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Often, A/E professionals are so focused on incorporating new ideas for career development and improved practice management they forget to step back and observe what issues are looming on the horizon. For instance, have you considered how legislation by your state legislature might affect your professional career? Here is a brief look at what recently happened in Kansas.
For the past four years the Kansas Board of Technical Professions (which licenses architects, engineers, landscape architects, surveyors, and geologists) and industry groups engaged in research to update their professionals' licensing statutes. Governor Brownback signed the legislation, Senate Bill 349 in April and it went into effect July 1, 2014.
As reported by journalist, Josh Heck of the Wichita Business Journal, "A new Kansas law set to take effect in July may have some unintended consequences and create hardships for engineers and certain segments of the architecture industry."
"Wyatt Hoch, a partner at Foulston Siefkin LLP and the leader of that firm's construction law practice, says the law redefines the scope of practices of architecture, engineering and landscape architecture."
Basically, the law creates new statutory definitions for what each profession is permitted to do.
The definitions for the architecture profession is rewritten but according to the Board includes the "normal" practice activities of architects.
However, the definition of engineering was also revised and arguably now does not authorize an engineer to prepare or provide designs, drawings, specifications or other technical submissions.
Hoch says that's where potential problems lie, because engineers commonly are routinely involved in preparing those documents.
With the change, engineers in Kansas may no longer be able to seal project drawings for, say, a pre-engineered metal building used for a warehouse or manufacturing facility.
Those responsibilities must be left to licensed architects under the new law.
"This has to be fixed", Hoch says. "It is an unintended consequence of the legislation."
"It's one that now only the Kansas Legislature can undo, and it will be months before the lawmakers reconvene in Topeka. And there's no guarantee the issue will even be revisited."
The real message here is "take heed". This issue, or a variation of this issue, and the unintended consequences could happen where you practice.
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