BILL NUMBER: AB 320	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Wood

                        FEBRUARY 13, 2015

   An act to amend Section 6732 of the Business and Professions Code,
relating to engineers.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 320, as introduced, Wood. Engineers.
   Existing law provides for the licensing and regulation of
professional engineers and land surveyors by the Board for
Professional Engineers, Land Surveyors, and Geologists in the
Department of Consumer Affairs. Existing law prohibits a person from
representing himself or herself as an engineer, as described by
various titles, unless the person is licensed as an engineer.
Existing law makes a violation of those prohibitions a misdemeanor.
   This bill would additionally prohibit a person from using the
title "environmental engineer" unless the person is licensed as an
engineer. The bill would provide legislative findings and
declarations in support of the licensure of environmental engineers
in California. The bill would set forth the intent of the Legislature
that the board be responsible for defining environmental engineering
through rulemaking and that the board adopt standardized examination
materials applicable to environmental engineering, as specified.
   By expanding the scope of an existing crime, this bill would
impose a state-mandated local program.
   The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local
agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the
state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that
reimbursement.
   This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this
act for a specified reason.
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: yes.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:
   (a) Over the past few decades, the study and practice of
environmental engineering has expanded greatly throughout California
and the nation. Many colleges in California have accredited
environmental engineering programs and thousands of California
engineers currently provide essential environmental engineering
services to all levels of government, private industry, and the
public.
   (b) Despite leading the way in environmental protection and global
climate change remediation programs, the State of California is an
anomaly in that it does not currently offer a pathway for the
licensure of environmental engineers. Forty-eight other states test
and provide a licensing path for environmental engineers. Hawaii and
California currently do not.
   (c) As programs of environmental mitigation and protection
continue to expand in scope and complexity for our air, water, and
soil testing and certification of environmental engineers is needed
to establish benchmarks for competency to protect and safeguard the
public.
   (d) The Board for Professional Engineers, Land Surveyors, and
Geologists (BPELSG) safeguards the life, health, property, and public
welfare by regulating the practice of professional engineering. The
BPELSG provides this public service by testing and licensing
individuals, establishing regulations, enforcing laws and
regulations, and providing information so that consumers can make
informed decisions.
   (e) In the early 1970s, the BPELSG created title acts in the
branches of agriculture, control system, corrosion, fire protection,
manufacturing, nuclear, quality, safety, and traffic. At that time,
the BPELSG did not approve a petition to add an environmental
engineer title act. In 1986, the authority to establish new title
registration branches returned to the Legislature.
   (f) In California, professional engineers are licensed in the
three practice act categories of civil, electrical, and mechanical
engineering, and licensed in the 10 title act categories of
agricultural, chemical, control system, fire protection, industrial,
manufacturing, metallurgical, nuclear, petroleum, and traffic
engineering.
   (g) Environmental engineering is the branch of engineering that
understands and applies engineering principles in the areas of solid
waste management, water supply and treatment, wastewater treatment,
air pollution management, hazardous waste management, and related
environmental and public health impact, assessment, and mitigation
including the physical, chemical, and biological processes by which
pollutants form, release, disperse, react, or neutralize in air,
water, or soil.
   (h) Given the proliferation of the practice of environmental
engineering in the public and private sectors in California, it is
now necessary to create an environmental engineering title act within
the Professional Engineers Act to safeguard life, health, property,
and the public welfare and regulating this profession.
   (i) It is the intent of the Legislature that the BPELSG will be
responsible for defining "environmental engineering" through
rulemaking, adding to the definitions found in Section 404 of Title
16 of the California Code of Regulations, and using the same process
used to define the other title acts. It is the intent of the
Legislature that the BPELSG will also adopt national standardized
examination materials applicable to environmental engineering,
similar to testing for other branches of engineering.
   (j) Creating a new environmental engineering title act does not
require the expenditure of state funds. Just as is the case with
other practice and title act licensees, it is the intent of the
Legislature that applicant fees will cover the cost of license and
registration.
  SEC. 2.  Section 6732 of the Business and Professions Code is
amended to read:
   6732.  It is unlawful for anyone other than a professional
engineer licensed under this chapter to stamp or seal any plans,
specifications, plats, reports, or other documents with the seal or
stamp of a professional engineer, or in any manner, use the title
"professional engineer," "licensed engineer," "registered engineer,"
or "consulting engineer," or any of the following branch titles:
"agricultural engineer," "chemical engineer," "civil engineer,"
"control system engineer," "electrical engineer,"  "environmental
engineer,"  "fire protection engineer," "industrial engineer,"
"mechanical engineer," "metallurgical engineer," "nuclear engineer,"
"petroleum engineer," or "traffic engineer," or any combination of
these words and phrases or abbreviations thereof unless licensed
under this chapter.
  SEC. 3.  No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to
Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution because
the only costs that may be incurred by a local agency or school
district will be incurred because this act creates a new crime or
infraction, eliminates a crime or infraction, or changes the penalty
for a crime or infraction, within the meaning of Section 17556 of the
Government Code, or changes the definition of a crime within the
meaning of Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California
Constitution.