March/April 2019

PE Report
DC Considers Continuing Education Requirement

The District of Columbia Board of Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors is considering implementing continuing education requirements for design professionals who are renewing or reinstating their licenses to practice, a requirement opposed by the DC Society of Professional Engineers.

The DC licensing board, which operates under the Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs, wants an education requirement to align standards with neighboring jurisdictions and ensure that licensees maintain professional and ethical competence. Neighboring jurisdictions Maryland and Virginia require a minimum of 16 continuing education hours for renewal on a biennial basis. According to NSPE’s report Continuing Education Requirements for Professional Engineers, 41 states and Puerto Rico require continuing professional development for license renewal.

If approved, a professional engineer seeking license renewal would have to complete at least 20 hours of approved professional development, one of which must be on a subject of professional ethics. An individual seeking reinstatement of an expired or inactive license must show that he or she has completed 10 hours of approved credit hours for each year the license was expired or inactive up to a maximum of 40 hours, which should include at least one hour of ethics education. The courses must have been completed no more than two years prior to applying for reinstatement.

In a letter to the board in December, the DCSPE shared its belief that the added requirement may result in “heavy expenditures of time and money” for renewals and prompt some engineers to discontinue their licensure. DCSPE also noted that a continuing education requirement wasn’t necessary to maintain quality engineering.

Under the proposed rule, the DC board will honor continuing education courses and training offered by NSPE, the American Society of Civil Engineers, the National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying, federal or state agencies, and other national or state professional engineering societies.

The board will also offer up to six credit hours for the following activities: (1) completion of a undergraduate or graduate course given at an accredited college or university; (2) performing the initial development, substantial updating, or the initial teaching of a conference program or academic course; (3) authoring or editing a published book, a published chapter in a book, or a published article in a professional journal or other nationally recognized publication; or (4) serving on a committee or task force that addresses technical and regulatory issues related to professional practice.