;
planning; design; and design coordination of engineering works and systems; planning the use of
land and water; land-use studies; teaching of advanced engineering
design
subjects; performing
engineering studies; and the review or observation of construction for the purpose to determine
whether the work is in general accordance with drawings, specifications, and other technical
submissions. Any such service or work, either public or private, may be in connection with any
utilities, structures, buildings, machines, equipment, processes, work systems, projects, and
industrial or consumer products, or equipment of a mechanical, electrical, hydraulic, pneumatic,
or thermal nature, insofar as they involve safeguarding life, health, or property, and including such
other professional services as are necessary to the planning, progress, and completion of any
engineering services.
For the purposes of this section, the term, design coordination, includes the review and
coordination of those technical submissions prepared by others, including consulting engineers,
architects, landscape architects, land surveyors, and other professionals working under the
direction of the engineer. The term, engineering studies, includes all activities required to support
the sound conception, planning, design, construction, maintenance, and operation of engineered
projects, but excludes the surveying of real property for the establishment of land boundaries,
rights-of-way, easement exhibits relating to land boundaries, and the dependent or independent
surveys or resurveys of the public land survey system.
A person is construed to practice or offer to practice engineering if the person practices any
branch of the profession of engineering, if the person, by verbal claim, sign, advertisement,
letterhead, card, or in any other way represents himself or herself to be a professional engineer, or
if the person through the use of some other title implies that the person is a professional engineer
or that the person is licensed under these provisions, or if the person holds himself or herself out
as able to perform or does perform any engineering service or work or any other service designated
by the practitioner which is recognized as engineering.
Section
6.
That
§
36-18A-8
be amended to read as follows:
36-18A-8.
Any person
or business entity
practicing or offering to practice architecture,
engineering, land surveying, landscape architecture, or petroleum release assessment or
remediation shall submit evidence of qualifications to the board and be licensed in accordance with
the provisions of this chapter. No person
or business entity
may practice or offer to practice any
of these professions, or to use in connection with that person's
or business entity's
name or
otherwise assume, use, or advertise any title or description that may falsely convey the impression
that the person is duly licensed under the provisions of this chapter unless the person is so licensed.
Section
7.
That subdivision (3) of
§
36-18A-9
be amended to read as follows:
(3)
Any person engaged in the practice of professional engineering, architecture,
landscape
architecture,
or land surveying in the employ of the state and any of its political
subdivisions but only while rendering service exclusively to such employer. Any
building
project
resulting from the practice of professional engineering, architecture,
landscape architecture,
or land surveying under this subdivision is subject to the size
limitation imposed under the exemptions in subdivision (8) of this section;
Section
8.
That
§
36-18A-15
be amended to read as follows:
36-18A-15.
Each member of the board shall be a citizen of the United States
and
,
a resident
of this state
, and in good standing with the board. Any member of the board whose individual
license is revoked or suspended automatically ceases to be a member of the board
. The public
member may not be or have been engaged in any activity subject to licensure under this chapter.
The members may not all be of the same political party.
Section
9.
That
§
36-18A-18
be amended to read as follows:
36-18A-18.
The board shall annually elect from its members a chair, a vice chair, and a
secretary. The board shall hold at least six regular meetings in each year. Special meetings
may be
may be
called and notice of all meetings shall be given in such manner as the public meetings laws
may provide. At all meetings, a majority of the board constitutes a quorum. The board and its
employees may be included in the state blanket bond purchased pursuant to § 3-5-5.1.
Section
10.
That
§
36-18A-22
be amended to read as follows:
36-18A-22.
The board shall, pursuant to chapter 1-26, promulgate rules which may be
reasonably necessary for the performance of its duties, the regulation of proceedings before it, and
the licensure of the professions it regulates. The existing rules promulgated under the previous
chapter 36-18 remain in effect until replaced. The board shall promulgate rules, pursuant to chapter
1-26, for the licensure of professional engineers, architects, land surveyors, landscape architects,
and petroleum release assessors and remediators in the following areas:
(1)
Forms such as applications, renewals, licenses or certificates,
and
receipts
, and
walletcards
for applicants, licensed professionals, and business entities;
(2)
Fees for applications, examinations, renewals, late penalties, lists and labels of
licensees, returned checks, reinstatement, inactive status, ability to allow a vendor to
collect fees for examinations, waiver of fees;
(3)
Criteria for types of education degrees, approval of accredited programs, intern
programs, type of experience, length of experience, national and state specific
examinations, use of computer examinations, criteria from other countries, procedure
to evaluate foreign degrees, eligibility of applicants, dual licenses;
(4)
Continuing professional education and development content, hours, carryovers, and
requirements;
(5)
How, when, and where to seal plans and documents; type of seal; required services to
be provided; and criteria to define complete plans, minimum standards of practice, and
guidelines;
(6)
Description of and criteria for construction administration, including a designation of
who is to perform construction administration and criteria for a prime professional or
a coordinating professional;
(7)
Requirements for compliance with local building code;
(8)
The adoption of a code of professional conduct;
(9)
Procedures for disciplinary proceedings; and
(10)
Procedures for contested cases pursuant to chapter 1-26.
Section
11.
That
§
36-18A-26
be amended to read as follows:
36-18A-26.
Any applicant for licensure as a professional engineer shall provide the following
evidence satisfactory to the board:
(1)
Graduation from an accredited engineering college, university, or technical program;
(2)
Completion of the minimum number of years of diversified engineering experience
under the supervision of a licensed professional engineer; and
(3)
Successful completion of examinations.
A person who has begun the requirement for licensure without minimum education and has
qualifying experience as of July 1, 1999, shall apply to the board before July 1, 2004, for approval
to take the examination under the qualifications that previously existed under § 36-18-17.4.
The
board shall promulgate rules, pursuant to chapter 1-26, to establish education, experience, and
examination criteria.
Section
12.
That
§
36-18A-42
be amended to read as follows:
36-18A-42.
A person
or business entity
may reinstate an expired license or request inactive
status within three years after a license's date of expiration if the person
or business entity
is
otherwise qualified. The fee for the reinstatement of the license or requesting inactive status after
it has expired shall be increased by an amount to be determined by the board in rules promulgated
pursuant to chapter 1-26. A person requesting reinstatement of an expired or inactive license shall
complete the requirements for continuing professional development and any reexaminations and
pay any penalty fees. If a person
or business entity
fails to reinstate an expired license or request
inactive status within the three years after the date of expiration, all relevant files shall be
deleted
destroyed
. A person
or business entity
requesting licensure after three years shall submit an
application for a new license.
A person or business entity shall retain the person's or business
entity's original license number.
Section
13.
That
§
36-18A-44
be amended to read as follows:
36-18A-44.
Any licensed professional engineer, architect, land surveyor, and landscape
architect shall procure and use an appropriate seal. The seal shall contain the following
information:
(1)
The name, South Dakota;
(2)
Licensee's name;
(3)
License number; and
(4)
The appropriate title or combination of titles: Professional Engineer, Architect, Land
Surveyor, Landscape Architect.
The seal shall have an outer circle with a two-inch diameter and an inner circle with a one and
one-fourth inch diameter. Titles may be prefixed with the words, Licensed or Registered. The seal
may be an embossed seal, a rubber stamp, a computer-generated seal, or other facsimile found
acceptable to the board. The licensee's original written signature and the date shall be adjacent to
or across the seal.
Computer-generated or other facsimile signatures and dates may not be used.
Petroleum release assessors and remediators, or interns, may not obtain or use any seal.
Section
14.
That
§
36-18A-45
be amended to read as follows:
36-18A-45.
