Bill Text: MS HB1208 | 2015 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Public works contracts; include any public work, increase amount needed for exemption of public works contracts, and include municipalities.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Failed) 2015-02-03 - Died In Committee [HB1208 Detail]
Download: Mississippi-2015-HB1208-Introduced.html
MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
2015 Regular Session
To: Municipalities; Judiciary A
By: Representative Baker
House Bill 1208
AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 73-13-45, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO EXPAND PUBLIC WORK CONSTRUCTION CONTRACTS THAT REQUIRE PROFESSIONAL SUPERVISION TO INCLUDE ANY PUBLIC WORK, NOT JUST THOSE CONTRACTS INVOLVING THE PRACTICE OF ENGINEERING OR ARCHITECTURE; TO INCREASE THE MAXIMUM AMOUNT OF EXPENDITURES ON PUBLIC WORK CONSTRUCTION CONTRACTS THAT ARE EXEMPT FROM CERTAIN REQUIREMENTS; TO DELETE THE EXEMPTION FROM THOSE REQUIREMENTS FOR MUNICIPALITIES IN WHICH THE PUBLIC WORK IS NOT FINANCED THROUGH THE ISSUANCE OF BONDS; TO BRING FORWARD SECTIONS 73-13-41, 73-13-43 AND 73-13-71 THROUGH 73-13-77, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, FOR THE PURPOSE OF POSSIBLE AMENDMENT; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:
SECTION 1. Section 73-13-45, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
73-13-45. (1) (a) Neither
the state, nor any of its political subdivisions, such as a county, city or
town, shall award construction contracts of any public work * * *
unless the plans, specifications and estimates have been prepared and * * *
the work supervised by
a registered professional engineer or architect; * * * however, nothing in this
subsection * * * (1) applies to * * * a public work * * *
construction contract in
which the expenditure does not exceed * * * One
Hundred Thousand Dollars ($100,000.00).
(b) The state and any
of its political subdivisions, such as a county, city or town, may engage in
construction of public buildings * * *
and using political subdivision workforces without the supervision of a
licensed professional engineer or architect, provided that the total cost of
the public building does not exceed One Hundred Fifty Thousand Dollars
($150,000.00). This paragraph (1)(b) shall not supersede any rules and
regulations promulgated by the State Department of Health and the Department of
Environmental Quality.
(2) (a) In the awarding of public contracts for professional engineering services, preference shall be given to resident professional engineers over those nonresident professional engineers domiciled in a state having laws which grant a preference to the professional engineers who are residents of that state. Nonresident professional engineers shall be awarded Mississippi public contracts only on the same basis as the nonresident professional's state awards contracts to Mississippi professional engineers under similar circumstances. When a nonresident professional engineer submits a proposal for a public project, he shall attach thereto a copy of his resident state's current statute, resolution, policy, procedure or executive order pertaining to such state's treatment of nonresident professional engineers. Resident professional engineers actually domiciled in Mississippi, be they corporate, individuals or partnerships, shall be granted preference over nonresidents in the awarding of contracts in the same manner and to the same extent as provided by the laws of the state of domicile of the nonresident. As used in this section, the term "resident professional engineer" includes a nonresident person, firm or corporation that has been qualified to do business in this state and has maintained a permanent full-time office in the State of Mississippi for not less than two (2) years prior to submitting a proposal for a public project, and the subsidiaries and affiliates of such a person, firm or corporation.
(b) The provisions of this subsection shall not apply to any contract for any project upon which federal funds would be withheld because of the preference requirements of this subsection.
(c) Any contract, agreement or arrangement for professional engineering services negotiated, made or entered into, directly or indirectly, by the state, counties, municipalities or any political subdivision thereof, or by any special districts, which is in any way in violation of the provisions of this subsection is hereby declared to be void as contrary to the public policy of this state and shall not be given effect or enforced by any court of this state or by any of its officers or employees.
