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Texas board moves to publish cleanup and experience‑reporting rules, adopts two‑year licensing conversion rule
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Summary
The Texas Board of Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors voted to publish cleanup rule amendments (removing obsolete references and TOEFL language), proposed an overhaul of experience reporting (renaming SERs to 'experience record'), and adopted rule 13775 to complete the two‑year licensing conversion package.
The Texas Board of Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors voted on Feb. 19 to publish a package of rule changes to the Texas Register, approve an overhaul of experience reporting for licensure, and formally adopt rule 13775 to complete the agency’s transition to a two‑year licensing cycle.
Staff summarized roughly ten cleanup amendments intended to remove obsolete references (including NAFTA), clarify advisory‑opinion terminology, and eliminate the TOEFL requirement by moving language‑translation requirements into application rules. The board voted unanimously to publish the cleanup package for public comment.
Separately, the board endorsed a proposed redesign of experience reporting. Under the proposal, the current SER (supervised experience report) will be formally retitled an “experience record” and split into two parts: a shorter verified record (verified by a designated verifier) and an applicant‑written narrative explaining how the experience demonstrates progressive responsibility and current fitness to practice. Staff said the change aims to shorten voluminous SERs, make verification more usable for reviewers, and improve consistency with national competency models.
At the meeting the board also adopted rule 13775, closing a previously published rule package and completing the conversion of license renewals to a two‑year schedule. The board noted the adoption corrects a prior omission from a prior agenda; the rule will be published in the Texas Register as adopted.
Other technical corrections approved included an amendment to the sanction table for surveying to fix an incorrect cross‑reference to an engineering‑firm registration rule and the board’s approval to republish updated criminal‑history guidance required by statute (splitting the existing document so the statutorily required portion is posted in the Texas Register while procedural material remains unpublished). "We tried to tidy up a few lingering references and make the application process clearer," Executive Director Lance Kinney said during the presentation.
The board approved each motion to publish or adopt by voice vote and moved the packages forward to the Texas Register for comment and finalization. The board did not, during the meeting, change the underlying statutory standards; these actions adjust administrative rules and internal guidance.
Next steps: published proposals will be open for public comment through the Texas Register process; staff and committees will review comments before bringing final rules back for formal adoption.
