Senate Bill No. 15
(By Senators Dittmar and Ross)
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[Introduced January 10, 1996; referred to the Committee
on Government Organization.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact section twenty-four, article
thirteen, chapter thirty of the code of West Virginia, one
thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to
professions and occupations; engineering; providing
exemptions from engineering practice regulations; and
exempting certain governmental engineers from the
requirement of gaining professional engineer status.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section twenty-four, article thirteen, chapter thirty
of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred
thirty-one, as amended, be amended and reenacted to read as
follows:
ARTICLE 13. ENGINEERS.
§30-13-24. Exemptions.
This article may not be construed to prevent the practice
by:
(a) Other professions. -- The practice of any other legally
recognized profession;
(b) Temporary permits. -- The practice or offer to practice
engineering by a person not a resident of or having no
established place of business in this state, provided the person
is legally qualified by registration to practice engineering, as
defined in this article, in their own state or country. The
person shall make application to the board in writing and after
payment of a fee established by the board may be granted a
written permit for a definite period of time not to exceed one
year to do a specific job: Provided, That no right to practice
engineering shall accrue to the applicant with respect to any
other works not set forth in the permit; and
(c) Employees and subordinates. -- The work of an employee
or a subordinate of a person holding a certificate of
registration under this article, or an employee of a person
practicing lawfully: Provided, That the work does not include final engineering designs or decisions and is done under the
direct supervision of and verified by a person holding a
certificate of registration under this article or a person
practicing lawfully. Any regular full-time employee of a person,
partnership, corporation or other business entity who is engaged
solely and exclusively in performing services for such the
person, partnership, corporation or other business entity, who is
not required by any provision of the law other than this article
to be a registered professional engineer and whose services are
performed on, or in connection with, property owned or leased by
such the person, partnership, corporation or other business
entity, or in which such the person, partnership, corporation or
other business entity has an interest, estate or possessory
right, and are not offered or made available to the public. This
exemption includes the use of job title and personal
classification by such the person, but no name, title or words
may be used which tend to convey the impression that an
unlicensed person is offering professional engineering services
to the public; and
(d) Designated governmental employees. -- The work of
certain engineers employed by the state who by reason of education, training or experience have demonstrated to the
satisfaction of the appointing authority the requisite
qualifications for employment as an engineer.
The ad hoc exemption for an individual designated by the
appointing authority provided in this subdivision may not be
construed to allow the individual to hold the title of
professional engineer in positions specifically requiring the
employment of a professional engineer by the provisions of this
code or rules promulgated thereunder.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to exempt certain
engineers from the requirement of gaining "professional engineer"
status before practicing as an engineer.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken
from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language
that would be added.