Chap. 331.—An ACT to amend and re-enact Sections 5, 6, 7, 8, and 12, as
heretofore amended and Section 11, of an act entitled “an act to provide
for the examination and certification of professional engineers, architects
and land surveyors and to regulate the practice of engineering, architecture
and land surveying; to establish their relation to public works and the
surveying and plotting of land”, approved March 19, 1920, and to further
amend the said act by adding thereto two new sections numbered 17 and
18, relating to prosecutions for violations of the provisions of this act.

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Approved March 30, 1938

1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia, That sec-
tions five, six, seven, eight and twelve, as heretofore amended, and sec-
tion eleven, of an act entitled “an act to provide for the examination
and certification of professional engineers, architects and land surveyors ;
and to regulate the practice of engineering, architecture and land sur-
veying; to establish their relation to public works and the surveying
and plotting of land,” approved March nineteenth, nineteen hundred and
twenty, be amended and re-enacted, and that the said act be further
amended by adding thereto two new sections, numbered seventeen and
eighteen, which amended and new sections shall read as follows:

Section 5. In order to defray the compensations and expenses
above provided, and any other expenses incident to the proper dis-
charge of the duties of the board, each applicant for a certificate to
practice as a professional engineer, architect or land surveyor, as the
case may be, in this State, shall pay the secretary of the board a fee
of twenty-five dollars for each examination in any branch as defined
in this act. Five dollars of this fee shall be returned if certificate
be not granted. Certificates of registration shall expire on the last day
of the month of December following their issuance or renewal, and
shall become invalid on that date unless renewed. It shall be the duty
of the secretary of the board to notify by mail every person certified
hereunder of the date of the expiration of his certificate, and the amount
of the fee required for its renewal for one year; such notices shall be
mailed at least one month in advance of the date of the expiration of
said certificate. Renewal may be effected at any time during the month
of January by the payment to the secretary of the board of a fee of five
dollars for professional engineers and architects, or two dollars and
fifty cents by land surveyors. Upon the failure of any such registrant
to renew his certificate annually in the month of January, as required
above, his certificate to practice shall be revoked but such certificate
shall be renewed at any time prior to December thirty-first of such
year upon the payment of a fee of ten dollars by professional engi-
neers and architects and five dollars for land surveyors. Should the
certificate not be renewed as provided above, the applicant may be re-
quired to present reasons why such certificate should be renewed. The
board may then in its discretion grant a renewal of such certificate or
may require re-examination. The application fee shall be fifteen dollars
under these circumstances.

All monies collected by the board shall be paid in to the general
fund of the State treasury, and the same are hereby appropriated to
the board for the administration and enforcement of this act. All
payments out of this appropriation shall be made by the Treasurer
of Virginia on warrants of the Comptroller issued on vouchers signed
by the president of the board, or such other person or persons as shall
be designated for this purpose.

Section 6. In order to safeguard life, health and property, any
person practicing or offering to practice as an architect, a professional
engineer, or land surveyor in this State shall hereafter be required to
submit reasonable evidence to the board that he or she is qualified so
to practice, and to be certified as herein provided. It shall be unlawful
for any person to practice or to offer to practice the profession of
engineering, architecture or land surveying, in this State, or to use in
connection with his or her name, or otherwise assume, use or advertise
any title or description tending to convey the impression that he or she
is a professional engineer, architect or land surveyor, unless such per-
son has been duly registered or is exempted under the provisions of this
act.

Section 7. Any citizen of the United States or any person who has
declared his intention of becoming such citizen, being at least twenty-
one years of age, of good character, and who has had training and ex-
perience in architecture, professional engineering or land surveying work
which in the opinion of the board qualifies him to take the examina-
tion, may upon the payment of the fee prescribed in this act, apply for
a certificate under this act; but before receiving such certificate, he
shall satisfactorily pass an examination in such professional subjects as
may be prescribed by the board and satisfy it as to his practical ex-
perience, general standing and ability.

