Action | Develop regulations for a mandatory continuing education requirement for architect, professional engineer, and land surveyor licenses. |
Stage | Proposed |
Comment Period | Ended on 5/2/2008 |
As mentioned in other comments, there are several PE's in the Coast Guard that maintain their license in Virginia due to the many technical billets in the National Capital Region. While licenses are not required and we never stamp anything as PE's, obtaining a PE is beneficial to the Coast Guard and our tax paying customers by establishing a baseline of competency and trust with our industry partners. However, as also mentioned, the considerable financial burden rests solely with the member and is not reimbursed by the Coast Guard. Although I worked extremely hard to obtain the PE license, I'm not sure I will be able to shoulder another $700 a year to maintain it. I am also skeptical of the benefit from mandatory CE. Any PE that relies on their license to make a living will not be able to successfully do so without staying on top of current technology, statutory standards, and industry practices. The Economic Impact Analysis for this proposal admits that the benefit of CE is difficult to quantify and that there must be significant benefit to the public and customers in order for the proposal to be justifed. Please consider the considerable costs associated with mandatory CE and the lack of substantiated benefit and reject this proposal.