Board for Professional Engineers, Land Surveyors, and Geologists: licensees.

(1) Existing law establishes the Board for Professional Engineers, Land Surveyors, and Geologists, which is within the Department of Consumer Affairs, to license and regulate engineers under the Professional Engineers Act, to license and regulate land surveyors under the Professional Land Surveyors' Act, and to license and regulate geologists and geophysicists under the Geologist and Geophysicist Act. Existing law requires the board to appoint an executive officer. Existing law repeals the provisions establishing the board, requiring the board to appoint an executive officer, and vesting the board with the power to administer these provisions on January 1, 2020. This bill would extend these repeal dates to January 1, 2024. (2) The Professional Engineers Act, the Geologist and Geophysicist Act, and the Professional Land Surveyors' Act contain provisions that make it a cause for disciplinary action for a licensee to fail or refuse to respond to a request by the board to cooperate in an investigation of a complaint against the licensee. Existing law repeals those provisions on January 1, 2020. This bill would instead make it a cause for disciplinary action for a licensee to fail or refuse to respond to a request by the board in an investigation of a complaint against the licensee and would extend the operation of those provisions indefinitely. (3) The Professional Engineers Act makes it a misdemeanor for a person to impersonate or use the seal of a licensed professional engineer. This bill would also make it a misdemeanor for a person to use the signature or license number of a licensed professional engineer or use a false license number. (4) The Geologist and Geophysicist Act makes it unlawful for anyone other than a licensed specialty geologist or licensed geophysicist to use certain titles. The act also makes it a misdemeanor for a person to impersonate or use the seal of any other practitioner. This bill would also make it unlawful to use a combination of the words and phrases or abbreviations that are restricted pursuant to the aforementioned provisions and would make it a misdemeanor for a person to use the license number of a licensee or use a false license number. (5) The Geologist and Geophysicist Act provides for certification as a geologist-in-training by the board upon application and satisfaction of specified requirements. This bill would authorize the board to investigate the actions of a geologist-in-training, make findings, and, by majority vote, revoke the certificate of a geologist-in-training for specified acts, including conviction of certain crimes. (6) The Professional Land Surveyors' Act specifies that surveys made exclusively for geological or landscaping purposes that do not involve the determination of any property line do not constitute surveying for purposes of the act. The act also makes it a misdemeanor to impersonate or use the seal of a professional land surveyor or to use an expired, suspended, or revoked license. This bill would exclude from the act's provisions a survey specified above only if the survey is performed by a person authorized to practice geology or licensed to practice landscape architecture. The bill would make it a misdemeanor to use the signature or license number of a professional land surveyor or to use a surrendered license or a false license number. (7) This bill would make other conforming and nonsubstantive changes to the Professional Engineers Act, the Geologist and Geophysicist Act, and the Professional Land Surveyors' Act, including deleting an obsolete reporting requirement. (8) Because the bill would expand the scope of crimes under those acts, the 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.