Threats remain, but with your support we have tasted success & we are getting increasingly stronger

by Joseph V. Warino PE, PS, FNSPE, VP, Legislative & Government Affairs, OSPE

As I reflect on the past fiscal year, I am reminded of the numerous legislative attacks volleyed against licensure in Ohio in 2018. During the 132nd Ohio General Assembly, members of OSPE's Legislative and Government Affairs (L&GA) Committee executed several initiatives to combat these attacks. For example, in 2018, OSPE successfully stopped the railroad industry from eliminating the Ohio law that requires PE oversight on bridge inspections, and we worked with a coalition to successfully halt a piping materials preference bill that would have removed the PE’s authority. While we held off many attacks in 2018, threats remain as evidenced by the lame duck passage of Senate Bill 255 as well as the re-introduction of other policy initiatives threating licensure in 2019.

Thank you to OSPE's members and staff for their stellar work throughout the last 12 months in defending the profession and the public's welfare. Everyone's work facilitated the betterment of OSPE and the engineering profession.

In addition, as many members are aware, in October 2018 the OSPE Board of Directors hired a contract lobbying firm to provide professional assistance. And in less than a year, Governmental Policy Group (GPG) has already helped us to refine our lobbying tactics thereby making us more effective.

Thank you to GPG for providing guidance towards the execution of a very successful Ohio Engineers Legislative Day this past May, and to GPG Vice President Matt Whitehead for providing 1.0 CPD hour of education there. Matt also participated in our Political Action Committee (PAC) fundraiser lunch in Perrysburg this past June, and he provides regular, invaluable insight at OSPE's quarterly L&GA Committee meetings and to our leaders as they prepare to interact with legislators. GPG is also working with OSPE's PAC to increase its impact. We are excited to see how our relationship with Governmental Policy Group will continue to unfold in fiscal year 2019-2020.

In the 133rd Ohio General Assembly, OSPE is continuing to focus on supporting and defending the PE license and the public that PEs serve. Presently, we are engaged in the following initiatives:

• We are always busy working to notify you, the OSPE member, of the various threats to licensure laws in Ohio and around the country. In this way, you remain informed and, as appropriate, we may ask you to contact your local legislators to request action. Please watch your email for "Legislative Alert" newsletters for timely updates.
• OSPE regularly educates legislators about who PEs are and what they do. This spring, OSPE members and staff met with 16 Ohio legislators to discuss various policy initiatives. In our meetings we developed some new relationships and renewed others as we underlined the fact that PEs are absolutely essential to protecting the public health, safety and welfare.
• OSPE is supporting House Bill 159 – legislation that protects PEs from being forced to indemnify third parties beyond the scope of the PE's work product in contracts to design public improvements. We are awaiting the opportunity to present testimony written by Devon Seal, MBA, PE – OSPE's newly installed president.
• We are also supporting House Bill 189, Tyler’s Law, to improve amusement ride safety. Thanks to the efforts of OSPE Past President Dave Dexter, PE, FNSPE, and OSPE member Henry Dammeyer, PE, we successfully added an amendment to the bill that would add a PE to a safety advisory board. We are now preparing to lobby the Senate to pass the legislation.
• OSPE is opposing House Bill 258 (as written), legislation that would allow an applicant to use the completion of a registered apprenticeship program to satisfy the education requirement for a PE registration. Among our concerns, it is unlikely that the employers of PEs would hire someone who did not have an accredited engineering degree regardless of that person's participation in an apprenticeship program. In addition, such legislation undermines the portability of the Ohio PE license for registrants with apprenticeships. NCEES model law for PE licensure calls for a bachelor's degree in engineering from an EAC/ABET-accredited program. Therefore, any potential law allowing an apprenticeship in place of an ABET education would prevent the resultant Ohio PEs from obtaining comity in other states and territories.
• OSPE is also opposing House Bill 263 (as written), which would remove from Ohio Revised Code 4733 a reference disqualifying from PE licensure anyone who is not of "good character and reputation." Furthermore, the bill would require our registration board to devise a list of specific crimes directly related to the duties and responsibilities of the engineering license that would disqualify someone from practice. Of note, for a disqualifying offense (other than offenses of violence or sexually-oriented offenses), the State Board of Registration for Professional Engineers and Surveyors would only be permitted to disqualify an individual applicant for five years from the applicant's last interaction with the justice system. Five years and one day later, it would no longer be considered a disqualifying off ense. (For violent crimes and sex crimes, the legislation would allow that these individuals may always be disqualified from licensure regardless of the length of time that passes.)

Members, please stay vigilant on these topics and let us know if you hear of any policy initiatives of which we should be aware. E-mail [email protected] or call 1-800-654-9481 (in Columbus, 614-223-1144).