Rep. Stanford backs bill seeking continuing-ed criteria for engineers

Published 12:08 pm Friday, January 27, 2012

State Rep. Derek Stanford of Bothell feels that professional engineers shouldn’t be any different from their peers, such as men and women who are involved in land-surveying, for example.

“Continuing professional development is a basic and very important requirement for many professions,” Stanford said in a press release.

So the Bothell legislator is prime-sponsoring a measure to bring engineers under the same requirements as land surveyors in terms of professional development. Registered engineers would be called upon to complete at least 15 hours of continuing professional development a year, according to Stanford’s legislation.

The measure cleared the state House of Representatives last year, 57-40, but it didn’t make it through the state Senate ahead of the final 2011 gavel. On Jan. 27, the legislation again cleared the House, this time by a vote of 66-29, and it’s now headed to the Senate for more 2012 discussion.

“This is a straightforward proposal to bring engineers under the same requirements as land surveyors and architects,” Stanford explained. “Engineers and land surveyors have the same regulator, and the state Board of Registration for Engineers and Land Surveyors shouldn’t have any problem implementing this upgrade.”