Idaho Board of
Professional Engineers and
Professional Land Surveyors

2010 Possible Legislative Changes Documents

The Board is considering possible legislation for the 2010 session of the Idaho Legislature.

• Possibly amending Title 55 Chapter 17 and related sections of Idaho Code relating to the use of coordinate systems. The law was last changed in 1995 and contains several obsolete references. In addition to the existing three coordinate zones, there is support for an additional, statewide-zone. The draft legislation contained in this link is still subject to change, but is current as of September 14, 2009. For additional details - Possible Amendments to Idaho Codes on Coordinate Systems

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• Numerous changes to Idaho Code Title 54, Chapter 12 are being sponsored by the Board. The draft legislation contained in this link is still subject to change, but is current as of September 14, 2009. The proposed amendments include:
  1. A switch in business entity certificate of authorization renewals from the current practice of all renewing in the month of July to renewals in the month in which the certificate of authorization was originally issued. This will flatten out the workload for Board staff.
  2. There is a high likelihood that licensing examinations will be converted from paper-and-pencil to computer application in the near future. The current statutes are overly-specific and might preclude us from utilizing computer-based exams of different duration, makeup, timing, siting, etc. The proposed amendments would utilize more generic language to describe the exams, their duration, their frequency, their content, etc.
  3. Current law requires all final work products to be sealed, signed and dated by the professional in responsible charge. If a professional is transferred, fired, promoted, or even dies, the professional who takes the project over cannot, under current law, claim to have been in responsible charge, thus is precluded from sealing, signing and dating the work product. This legislation will state the conditions under which and the requirements for taking over responsible charge of a project.
  4. The nomenclature of "curriculum" needs to be changed to "program" and the nomenclature of "hearing proceedings" needs to be changed to "administrative proceedings."
  5. Current law requires applicants for assignment to the Fundamentals of Engineering or the Fundamentals of Surveying examination to have three references. Passage of the examination does not confer any practice privileges. No applicant has ever been denied assignment to the exams for lack of these references and the Deans of the Colleges of Engineering have requested that this requirement be eliminated.