(d) Nothing in this subsection shall affect the validity of any contract in existence prior to July 1, 1989.
(e) For purposes of this section, the term "professional engineering services" means those within the scope of the practice of professional engineering as defined by Sections 73-13-1 through 73-13-45, or those performed by any registered professional engineer in connection with professional employment or practice.
SECTION 2. Section 73-13-41, Mississippi Code of 1972, is brought forward as follows:
73-13-41. (1) Sections 73-13-1 through 73-13-45 shall not be construed to prevent or to affect:
(a) The practice of any other legally recognized profession or trade, such as: (i) engineers employed by contractors to supervise work on which a licensed engineer is engaged; (ii) architects who are registered under the provisions of Chapter 1 of this title; and (iii) the practice of geology as regulated pursuant to Title 73, Chapter 63;
(b) The work of an employee or a subordinate of a person holding a certificate of licensure under Sections 73-13-1 through 73-13-45, provided such work does not include final designs or decisions and is done under the responsibility, checking and supervision of a person holding a certificate of licensure under Sections 73-13-1 through 73-13-45;
(c) The practice of officers and employees of the government of the United States while engaged within this state in the practice of engineering for said government;
(d) The performance of engineering services by any regular full-time employee of a manufacturing, research and development, railroad or other industrial corporation, provided:
(i) Such services are rendered on or in connection with existing fixed works, equipment, systems, processes or facilities owned, operated, or leased by such corporation and/or its affiliates;
(ii) Such services are not rendered to third parties;
(iii) Such services do not consist of original plant design, original system design, or original process design, other than routine system extensions that do not compromise the integrity of the original design;
(iv) Such services comply with all requirements specified by the employee's company or corporation;
(v) All fixed works, equipment, systems, processes or facilities modified by such services undergo a safety review that confirms: 1. the construction and equipment is in accordance with design specifications; and 2. safety, operating, maintenance and emergency procedures are in place to safeguard life, health and property;
(vi) Such services are not required to be performed, approved or certified by a professional engineer pursuant to law or regulation, whether federal, state or local, other than Sections 73-13-1 through 73-13-45 hereof or any applicable rules or regulations promulgated by the Mississippi Board of Licensure for Professional Engineers and Surveyors;
It is further stated that this subsection (d) is intended to codify the policy and practices of the board on July 1, 1999, and that any ambiguities in this subsection should be construed in accordance with this intent;
(e) The performance of engineering services with respect to utility facilities by any public utility subject to regulation by the Mississippi Public Service Commission, the Federal Communications Commission, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, or the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, including its parents, affiliates, subsidiaries; or by the officers and regular full-time employees of any such public utility, including its parents, affiliates or subsidiaries, provided that they are engaged solely and exclusively in performing service for such public utility and/or its parents, affiliates or subsidiaries, and as long as such services comply with all standard operating procedures and requirements specified by the employee's company or corporation. This exemption shall not extend to: (i) the practice of engineering performed by public utilities or their officers or employees when such services are rendered to nonaffiliated third parties in exchange for compensation other than that received from their employer, or the use of any name, title or words which tend to convey the impression that a nonregistrant is offering engineering services to the public; and (ii) services which are required to be performed, approved or certified by a professional engineer pursuant to law or regulation whether federal, state or local, other than Sections 73-13-1 through 73-13-45 hereof or any applicable rules or regulations promulgated by the Mississippi Board of Licensure for Professional Engineers and Surveyors;
It is further stated that this subsection (e) is intended to codify the policy and practices of the board on July 1, 1999, and that any ambiguities in this subsection should be construed in accordance with this intent;
(f) The practice of engineering shall not include the work ordinarily performed by persons who operate or maintain machinery, equipment, water plants, power generation, utility transmission, utility distribution facilities, sewage plants and solid waste disposal facilities; or
(g) Activities conducted during the course of, or in anticipation of, litigation including, but not exclusively: analyzing, evaluating, consulting, reconstructing, testing, responding to the opinions and testing conducted by others, and offering expert testimony. However, this exemption shall not apply in legal proceedings where the subject matter of the litigation or claim is nonforensic engineering activity legally required to be performed under a Mississippi engineer's license.
