Can someone explain the 'why' for Washington state's structural engineering licensure rules? 1

[Charred]

We have a few projects coming up that are in Washington state which none of our engineers currently hold a license in. I am the only one in our firm that has taken and passed the NCEES 16 hour SE exam, but not an 8 hour PE Exam. My colleagues have taken the 8 hour PE Exam. Based on Washington's rules, I cannot even hold a license but my colleagues can with limited design - i.e.: they can design buildings that are risk category II or less which is most buildings. We do have a few buildings that will be risk category III so it looks like we are going to have to turn these down.

I'm having a hard time finding a justification for these requirements and just looking for an explanation so I can better understand the 'why' behind the law? The 16 hour SE Exam should override the PE Exam as it pertains to structural - I would have thought. Why the requirement for both? The FAQ on their website states they treat the SE as an endorsement to the PE license.

Below are the requirements for structural licensure in the state copied from their website:

To get your structural engineer license, you must meet all of the following requirements:
[ul]
[li]Be currently licensed as a Washington Professional Engineer (PE).[/li]
[/ul]

[ul]
[li]Have at least 2 years of progressive structural experience (in addition to the 8 years required for a Professional Engineer license).[/li]
[/ul]

[ul]
[li]Pass the NCEES 16-hour Structural exam (first administered in April 2011). The NCEES SE I and SE II exams (taken prior to April 2011) do not meet the requirements for a structural license in Washington, unless you have also taken and passed a state specific SEIII examination. Please contact us if you've taken a state-specific structural exam.[/li]
[/ul]

If you've only passed the NCEES 16-hour lateral & vertical structural examination, you need to take and pass an additional 8-hour NCEES PE exam in another branch of engineering to get your PE license in Washington.

 

[North2South]

You can take the 8 hour PE at a testing center at pretty much any point now. Not that this answers your question but it may solve your problem: just take and pass the PE!

 

[KootK]

This does make it a nightmare for finding an old memory of a thread a few years down the line... just to put my two cents in from the popcorn gallery

True. That said:

1) In my experience, if you really treasure a discussion here, you need to go the personal archiving route.

2) The future of forum search here is probably content search rather than title search. I find that plain old Google does this quite well for Eng-Tips.

Here, as in real life, I'm of the mind that the most interesting conversations tend to happen organically, wherever and whenever the opportunity manifests itself. Even starting a separate thread on a particular issue is often a poor substitute for finding yourself stuck in a room with a smart fellow holding a contrarian position.

 

[3DDave]

Do they customize the exams to lean more heavily on seismic design and, if so, what are they ignoring that other non-seismic-sensitive areas of engineering is being skipped to make room? Or are the exams just longer than everywhere else?