A MEMORIAL

REQUESTING THAT THE LEGISLATIVE FINANCE COMMITTEE INVESTIGATE SEPARATING THE STATE BOARD OF LICENSURE FOR PROFESSIONAL ENGINEERS AND SURVEYORS INTO TWO SEPARATE BOARDS.

WHEREAS, it is a matter of public safety, interest and concern that the practices of engineering and surveying merit and receive the confidence of the public and that only qualified persons be permitted to engage in the practices of engineering and surveying; and

WHEREAS, the profession of land surveying encompasses a unique body of knowledge and practice, separate and distinct from that of the engineering disciplines; and

WHEREAS, the current education requirements to become a licensed professional surveyor in New Mexico are comparable to those of engineers and are mandated by the Engineering and Surveying Practice Act; and

WHEREAS, qualified professionals within their respective disciplines are best able to discern and protect the interest of the public in regard to their specific disciplines, it being desirable to have surveyor board members who are actual working professionals who have surveying as their principal business and are conversant with the particular issues affecting their profession, the public it serves and the standards under which it operates; and

WHEREAS, the state board of licensure for professional engineers and surveyors has been granted the power to adopt and amend all rules of procedure and of professional responsibility for professional engineers and professional surveyors; and

WHEREAS, the current imbalance of board members, which favors the engineering disciplines, has resulted in the professional judgments of the surveyors on the board being overruled;

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that during the 2004 legislative interim, the legislative finance committee investigate separating the state board of licensure for professional engineers and surveyors into two separate boards and report their findings to the first session of the forty-seventh legislature; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be transmitted to the legislative finance committee and the state board of licensure for professional engineers and surveyors.