(2) In addition to the exemptions provided in subsection (1), there is hereby granted and reserved to the board the authority to exempt from Sections 73-13-1 through 73-13-45 by regulation specific engineering tasks or functions performed by regular full-time employees of manufacturing, public utility, research and development, railroad or other industrial corporations rendered in the course and scope of their employment, on a case by case basis, if, in the opinion of the board, the public health and welfare is not endangered nor the engineering profession diminished.
SECTION 3. Section 73-13-43, Mississippi Code of 1972, is brought forward as follows:
73-13-43. As of January 1, 2005, no corporation, firm or partnership may engage in the practice of professional engineering in this state unless it has been issued a certificate of authority by the board. In order to qualify for a certificate of authority, a corporation, firm or partnership must have at least one (1) Mississippi-licensed professional engineer as a principal officer, partner or designated principal engineer of the firm who has management responsibility for such practice and who makes significant technical and/or contractual judgments on behalf of the firm which would affect the firm's professional reputation and liability.
The board shall have the authority to promulgate rules and regulations setting procedures, standards and other requirements for issuing and maintaining a certificate of authority for corporations, firms or partnerships practicing engineering in the State of Mississippi.
Applications for a certificate of authority shall be on the forms prescribed and furnished by the board, and provide all the information required by said board. The board shall establish a fee for the certificate of authority application, not to exceed Two Hundred Fifty Dollars ($250.00). Any corporation, firm or partnership having the necessary qualifications as prescribed herein and the rules and regulations of the board shall be issued a certificate of authority for said corporation, firm or partnership to practice engineering and to contract and collect fees for furnishing this service.
Each certificate of authorization will expire on December 31 of each year. It shall be the duty of the board to notify every corporation, firm or partnership holding a certificate of authority under Sections 73-13-1 through 73-13-45 of the date of the expiration of the certificate and the amount of the fee that shall be required for its renewal for one (1) year. The renewal fee shall not exceed One Hundred Fifty Dollars ($150.00); penalties for late renewal shall be ten percent (10%) per month that payment is delayed. Additionally, if any of the information on the initial or any subsequent renewal application changes for the corporation, firm or partnership, said corporation, firm or partnership shall notify the board in the form and manner prescribed by the board within thirty (30) days of the change.
Effective January 1, 2005, the Secretary of State shall not issue a certificate of incorporation, licensure or authorization to an applicant or licensure as a foreign firm to a corporation, firm or partnership which includes in its name, or among the objectives for which it is established, any of the words, "engineer," "engineering," or any modification or derivation thereof, unless the board has issued for said applicant a certificate of authority or a letter indicating the eligibility of such applicant to receive such a certificate. The corporation, firm or partnership applying shall supply such certificate or letter from the board with its application for incorporation, licensure or authorization to the Secretary of State.
An engineer who renders occasional, part-time or consulting engineering services to or for a corporation, firm or partnership may not, for the purposes of this section, be designated as being responsible for the professional activities of the firm.
No such corporation, firm or partnership shall be relieved of responsibility for the conduct or acts of its agents, employees, officers, partners, members or managers by reason of its compliance with the provisions of this section. No individual practicing engineering under this chapter shall be relieved of responsibility for engineering services performed by reason of employment or other relationship with a firm holding an authorization certificate.
SECTION 4. Section 73-13-71, Mississippi Code of 1972, is brought forward as follows:
73-13-71. (1) The term "board," as used in Sections 73-13-71 through 73-13-105, shall mean the Board of Licensure for Professional Engineers and Surveyors as provided for in Section 73-13-5 of this chapter.