The application of the licensee's seal and signature and the date constitutes
certification that the work on which it was applied was done by the licensee or under the licensee's
responsible charge. The seal, signature, and date shall be placed in such a manner that can be
legibly reproduced on the following:
(1)
All originals, copies, tracings, or other reproducibles of all final drawings,
specifications, reports, plats, plans, land surveys, design information, and calculations
prepared by the licensee or under the licensee's responsible charge when presented to
a client or any public or governmental agency. A licensee may not review or check
technical submissions of another licensed professional or unlicensed person and seal the
documents as the licensee's own work;
(2)
Preliminary work shall contain a note that the submittal is Not for Construction,
Preliminary, or other such explanation that it is not final;
(3)
In the case of multiple seals, the title or index sheet may be sealed, signed, and dated
by all involved. In addition, each sheet shall be sealed, signed, and dated by the licensee
or licensees responsible for that sheet;
(4)
Drawings that are transmitted electronically to a client or governmental agency shall
have the computer-generated seal removed from the original file. The electronic media
shall have the following inserted in lieu of the seal, signature, and date: This document
originally issued and sealed by (name of licensee/sealer), (title), (license number), on
(date of sealing). This media should not be considered a certified document
;
(5) Drawings, reports, or documents that are signed and sealed using a digital method shall
have an electronic authentication process attached to or logically associated with the
electronic documents. The digital signature shall be:
(a) Unique to the person using it;
(b) Capable of verification;
(c) Under the sole control of the person using it; and
(d) Linked to a document in such a manner that the digital signature is invalidated
if any data in the document is changed
.
Section
15.
That chapter
36-18A
be amended by adding thereto a NEW SECTION to read as
follows:
A digital signature that uses a process approved by the board is presumed to meet the criteria
set forth in subdivision 36-18A-45(5). Any hard copy printed from the transmitted electronic file
shall bear the facsimile of the signature and seal and shall be a confirmation that the electronic file
was not altered after the initial digital signing of the file. Any alterations to the file shall cause the
facsimile of the signature to be voided.
Section
16.
That chapter
36-18A
be amended by adding thereto a NEW SECTION to read as
follows:
If determined by the board that a licensee in responsible charge of the work is unavailable to
complete the work, a successor licensee may take responsible charge by performing all
professional services to include developing a complete design file with work or design criteria,
calculations, code research, and any necessary and appropriate changes to the work. The
nonprofessional services, such as drafting, need not be redone by the successor licensee but shall
clearly and accurately reflect the successor licensee's work. The burden is on the successor licensee
to show compliance. The successor licensee shall sign, date, and seal all original documents. The
successor licensee shall have control of and responsibility for the work product and the signed and
sealed originals of all documents.
Section
17.
That
§
36-18A-47
be amended to read as follows:
36-18A-47.
Any office physically located and maintained in this state to offer engineering,
architectural, land surveying, landscape architectural, petroleum release assessment, or petroleum
release remediation services shall have an appropriately licensed person who is regularly employed
in that office and who has responsible charge and direct supervision and control of all professional
services.
A
No
licensee who renders occasional, part-time, or consulting services to or for
a firm
or
an
office may
not
be designated as the
appropriately licensed
person in responsible charge for
the professional activities of the
firm or
office unless a schedule is posted at the office for the
public's knowledge and filed with and approved by the board stating when the licensee is
physically in the office.
3
Section
18.
That
§
36-18A-49
be amended to read as follows:
36-18A-49.
A business entity
or office
desiring a certificate of authorization or renewal shall
file a written application with the board which shall contain the following:
(1)
Names and addresses of the sole proprietorship and all general and limited partners,
officers, and directors of any business entity;
(2)
Names and addresses
The names, license numbers, and profession
of all
general and
limited partners, officers, directors, and
employees or sole proprietors of
such
the
business entity
or office
who are duly licensed to practice engineering, architecture, land
surveying, landscape architecture, petroleum release assessment, or petroleum release
remediation in this state and who are or will be in responsible charge of any professional
services in this state by the business entity
or office;
(2) A statement from the business entity that the board office will be notified in writing
within thirty days after the effective date of any change
;
(3)
A statement by a
partner, officer, or owner
licensed person who works for the business
entity or office
that the business entity
or office
will not permit the performance of any
professional service, as defined in this chapter, by any person of the business entity
or
office
unless the person is licensed under this chapter; and
(4)
All other information the board may deem necessary as promulgated by rule pursuant
to chapter 1-26.
Section
19.
That
§
36-18A-50
be amended to read as follows:
36-18A-50.
The board shall issue a certificate of authorization or a renewal to a business entity
or office
upon receipt of an application for a certificate of authorization and a fee as set by the
board pursuant to chapter 1-26 unless the board finds an error in the application or that any facts
exist which would entitle the board to suspend or revoke the certificate if issued to the applicant.
The certificate of authorization is not transferable.
A certificate of authorization is not required for
any exempt business.
Signed February 21, 2007