March/April 2020

PE Report
Ohio Society-Led Coalition Says No to More Bureaucracy

To combat a bill that could hamper the mobility of licensed design professionals, the Ohio Society of Professional Engineers has initiated a coalition aimed at refining the measure.

The coalition includes the American Council of Engineering Companies–Ohio, the County Engineers Association of Ohio, and the State Board of Registration for Professional Engineers and Surveyors.

The legislation (S.B. 246/H.B. 432) will require a licensing authority to issue a license or government certification under certain circumstances to an applicant who holds an out-of-state occupational license or who has a government certification, a private certification, or satisfactory work experience in a state that does not issue a license. Applicants will be required to pay a fee equal to the renewal fee paid by license or certificate holders. The bill applies to all licensing boards and states agencies that administer licensing or certification programs.

The legislation also allows a licensing authority to require an applicant to pass an examination on Ohio’s laws and rules governing the applicable profession, occupation, or occupational activity.

The coalition is working to demonstrate to lawmakers that while license portability is desirable, rigorous requirements for engineering licensure are absolutely necessary to protect the public. OSPE believes that lawmakers should ensure that the license requirements for each occupation are considered individually.

The coalition has drafted proposed language to modify the legislation. The changes would give occupations with a national standard for examinations, experience, and education an out from the legislation assuming those regulatory boards grant reciprocity to out-of-state registrants seeking Ohio reciprocity based on the national standard.

NCEES Chief David Cox believes that the legislation will create more bureaucracy to solve a problem that doesn’t exist for professional boards. According to Cox, the Ohio engineering licensing board denies only about 2% of comity licensure applicants and approves “Model Law Engineers” within 48 hours.

In a letter to the editor of the Columbus Dispatch, NSPE President David Martini, P.E., F.NSPE, stated that while he believes that unnecessary barriers to entry exist for some occupations in Ohio, policymakers should beware of broad proposals that confuse “certification” with “professional licensing” of highly complex, technical fields like engineering. Failure to make this distinction, he wrote, could have the unintended consequence of weakening Ohio’s professional engineering license.