(2) The term "professional surveyor," as used in Sections 73-13-71 through 73-13-105, shall mean a person who engages in the practice of surveying as hereinafter defined, whether in an individual capacity, or in behalf of or as an employee of any state, county or municipal authority of the State of Mississippi.
(3) The term "surveyor intern," as used in Sections 73-13-71 through 73-13-105, shall mean a candidate for licensure as a professional surveyor who has successfully passed the fundamentals of land surveying examination, has met the requirements of the board for enrollment, has received from the board a certificate stating that he has successfully passed this portion of the professional land surveying examinations and has been enrolled as a surveyor intern.
(4) The practice of "surveying," within the meaning and intent of Sections 73-13-71 through 73-13-105, shall mean providing professional services such as consultation, investigation, testimony evaluation, expert technical testimony, planning, mapping, assembling and interpreting reliable scientific measurement and information relative to the location, size, shape or physical features of the earth, improvements on the earth, the space above the earth, or any part of the earth, utilization and development of these facts and interpretation into an orderly survey map, plan or report and in particular, the retracement of or the creating of land boundaries and descriptions of real property.
The practice of surveying includes, but is not limited to, any one or more of the following:
(a) Locating, relocating, establishing, reestablishing, laying out or retracing any property boundary or easement.
(b) Making any survey for the subdivision of any tract of land, including rights-of-way and easements.
(c) Determining, by the use of principles of surveying, the position for any survey monument or reference point; or setting, resetting or replacing any such monument or reference point, commonly known as control surveys.
(d) Creating, preparing or modifying electronic or computerized data, including land information systems and geographic information systems, relative to the performance of the activities in the above-described paragraphs (a) through (c).
SECTION 5. Section 73-13-73, Mississippi Code of 1972, is brought forward as follows:
73-13-73. No person shall practice surveying without having first been duly and regularly licensed by the Board of Licensure for Professional Engineers and Surveyors as a professional surveyor as required by Sections 73-13-71 through 73-13-105, nor shall any person practice surveying whose authority to practice is revoked by the said board.
The practice of surveying, which must be performed by or under the direct supervision of a professional surveyor and each map or drawing of which must be stamped with the seal of said licensee as provided in Section 73-13-83, includes, but is not limited to, the following: property and boundary surveys; subdivision surveys and plats; public land surveys; easement surveys; right-of-way surveys; lease surveys; and all other surveys that require the establishment or reestablishment of property boundaries.
Duties within both the practice of surveying and the practice of engineering, which must be performed by or under the direct supervision of a professional surveyor or a professional engineer and each map, drawing or report of which must be stamped with the seal of said licensee as provided in Sections 73-13-29 and 73-13-83, include, but are not limited to, the following:
(a) Determining the configuration or contour of the earth's surface or the position of fixed objects thereon, commonly known as topographical surveys and as-built surveys (excluding the location of property boundaries);
(b) Performing geodetic surveying which includes surveying for determination of the size and shape of the earth utilizing angular and linear measurements through spatially oriented spherical geometry;
(c) Determining, by the use of principles of surveying, the position for any survey control (nonboundary) monument or reference point; or setting, resetting or placing any such monument or reference point; and
(d) Creating, preparing or modifying electronic or computerized data, including land information systems, and geographic information systems, relative to the performance of the activities in the above-described paragraphs (a) through (c).
SECTION 6. Section 73-13-75, Mississippi Code of 1972, is brought forward as follows:
73-13-75. The Mississippi Board of Licensure for Professional Engineers and Surveyors is hereby authorized and empowered to examine applicants for registration to practice surveying; to license and issue certificates of licensure to all applicants whom it deems qualified to practice surveying in accordance with Sections 73-13-71 through 73-13-105; and to revoke certificates of licensure for just cause as provided for in Sections 73-13-71 through 73-13-105.
