This bill reenacts and amends existing Washington statutes governing the state board of registration for professional engineers and land surveyors and related registration, examination, and organizational rules. It modifies the makeup and procedures of the board (seven governor-appointed members, five engineers and two land surveyors, five-year terms with a two-term limit, residency and experience thresholds, gubernatorial removal authority), changes the title and appointment process for the board’s director (board-appointed and required to hold a Washington professional engineer or land surveyor license), creates a pro tem board member process (director selects candidates, board chair appoints up to three pro tems for temporary duties with the same powers and a 180-day limit unless extended), and sets a quorum of four. The bill also expressly authorizes the board to adopt bylaws, employ staff, set rules, publish a roster, and requires the director to provide application forms. The bill changes registration, examination, specialty certification, practice, corporate authorization, renewal, fees, and enforcement provisions. It specifies minimum registration evidence (a record of eight or more years of experience and passing prescribed exams), two-stage exams for engineers and land surveyors with timing tied to years of experience or academic standing, and board credit rules for undergraduate and postgraduate education (up to four years undergraduate credit and up to one year for postgraduate study). It recognizes structural engineering as a specialty requiring an additional certificate (an additional two years of structural experience and passing an extra exam) and requires structural registration for work on defined significant structures. It requires character fitness, allows certain teaching credit, excludes contractor/supervisor execution of work from being deemed the practice of engineering, and permits nonresidents to practice temporarily (up to 30 days with a permit) or while a registration application is pending. For entities, the bill sets requirements for corporations and limited liability companies to obtain a certificate of authorization (application, certified resolution designating a responsible, licensed individual, affidavit, Secretary of State and Department of Revenue registration), requires plans to be prepared or directly supervised and sealed by a registrant, authorizes board action for unprofessional conduct, exempts professional service corporations and professional LLCs from some requirements, and requires notification to the board within 30 days of designated-person or name changes. It also requires the board to notify registrants of renewal dates, imposes a late-renewal penalty equal to one year’s fee after 90 days, requires land surveyors to verify 15 hours per year of continuing professional development, directs fees and fines into the board’s state treasury account, mandates immediate suspension for Department of Social and Health Services certification of support-order noncompliance with automatic reissuance upon DSHS release, and authorizes an interagency agreement with the Department of Licensing for technical services. Some statutory text and context are incomplete in the extracted material: portions of RCW 18.43.040 and RCW 18.43.080 are cut off, and the bill header references additional amended RCW sections (18.43.050 through 18.43.200 and others) whose full amended language is not included here, so certain details and the full scope of edits cannot be confirmed from the provided excerpts.

If enacted, the law will tighten who runs and staffs the licensing board and add tools the board can use to keep licensing decisions moving. The board will be seven governor-appointed members with strict residency and experience requirements, a licensed director who selects candidates for up to three temporary pro tem board members (each serving up to 180 days unless extended) who have the same powers and pay as regular members, and a four-member quorum rule. For individual practitioners, the bill clarifies experience and education credit toward registration (board-approved undergraduate study can count up to four years, limited postgraduate credit, and teaching or supervised technical work can count in part), keeps the two-stage exams, requires land surveyors to verify 15 hours of continuing professional development per year of the registration period, and creates or reaffirms a structural-engineer certificate that requires an additional two years of experience and an extra exam before an engineer can sign work on defined “significant structures.” Those changes will likely push firms to maintain or hire staff with specific structural registration, consume extra time and cost for certification and continuing education, and make pro tem appointments a formal tool to avoid shortages of quorum or case reviewers. For companies, the practical effect is clearer obligations and closer board oversight: corporations and limited liability companies must designate a licensed engineer or land surveyor as responsible for all in‑state engineering or surveying decisions, amend governing documents, file certified resolutions and affidavits, notify the board within 30 days of any designated-person or name change, and pay initial and annual authorization fees set by the board. The board is required to set fees sufficient to run its operations and will deposit fees and fines into a board account in the state treasury to fund enforcement and administration. The bill also creates an immediate suspension process tied to DSHS support-order certifications with automatic reinstatement once DSHS clears the registrant, and assigns the Department of Licensing to provide agreed technical services. The exact fee amounts, some procedural details, and parts of the registration criteria are not included in the extracted text, so the full compliance cost and timing implications remain unclear.