In determining the qualifications of applicants for certification as
architects, a majority vote of the architect members of the board only
shall be required; in determining the qualifications of applicants for
certification of professional engineers, a majority vote of the engineer
members of the board only shall be required; and in determining the
qualifications of applicants for certification as land surveyors, a ma-
jority vote of the land surveyor members of the board only shall be
required. Provided, however, that any time prior to January first,
nineteen hundred and forty any citizen who has been practicing in
this State not less than five years prior to the enactment of this statute
in any special branch of engineering coming under the head of a gen-
eral branch covered by this act shall, upon satisfying the board as to
his qualifications from work actually accomplished in that special branch,
be given a certificate without examination permitting him to practice
in that special branch; and the board may give examinations and issue
certificates for practice in a special branch in any of the general heads
of the professions covered by this statute. *

Section 8. The following shall be exempted from the provisions
of this act: , ,

(a) The practice of professional engineering and land surveying

by a certified architect when such practice is incidental to what may
be properly considered an architectural undertaking: The practice of
architecture and land surveying by a certified professional engineer when
such practice is incidental to an engineering project.
- (b) Practice as a professional engineer, architect, in this State
by a person not a resident of this State and having no established place
of business in this State, when his practice in responsible charge ot
work does not aggregate more than fifteen days in any calendar year;
provided, that said person is legally qualified for such professional ser-
vice in his own State or country.

(c) . Practice as a professional engineer, architect, or land sur-
veyor in this State by any person not a resident of and having no
established place of business in this State, or any person resident in
this State, but whose arrival is recent; provided, however, that such
person shall have filed an application for certification as a professional
engineer, architect, or land surveyor, and shall have paid the fee pro-
vided for in sections five or seven of this act. Such exemption shall
continue for only such reasonable time as the board requires in which
to consider and grant or deny the said application for certification.

(d) Engaging in professional engineering, architecture or land
surveying as an employee under a certified professional engineer. a cer-
tified architect, or a certified land surveyor; provided, that said prac-
tice may not include responsible charge of design or supervision. |

(e) Practice of professional engineering, architecture, or land sur-
veying solely as an officer or as an employee of the United States.

(f) Practice of professional engineering, architecture, or land sur-
veying solely as an employee of this State or any political subdivision
thereof, provided, that such employees as furnish advisory service for
compensation to the public in connection with engineering, architec-
tural, or land-surveying matters other than in connection with said em-
ployment shall not be exempt from the provisions of this act.

(g) Practice of architecture or professional engineering by an
individual, firm or corporation on property owned or leased by said
individual, firm or corporation, unless the same involves the public
health or safety. | ,

(h) <A person who practices engineering solely as an employee of
a corporation engaged in interstate commerce, or as an employee of
a public service corporation, by rendering such corporation engineer-
ing service in connection with its facilities which are subject to regu-
lation by the Corporation Commission of the State of Virginia; Pro-
vided, that such corporation employees as furnish advisory service to
the public in connection with engineering matters other than in con-
nection with said employment shall not be exempt from the provisions
of this act.
Section 11. Proceedings for the revocation of a certificate grantec
under this act shall be begun by filing with the board written charge:
against the accused, and the said board shall then fix a time and plac
for the hearing of such charges. In connection with any such hear
ing the board shall have the power to issue subpoenas requiring the at.
tendance of witnesses and the production of records, papers and othes
documents, and to administer oaths and take testimony thereunder. At
the hearing the accused shall have the right to be represented by coun.
sel, to introduce evidence and to examine and cross-examine witnesses
The said board shall make a written report of its findings, which re.
port shall be filed with the Secretary of the Commonwealth, and whict
shall be conclusive.

Section 12. Any person violating any of the provisions of thi:
act shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor.

The term architect, as used in this act, shall be deemed to cover
an architect or an architectural engineer. The term professional en-
gineer, as used in this act, shall be deemed to cover a civil engineer
mechanical engineer, electrical engineer, mining engineer, metallur-
gical engineer, or a chemical engineer. Land surveying as covered by
this act refers only to surveys for the reestablishment of land boundaries
and the subdivision of land and such topographic work as may be inci-
dent thereto, the making of plats and maps and the preparing of de-
scriptions of the lands so surveyed or investigated.

Section 17. All alleged violations of this act when reported to the
said board and duly substantiated by affidavits, or other satisfactory
evidence, shall be investigated by it. The said board may employ a
special investigator to be paid by the Treasurer of the State from fees
collected by the board. If the evidence of violations is substantiated, the
board shall report the same to the attorneys for the Commonwealth of
the cities or counties in which the violations are alleged to have oc-
curred.

Section 18. Upon receiving reports, together with proper evidence,
from the said board, that the provisions of this act have been violated,
the attorneys for the Commonwealth of the counties or cities in which
it 1s claimed such violations occurred shall institute and conduct the
proper proceedings in the appropriate court to prosecute and punish
such alleged offenders in violation of the provisions of this act.