SECTION 7. Section 73-13-77, Mississippi Code of 1972, is brought forward as follows:
[From and after July 1, 2012, through June 30, 2016, this section shall read as follows:]
73-13-77. (1) The following shall be considered as minimum evidence satisfactory to the board that the applicant is qualified for licensure as a professional surveyor:
(a) The successful completion of a curriculum of two (2) scholastic years or more from a school or college approved by the board as of satisfactory standing, including the completion of approved courses in surveying and related subjects; a specific record of three (3) years of qualifying surveying experience indicating that the applicant is competent to practice surveying; and successfully passing examinations in surveying prescribed by the board; or
(b) A specific record of seven (7) years' or more experience in surveying work of a character satisfactory to the board and indicating that the applicant is competent to practice surveying; and successfully passing examinations in surveying prescribed by the board.
(2) The following shall be considered as minimum evidence satisfactory to the board that the applicant is qualified for enrollment as a surveyor intern:
(a) (i) A bachelor's degree in geomatics, surveying or surveying technology approved by the board consisting of a minimum of one hundred twenty (120) semester hours, or the equivalent, in surveying curriculum subjects; or
(ii) A bachelor's degree in a related science curriculum defined by board rule consisting of sixty-two (62) semester hours in surveying curriculum subjects as defined by board rule; or
(iii) A bachelor's degree in a related science curriculum defined by board rule; or
(iv) An associate degree, or its equivalent, in a curriculum approved by the board consisting of sixty-two (62) semester hours in surveying curriculum subjects as defined by board rule; or
(v) A high school diploma, or its equivalent, and a specific record of eight (8) years or more of qualifying surveying experience; and
(b) Successfully passing examinations in surveying fundamentals prescribed by the board.
(3) No person shall be eligible for licensure as a professional surveyor who is not of good character and reputation, as defined in the board's Code of Professional Conduct.
[From and after July 1, 2016, this section shall read as follows:]
73-13-77. (1) The following shall be considered as minimum evidence satisfactory to the board that the applicant is qualified for licensure as a professional surveyor:
(a) (i) A bachelor's degree in geomatics, surveying or surveying technology approved by the board consisting of a minimum of one hundred twenty (120) semester hours, or the equivalent, in surveying curriculum subjects and a specific record of four (4) years of qualifying surveying experience; or
(ii) A bachelor's degree in a related science curriculum defined by board rule, consisting of sixty-two (62) semester hours in surveying curriculum subjects as defined by board rule, and a specific record of five (5) years of qualifying surveying experience; or
(iii) A bachelor's degree in a related science curriculum defined by board rule, and a specific record of six (6) years of qualifying surveying experience; or
(iv) An associate degree, or its equivalent, in a curriculum approved by the board consisting of sixty-two (62) semester hours in surveying curriculum subjects as defined by board rule, and a specific record of seven (7) years or more of qualifying surveying experience; or
(v) A high school diploma, or its equivalent, and a specific record of twelve (12) years or more of qualifying surveying experience; and
(b) Successfully passing examinations in surveying prescribed by the board.
(2) The following shall be considered as minimum evidence satisfactory to the board that the applicant is qualified for enrollment as a surveyor intern:
(a) (i) A bachelor's degree in geomatics, surveying or surveying technology approved by the board consisting of a minimum of one hundred twenty (120) semester hours, or the equivalent, in surveying curriculum subjects; or
(ii) A bachelor's degree in a related science curriculum defined by board rule consisting of sixty-two (62) semester hours in surveying curriculum subjects as defined by board rule; or
(iii) A bachelor's degree in a related science curriculum defined by board rule; or
(iv) An associate degree, or its equivalent, in a curriculum approved by the board consisting of sixty-two (62) semester hours in surveying curriculum subjects as defined by board rule; or
(v) A high school diploma, or its equivalent, and a specific record of eight (8) years or more of qualifying surveying experience; and
(b) Successfully passing examinations in surveying fundamentals prescribed by the board.
(3) No person shall be eligible for licensure as a professional surveyor who is not of good character and reputation, as defined in the board's Code of Professional Conduct.
SECTION 8. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after October 1, 2015.
