PE License Jurisdiction

[lunera]

I saw some variations of this question, regarding engineers working from outside the U.S. and engineers working on federal projects. But, what if the engineering work is done by the staff of a private owner with P.E.s licensed in the states in which the work is, but not licensed within the state they physically work in?

So, if I were physically working in Illinois, and designing civil work to be constructed in another state, under which professional engineering licensing jurisdiction would the work fall? Illinois seems to believe it falls under Illinois jurisdiction. Wouldn't the state, where the work actually is, have jurisdiction?

 

[TehMightyEngineer]

Our company ran into this recently working for a concrete precaster in our home state but the pieces were being shipped out of state. We never got a good answer so we stamped them with our home state stamp while we applied for a PE license in the recipients state and then resubmitted the calculations with the stamp of the recipient state. Seemed to cover all the bases.

Maine EIT, Civil/Structural.

 

[JAE]

Licensure applies to the state in which the work will exist in physical form.

So a precast panel shipped out of state to State X would need a PE license in State X.

Having said that, I'm sure that some states my try to define the "practice of engineering" in their state as any activity involving engineering within their borders.

Check out Eng-Tips Forum's Policies here:
faq731-376

 

[IRstuff]

"Having said that, I'm sure that some states my try to define the "practice of engineering" in their state as any activity involving engineering within their borders."

California is one such state. The PE Act makes it pretty clear that the actual process of engineering design and analysis is what defines a "professional engineer."


TTFN
faq731-376

Need help writing a question or understanding a reply? forum1529

Of course I can. I can do anything. I can do absolutely anything. I'm an expert!

 

[woodman88]

So, if I were physically working in Illinois, and designing civil work to be constructed in another state, under which professional engineering licensing jurisdiction would the work fall? Illinois seems to believe it falls under Illinois jurisdiction. Wouldn't the state, where the work actually is, have jurisdiction?

IMHO, I have done work in a state I was not a PE on a project being built in a state I was. My opinion is that as the company had a PE for the state the company was in I was working under their "direct supervision" as required for that state. The fact that I signed the plans for another state is not a problem in my opinion.

But than I am an engineer not the government or a lawyer.

Garth Dreger PE - AZ Phoenix area
As EOR's we should take the responsibility to design our structures to support the components we allow in our design per that industry standards.

 

[zdas04]

There is a federal regulation called the Spill Prevention and Countermeasure Control (SPCC) Act. It requires that SPCC plans be stamped by a P.E. (no reference to jurisdiction). Some engineers licensed in Colorado came to New Mexico to do a company's SPCC Plan. The New Mexico board ruled the plans invalid since the "engineering" was physically done in New Mexico by someone who wasn't licensed in New Mexico.

Another project was the generation of drawings by a Texas P.E that would be built in New Mexico. That project was fine with the board because the actual "engineering" work was done inside a state where the engineer was licensed.

Those two examples (that came out in an New Mexico ethics seminar) seem to indicate that (at least in New Mexico) the board felt that the key issue was the physical location where the engineer is doing his engineering.

David Simpson, PE
MuleShoe Engineering

In questions of science, the authority of a thousand is not worth the humble reasoning of a single individual. ùGalileo Galilei, Italian Physicist

 

[Ron]

JAE is correct. In addition, it has a lot to do with jurisdictional codes. As an example....you design something that is code-independent (a product for instance) then the licensing jurisdiction is less important. If there is specificity in the building code that is different than in your practice area, you are expected to know that and be appropriately licensed.