September/October 2019

NSPE Today
As Licensing Threats Increase, NSPE Builds Defense Network

NSPE has bolstered its efforts to protect professional licensing with the creation of the Alliance for Responsible Professional Licensing, a new coalition of advanced professions dedicated to informing lawmakers and the public of the importance of rigorous professional licensing standards.

In this partnership, NSPE is leading the charge to educate policymakers on the importance of maintaining standards for complex technical professions like engineering that have a clear impact on public health, safety, and welfare. In addition to its ongoing efforts to defend the PE license, NSPE spearheaded this coalition to ensure that professional engineers and other advanced professions are represented amid the growing debate around licensing laws.

“Advanced professions like [engineering] already have licensing models that work, making it possible for our engineers to move from one state to another and have their licenses acknowledged,” says NSPE Executive Director Mark Golden. “This is only possible because well-structured licensing systems have established consistency in qualifications and standards within our profession. This uniformity establishes a baseline of trust in the qualifications of our engineers to do their work and keep the public safe.”

In its leadership position with ARPL, NSPE will highlight how professional licensing protects the public by ensuring a baseline of proven qualification and expertise that protects consumers from unqualified practitioners. This public awareness campaign aims to counter the antilicensing interests that threaten public safety.

“Attacks on professional licensing have risen in frequency and scope over the last several years. Opponents have gone before state legislatures, openly questioning whether any professional licensing is necessary, portraying it as a barrier to access to certain professions and a violation of consumer rights,” says former NSPE president Brad Aldrich, P.E. “The Alliance for Responsible Professional Licensing is working to address this issue and to promote the essential role of professional licensing to protect the public.”

Joining NSPE in this coalition are the American Institute of Architects, the American Institute of CPAs, the American Society of Civil Engineers, the Council of Landscape Architectural Registration Boards, the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy, the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards, and the National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying.