Best State for P.E. Reciprocity 1

[AZengineer]

Is there any one state who's P.E./S.E. license is recognized by all others? I am in the process of obtaining civil and structural licensure in Arizona, but if I do any work in other states in the future, it would be nice not to have to take their exams, and just obtain licensure via reciprocity.

 

[JAE]

What discipline are you in? Your tag says Civil. Most states allow cross reciprocity. Callifornia does, but requires an extra 5 hour exam. For your discipline, I don't think many of the other states will be a problem. The best thing is to simply get on the websites, or call the boards, of each state you suspect you will eventually apply to.

 

[AZengineer]

I practice both civil and structural engineering, and want to obtain licenses in both areas. Do all other states reciprocate a colifornia license without additional testing?

 

[Lutfi]

California will reciprocate for Civil. However, JAE is right on target, they do require two (2) two and one half hour exams. One in all surveying and the second is purely seismic.

I had a fiend of mine who was licensed as SE in Florida (took structural exam). He had difficult time in CA because their did not recognize his SE since their SE is a higher category. CA SE usually comes after few years being a PE plus additional exams. CA SE signs and seals certain types of facilities or building such as schools. CA SE requires additional experience and testing over and above the NCEES PE exam and their 5-hour exams. Although my friend has degree from MIT in civil, he had to do extra paper work to demonstrate that FL 8 hours SE were equivalent to the civil exam. That was a mess.

I think NCEES offers a tabulated form comparison all states regarding their PE requirements. I suggest that you consult that web site. Here is the link:

http://www.ncees.org/licensure/licensing_requirements/#pe

Regards




Lutfi

http://www.cdeco.com

 

[JAE]

OK Lufti - now you have my curiousity - Your friend in FL somehow convinced CA that the FL SE exam (SE-1 or SE-2?) was OK to substitute for the CA 5 hour Seismic/Surveying Exam?

 

[Qshake]

JAE, I don't know how a single exam in Florida is equivalent to the CA-PE, which is altogether different from the CA-SE requirements!

I also wasn't aware that FL had a SE license.

Regards,
Qshake

Eng-Tips Forums:Real Solutions for Real Problems Really Quick.

 

[Lutfi]

JAE,

No, I did not imply that. He still had to take the 5-hour exams, which he hated because he knew zilch about surveying. But that is another story for another day.

To get his CA civil PE by reciprocity, he had to show that he took NCEES 8 hour civil PE, which he did not. He took the SE-1 exam. That was the problem he had. Of course all was rectified after several letters and phone calls.

By the way, the story behind the 5-hour exams is interesting. A civil engineer who became a state congressman in CA thought it would be a good idea to require all civil engineers in CA to have tested knowledge in surveying and seismic due to their relevance in civil engineering. He pushed the legislation through and here we are.




Lutfi

http://www.cdeco.com

 

[DRC1]

Technically the term is "commity", and the NCEE exam is recognized by all states as far as I know. However, CA apperently has additional exam requirements whic must be fulfilled. As far as I know only the exam transfer. You still have to make the full apllication to the next state. However, NCEE has a uniform application, which is recognized by many (but not all) states. What this means is you do one application, one set of reference letters, which all go to NCEE and they forward to the state you want. The advantage is that say next year you want apply for alicense in another state, if it recognizes the NCEE aplication, you just write to NCEE and the send the package to the state board. So if you are apllying for a license, I would check it out. It wont save time on this one, but the next could be a breeze.

 

[JStephen]

Go ahead and get your license in AZ. Then work on CA. I think once you have it, WA and maybe NV have similar requirements but should recognize the CA stuff okay.

When you start on your CA license, get a "Council Record Book" from NCEES. This will vastly simplify the process elsewhere, and lets you use one set of references for multiple states.

Lufti, you mention certain things that CA SE seals. What I found in dealing with engineers there, is that there are a few things (buildings over 200' high, for example) that were required to be sealed by SE's. But in practice, it seemed that most owners expected any structural or semi-structural work to be sealed by SE's, regardless of whether they fell under the requirements of the law. I could have gotten my ME license there, and legally designed storage tanks, but most owners wanted a SE seal even on tanks. This was similar in WA and NV, as I recall, and not so in OR. It's kind of a mess out there.

 

[dicksewerrat]

NCEES have a program by which you establish a record of your first PE lic. then for a fee you can use that record to apply for lic. in other states. CA may not use this but most others do. The info is also at the NCEES site under records

 

[Qshake]

CA, WA and NV all have SE licenses and all require directly supervisored experience in those states. In other words you have to have worked in that state for a licensed SE who supervised your work. I guess in the rare case that an SE who moved from CA to another state could supervise a SE candidate outside CA.

This noted in not so many words on the registration application documentation and seems to be geared toward limiting the amount of out-state practicing SEs. I guess that if I lived in that state, I would be a proponent of that process too.

My company has headquarters in CA and it is still difficult to have supervisor input on the application unless you work directly under them.

Regards,
Qshake

Eng-Tips Forums:Real Solutions for Real Problems Really Quick.

 

[AZengineer]

Thanks for the advise! One other question... Is an "S.E." a legitimate title? It seems to me that even if you take the stuctural P.E. exam (national) then you are officially a P.E. with a structural seal. I haven't found anything on the NCEES website that defines an S.E. Has anyone started using the M.L.S.E. designation, or is it pretty much just being ignored?

 

[TFL]

ACCORDING TO THE STATE WEB SITE AND THE SEAOC WEB SITE. SEAOC HAS A GROUP OF SEs WHO ARE WILLING TO REVIEW WORK FROM OUT OF STATE PE AND GIVE THEM REFERALS IF THEY BELIEVE THEY ARE QUALIFIED

FROM THE CALIFORNIA SE APPLICATION INSTRUCTIONS

"Personal Reference Alternatives for Structural Engineering Applicants It has come to the Board’s attention that applicants for authority to use the title “Structural Engineer” in California may have trouble obtaining appropriate references to meet the Board’s requirements. It is the Board’s desire to assist such applicants by providing information on how to obtain references from qualified persons who are a California licensed Structural Engineer or licensed in a state with which California has a comity agreement regarding structural licensing (Idaho, Hawaii, Nevada, Washington, and Oregon, depending on the year). It is also the Board’s desire to make it clear that an applicant for the structural license need not have worked for any of the structural engineers who are providing the references. In order to assist applicants in securing the required references, here are some suggestions, which are offered for consideration. Specifically, the following cases represent situations which may have yielded contacts with appropriately licensed structural engineers who could be used as possible references:

• A structural engineer associated with or employed by a client firm for which the applicant’s firm has performed structural engineering work.

• A structural engineer associated with or employed by another engineering firm with which the applicant’s firm has engaged in a joint venture on a structural engineering project.

• A structural engineer associated with or employed by a building department to which the applicant has submitted plans and/or calculations for a plan check review.

• One or more California licensed structural engineers who are willing to review an adequate sample of the applicant’s work in order to evaluate his/her qualifying experience. (Our website contains a “License Lookup” feature that can list the structural engineers that live in your area).

• The Structural Engineers Association of California (SEAOC) has agreed to provide a panel of licensed structural engineers, at no cost to the applicant, to examine samples of the applicant’s work, to conduct an in-depth review and discussion with the applicant concerning those work samples, and based on that review and discussion, to serve as references on behalf of the applicant. The applicant may contact SEAOC directly. The name and address of the contact person is Lee Adler Executive Director 1730 I Street, Suite 240 Sacramento CA 95814-3017 916-447-1198"

 

[JAE]

AZEngineer:

I use the title myname, P.E., S.E. on my correspondence. This is due to my licenses as a PE in my main state (and many others) and my license as an SE in Illinois.

Despite the fact that I am not an SE in California, or technically, in most of my other states, I am an SE in a single state(Illinois). So I use that designation.

Now if I were to write a letter to a client in California, regarding a project in the midwest, I think I'd still use that designation after my name, even though I'm not licensed in CA as an SE. This is because I'm not specifically marketing my services for a project IN California.

 

[Qshake]

tfl,

Thanks for the clarification. Admittedly it has been a long time since I've looked at the official requirements and what advice is available. I should have looked before I leaped!

I stand corrected. Apparently CA and other entities such as SEAOC are willing and able to help out of state structural engineers obtain licensing in CA.



Regards,
Qshake

Eng-Tips Forums:Real Solutions for Real Problems Really Quick.

 

[TFL]

qshake,

i only know this becasue i am in the process of getting a ca pe so i can get a ca se in a couple of years. i don't know if this process actually works or if it is impossible to do.

 

[JStephen]

On the use of the SE title, check your state rules- that is what would establish the appropriateness of the term "SE" in different states. Note for example, that CA has a separate SE stamp, but many states don't.

 

[crossframe]

Lufti,

I think the origins of the CA surveying requirements are more muddy than that. The "engineering lore" I was told was that California Surveyors complained that their livelihood was being taken away by Professional Engineers. At the time, CA Civil PE's could perfrom all the legal duties of a Licensed Surveyor: Corner Records, Plat Maps, Record Of Survey, you name it.

The Surveyors (apparently sucessfully) argued that no one would ever hire a surveyor on an engineering project, since the Civil PE could handle those responsibilites as well. So, through CA legislation, engineers were not longer entitled to practice surveying as of January 1, 1982.

One of the main purposes to the CA Civil PE exam is to educate engineers on what "surveying" they can and cannnot do as PEs. Engineers licensed prior to this regulation were "grandfathered" as to the duties they could perform, and that is why examinees are expected to know the last registration number issued to a civil engineer prior to Jan. 1, 1982 (33965).