Legislation Passed in 2007 Brings Changes
Legislation passed in June 2007 provided for several changes in the statutes governing engineers and surveyors. These changes include the following:
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Deleted “Land” from the title of the Board and throughout the statute to reflect the expansion of surveying to areas beyond the identification and marking of land boundaries. In certain instances, the word “land” was retained for clarity when describing land boundary surveying as opposed to other surveying activities
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Staggered board terms and provided for potential board members names to be submitted to the Governor by the S.C. Council of Engineering and Surveying Societies
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Added Emeritus Engineer and Emeritus Surveyor licensure, exempting those individuals from continuing education requirements for license renewals. Emeritus licensees may not practice AT ALL.
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Added authority for the Board to determine if conditions in a declared public emergency warrant waiving license and credential requirements for engineers in specific geographic areas
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Increased the fines limit to $1,000 per violation with a cap of $20,000 total.
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Deleted the requirement for four years of work experience prior to certification under certain circumstances
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Changed the requirement to four years of work experience (rather than eight years) for individuals with a degree evaluated as “substantially equivalent” to an ABET-accredited degree.
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Created an Engineers and Surveyors Education and Research Fund,
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Licensure (until 2020) of individuals who hold an engineering technology degree and who meet certain work experience requirements
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Allow firms to designate one employee as the professional in charge of the work in South Carolina in addition to (or instead of) designating the corporate officer(s) or principal owner(s). This change facilitates corporate practice.
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Updated the reference to building codes in S.C. as the International Code Series.
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Other changes were made for clarity.