HB 167: "An Act relating to the regulation of architects, engineers, land surveyors, and landscape architects."
00 HOUSE BILL NO. 167 01 "An Act relating to the regulation of architects, engineers, land surveyors, and 02 landscape architects." 03 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA: 04 * Section 1. AS 08.48.221 is amended to read: 05 Sec. 08.48.221. Seals. Each registrant may obtain a seal of the design 06 authorized by the board, bearing the registrant's name, registration number, and the 07 legend [,] "Registered Professional Architect," "Registered Professional Engineer," 08 "Registered Professional Land Surveyor," or "Registered Professional Landscape 09 Architect," as appropriate. When a registrant issues final drawings, specifications, 10 surveys, plats, plates, reports, or similar documents, the registrant shall [SIGN THE 11 DOCUMENTS AND] stamp the documents with the seal and sign the seal. The 12 board shall adopt regulations governing the use of seals by the registrant. An architect, 13 engineer, land surveyor, or landscape architect may not affix or permit a seal and 14 signature to be affixed to an instrument after the expiration of a certificate or for the
01 purpose of aiding or abetting another person to evade or attempt to evade a provision 02 of this chapter. The registrant, by affixing the registrant's seal to final drawings, 03 specifications, surveys, plats, plates, reports, or [AND OTHER] similar documents, 04 and by signing the seal [THEM], certifies that the [THESE] documents were prepared 05 by or under the registrant's direct supervision, are within the registrant's field of 06 practice, or constitute design work of minor importance [UNLESS THE 07 REGISTRANT CERTIFIES ON THE FACE OF THE DOCUMENT TO THE 08 EXTENT OF THE REGISTRANT'S RESPONSIBILITY]. 09 * Sec. 2. AS 08.48.221 is amended by adding a new subsection to read: 10 (b) Final drawings, specifications, surveys, plats, plates, reports, or similar 11 documents containing the work of multiple fields of practice shall be sealed and 12 signed by a registrant in each field of practice covered by the document. The registrant 13 shall certify on the face of the document the extent of the registrant's responsibility for 14 all work prepared under the registrant's seal. When certifying design work of minor 15 importance, the registrant shall identify that work on the document near the registrant's 16 seal and take responsibility for all work prepared under the registrant's seal. 17 * Sec. 3. AS 08.48.331 is amended to read: 18 Sec. 08.48.331. Exemptions. (a) This chapter does not apply to 19 (1) a contractor performing work designed by a professional architect, 20 engineer, or landscape architect or the supervision of the construction of the work as a 21 supervisor or superintendent for a contractor; 22 (2) workers in building trades crafts, earthwork, grounds keeping, or 23 nursery operations, and superintendents, supervisors, or inspectors in the performance 24 of their customary duties; 25 (3) an officer or employee of the United States government practicing 26 architecture, engineering, land surveying, or landscape architecture as required by the 27 person's official capacity; 28 (4) an employee or a subordinate of a person registered under this 29 chapter if the work or service is done under the direct supervision of a person 30 registered under this chapter; 31 (5) associates, consultants, or specialists retained by a registered
01 individual, a partnership of registered individuals, a corporation, a limited liability 02 company, or a limited liability partnership authorized to practice architecture, 03 engineering, land surveying, or landscape architecture under this chapter, in the 04 performance of professional services if responsible charge of the work remains with 05 the individual, the partnership, or a designated representative of the corporation, 06 limited liability company, or limited liability partnership; 07 (6) a person preparing drawings or specifications for 08 (A) a building for the person's own use and occupancy as a 09 single family residence and related site work for that building; 10 (B) farm or ranch buildings and their grounds unless the public 11 health, safety, or welfare is involved; 12 (C) a building that is intended to be used only as a residence by 13 not more than 14 (i) three [FOUR] families and that is not more than two 15 stories high and the grounds of the building; or 16 (ii) two families and that is not more than three stories 17 high and the grounds of the building, if the building is located in a 18 municipality that has adopted a building or residential code that applies 19 to the building and if the building complies with the building or 20 residential code; 21 (D) a garage, workshop, or similar building that contains less 22 than 2,000 square feet of floor space to be used for a private noncommercial 23 purpose and the grounds of the building; 24 (7) a specialty contractor licensed under AS 08.18 while engaged in 25 the business of construction contracting [OR DESIGNING SYSTEMS] for work 26 designed by an architect, engineer, or landscape architect that is within the 27 specialty to be performed or supervised by the specialty contractor, or a contractor 28 preparing shop or field drawings for work that the specialty contractor has contracted 29 to perform; 30 (8) a person furnishing drawings, specifications, instruments of 31 service, or other data for alterations or repairs to a building or its grounds that do not
01 change or affect the structural system or the safety of the building, or that do not affect 02 the public health, safety, or welfare; 03 (9) a person who is employed by a postsecondary educational 04 institution to teach engineering, architectural, or landscape architectural courses; in 05 this paragraph, "postsecondary educational institution" has the meaning given in 06 AS 14.48.210; 07 (10) an officer or employee of an individual, firm, partnership, 08 association, utility, corporation, limited liability company, or limited liability 09 partnership, who practices engineering, architecture, land surveying, or landscape 10 architecture involved in the operation of the employer's business only, and further 11 provided that neither the employee nor the employer offers engineering, architecture, 12 land surveying, or landscape architecture services to the public; exclusions under 13 this paragraph do not apply to buildings or structures whose primary use is public 14 occupancy; 15 (11) a person while involved in revegetation, restoration, reclamation, 16 rehabilitation, or erosion control for disturbed land that the board determines does 17 not affect the public health, safety, or welfare; 18 (12) a person while maintaining or directing the placement of plant 19 material that the board determines does not affect the public health, safety, or 20 welfare; 21 (13) an employee, officer, or agent of a regulatory agency of the state 22 or a municipality when reviewing drawings and specifications for compliance with the 23 building codes of the state or a municipality if the drawings and specifications have 24 been sealed [SIGNED] and signed [SEALED] by an architect, engineer, land 25 surveyor, or landscape architect [A PROFESSIONAL ARCHITECT OR 26 PROFESSIONAL ENGINEER] or the preparation of the drawings and specifications 27 is exempt under this section from the requirements of this chapter; in this paragraph, 28 "building codes" includes codes relating to building, mechanical, plumbing, electrical, 29 [AND] fire safety standards, and zoning; 30 (14) a person who is designing fire detection or suppression systems 31 and is authorized by the Department of Public Safety to design fire detection or
01 suppression systems. 02 (b) The requirement to be registered as a landscape architect under this chapter 03 only applies to a person who practices an aspect of landscape architecture that the 04 board has determined affects the public health, [OR] safety, or welfare. 05 * Sec. 4. AS 08.48.341 is amended by adding new paragraphs to read: 06 (21) "design of minor importance" means a design that is incidental to 07 the discipline of a registrant and is within the discipline of the registrant, but does not 08 include comprehensive design services of any particular building type, structure, 09 building system, engineering system, or site development; 10 (22) "shop drawing" or "field drawing" means a drawing prepared by a 11 contractor, subcontractor, or vendor that shows how a particular aspect of the work is 12 to be fabricated and installed and demonstrates how an aspect of the work will satisfy 13 the requirements of the construction document, but does not include a final drawing, 14 specification, survey, plat, plate, report, or other similar document.