10 The Oregon Surveyor | Vol. 46, No. 2 I recently served as the Chair of OSBEELS’ Land Surveying Qualifications Taskforce to evaluate and update the “Education and Experience Requirements for Registration as a Professional Land Surveyor” in Oregon Administrative Rule (OAR) 820-010-2020. During that process, it was realized that many people are unaware of the changes made in 2015 to both the PE and PLS licensure processes. Most of the people reading this article will already have licensure themselves, but ideally you are mentoring, or at least know, people working towards licensure and would like to give them accurate guidance. To help you provide that guidance, the discussion below summarizes the changes from both 2015 and 2022. Licensure Process For myself, and many other current licensees, the process for a PE or PLS was to (a) qualify for the Fundamentals Exam via experience or a degree from an accredited college program, (b) apply to OSBEELS for the Fundamentals Exam, (c) obtain four years of experience after passing the Fundamentals Exam, and then (d) apply to OSBEELS for both (national 6-hour and Oregon’s state-specific 4-hour) Professional exams. With a few exceptions, the exams were written and graded by NCEES (National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying) but it was still OSBEELS who handled all aspects of administering the exam. In 2015, OSBEELS chose to “decouple” the exams from the licensure process in response to NCEES moving towards computerized testing instead of printed paper exams. The result of decoupling is that, with a few minor exceptions, OSBEELS has no involvement in the exam process. Potential licensees coordinate with NCEES to take the national Fundamentals Exam and then the national Professional Exam. There is no requirement for the exams to be taken in a particular order or PE AND PLS LICENSURE PROCESS CHANGES By Renee Clough, PLS Featured Article
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