July 2014

PE REPORT
Ohio PE Act Changes Take Effect

A new Ohio law changes educational, examination, and reporting requirements for professional engineers and surveyors and the authority of the State Board of Registration for Professional Engineers and Surveyors.

A major change to the state law will allow licensure candidates to take the FE and FS exams anytime throughout the year at testing centers around the state rather than just twice a year in April and October. The new law, which took effect June 3, also allows computer-based testing and eliminates references to oral and written examinations.

The Ohio Society of Professional Engineers believes the changes will encourage more engineers to pursue licensure. “We believe that it will streamline the registration process, making it less burdensome for engineering graduates, who in the past have had to travel great distances to sit for the exams,” says Joseph Warino, P.E., F.NSPE, OSPE’s vice president of legislative and government affairs.

The legislation (H.B. 202), introduced and sponsored by OSPE member Rep. Louis Blessing III, P.E., also includes the following changes:

• Licensed engineers and surveyors are required to complete 30 hours of continuing education every two years to renew their licenses. The new law eliminates the requirement that even if there is a dispute with the board about the content of any credit hours or coursework, the board has to accept any credit hours or coursework submitted by a licensee if accompanied by a statement affirming that the coursework is relevant to the licensee’s practice.
• Requires that if an applicant for engineering licensure has graduated from a school with an unaccredited college curriculum, it must be evaluated and approved by the board and deemed as equivalent to accredited curricula.
• Requires that an individual seeking a PE license must first be certified by the board as an engineer intern and apply for registration and pay the required fee to become a licensed engineer.
• Currently, a firm, partnership, association, limited liability company, or corporation that provides professional engineering and surveying services and uses titles associated with these services must obtain a certificate of authorization from the board. A change to the act will extend the renewal of the certificate from one to two years.
• Requires the board to submit (at the end of each fiscal year) a report to the governor of its activities of the preceding year and a statement of the board’s receipts and expenditures along with affidavits from the board’s chairperson and executive director.