Increase in Continuing Education for Florida PEs Appears Likely

Professional Engineers in Florida may soon see an increase in the number of continuing education hours required for license renewal.

Passed by the state senate and house, legislation S.B. 692/H.B 713 is on its way Governor Rick Scott. The measure will increase the requirement of eight hours to eighteen hours every two years and significantly broaden the options engineers have for obtaining credits. 

The Florida Engineering Society believes that continuing education changes are essential to bringing the state closer to standards set by the National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying. The new continuing education requirements call for the following: 

• Two Hours must be related to the state PE law and professional ethics 
• Four hours must be devoted to the licensee's area of practice.
• Remaining hours can cover various topics related to the practice of engineering. 
• A maximum of four hours can be earned by presenting or attending seminars, in-house courses workshops and professional or technical and conferences. 
• A maximum of four hours may be earned by serving as an officer or actively participating on an FES committee

The bill also provides for new qualifications and procedures for appointing members of the Board of Professional Engineers. 9 out of the 11 board members must be a licensed engineer.   Each of the 9 will be selected based on their qualifications and experience to provide expertise to the board in civil engineering, structural engineering, mechanical engineering, plumbing engineering, fire protection engineering or engineering education. a professional or technical society may recommend potential members of the board. 

Additionally, applicants serving in the US armed forced who are delay in taking the FE or PE exam will be allowed two extra changes to pass either exam before being required to take additional courses or an exam review course. 

Information related to this  bill can be found on the Florida State Senate Website. 

Florida Amends Use of Electronic Signatures For Professional Engineers

March 2014 - Changes to electronic signatures under Rule 61G15-23-003, Procedures for Signing and Sealing Electronically Transmitted Plans, Specifications, Reports or Other Documents has recently gone into effect. 

Rule 61G15-23-003 establishes protocol for signing and sealing electronic deliverables through the use of digital signatures and electronic signatures. Last year it was proposed to amend this procedure in order to make the use of electronic signatures truly paperless. 

Previously under Rule 61G15-23-003, procedures required that the licensee create a report with the Engineer's name and PE number, a brief overall description of the engineering documents and the authentication code (secure hash standard) of the signature filed. This document was printed, manually signed and sealed along with the electronic deliverables. While this method was free of cost, it was not entirely a paperless method. 

Under the amended rule, licensees still must create, print, sign, date and seal the paper report, but now can submit a scanned electronic copy with transmitted electronic deliverables.  The licensee is still required to retain the sign, dated and sealed hardcopy in accordance with Rule 61G15-30.009, F.A.C. 

More information can be found in the Board of Professional Engineers Chapter 61G15-18.