| Action | Amend regulations to license onsite sewage system professionals. |
| Stage | Proposed |
| Comment Period | Ended on 3/6/2009 |
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I recommend the board have the following sections in the regulations, which are very similar to what DPOR requires of other regulants:
Experience: OSE, Operator, and Installer Applicants shall submit a written narrative or narratives, on the board provided application form, documenting all of the applicant’s experience. Such narrative or narratives shall: clearly describe the work that the applicant personally performed; delineate the role of the applicant in any group related activity; provide an overall description of the nature and scope of work; and include detailed description of the work personally performed by the applicant. Experience in claims consulting, drafting, estimating, and field surveying are considered nonqualifying. In general, the required experience shall be applied as follows: 1. Construction experience, in order to be qualifying, must include a demonstrated use of problem-solving skills. The mere execution as a contractor of work designed by others, the supervision of construction, and similar non-engineering tasks is considered qualifying experience for the installer category only. 2. Military experience, in order to be qualifying must have been spent in related work and must be of a character substantially equivalent to that required in the civilian sector for like work. 3. Sales experience, in order to be qualifying, must include a demonstrated use of related computational and problem-solving skills. The mere selection of data or equipment from a company catalogue or similar publication or database will not be considered qualifying experience. 4. Industrial experience, in order to be qualifying, should be directed toward the identification and solution of practice problems in the applicant’s area of specialization. This experience should include analysis of existing systems or the design of new ones. 5. Experience gained by successfully completing a graduate science degree or by related teaching in an institution approved by the board may be deemed qualifying experience. a. Successful completion of a master’s or doctorate degree in a science curriculum may be accepted as one year of equivalent experience credit. Education: OSE, Installer, Alternative, Waterworks and Wastewater Works Operator Any applicant who has earned a degree from an institution outside the United States shall have the degree authenticated and evaluated by an educational credential evaluation service or by ABET if credit for such education is sought, unless the applicant has also earned an equivalent or higher-level engineering degree from a United States institution where the program has been accredited by ABET. The board reserves the right to reject, for good cause, any evaluation submitted by the applicant. B. Except for those degrees earned from an institution outside the United States and subject to the provisions of subsection A of this section, all nonapproved engineering curriculums, related science curriculums, and nonapproved engineering technology curriculums of four years or more shall be from an accredited college or university that is approved or accredited by the Commission on Colleges, a regional or national accreditation association, or by an accrediting agency that is recognized by the U.S. Secretary of Education. b. For teaching experience to be considered by the board, the applicant must have taught in an engineering curriculum approved by the board and must have been employed in the grade of instructor or higher. 6. Related experience gained during a board-approved co-op program may be deemed qualifying experience to a maximum of one year of credit. 7. The board, in its sole discretion, may permit partial credit, not to exceed 1/2 of that required, for approved qualifying experience obtained prior to graduation from a science curriculum.
A person in good standing and holding a valid license to engage in the practice of operating a treatment works, evaluating site and soil conditions, and installing alternative sewage systems in another state, the District of Columbia, or any territory or possession of the United States may belicensed, provided the applicant submits verifiable documentation to the board that the education, experience, and examination requirements by which the applicant was first licensed in the originaljurisdiction were substantially equivalent to those existing in Virginia at the time of the applicant’soriginal licensure. No person shall be so licensed, however, who has not passed an examination inanother jurisdiction that was substantially equivalent to that approved by the board at the time of the applicant’s original licensure. If the applicant does not meet the requirements for licensure in Virginiathat were in effect at the time of original licensure, the applicant shall be required to meet the entry requirements current at the time the completed application for comity is received in the board’s office. Licensure by comity.