(A)(1) Every professional engineer and professional surveyor licensed under this chapter who decides to continue the practice of his profession shall, biennially during the month of June, pay the board a fee sufficient to support the costs of the board's operations, to be determined by the board in regulation, for which fee a renewal registration card for the ensuing registration year must be issued.

(2) The board shall assess a late renewal penalty of twenty percent of the biennial renewal fee against those persons who do not renew their license within one month of the biennial renewal date. The penalty must be assessed for each two months thereafter with a maximum grace period of three months following the biennial renewal date. A person not renewing his license within three months following the annual renewal date shall file a new application accompanied by the required application fee or, if he is in a position to do so, file a notarized affidavit with the board certifying that he has not been engaged in the practice of engineering or surveying in South Carolina during the period his license was not in a current condition, accompanied by the total amount of unpaid renewal fees and penalties.

(3) An individual whose license has lapsed due to nonpayment of the required renewal fee within three months of the due date is considered in the same category as a previously unlicensed person and, at the board's discretion, may be required to pass a written examination as a condition of relicensing.

(B) The board may promulgate regulations that as a condition of renewal or relicensure, a professional engineer must demonstrate continuing professional competency in engineering and a professional surveyor must demonstrate continuing professional competency in surveying. Any continuing professional competency requirement does not apply to a professional engineer or professional surveyor who has been continuously licensed in this State since January 1, 1969. Emeritus engineers and emeritus surveyors are not required to meet continuing education requirements.

(C) Emeritus engineers and emeritus surveyors who wish to return to active practice shall complete continuing education requirements for each exempted biennial renewal period not to exceed two renewal periods and shall submit applicable fees.

HISTORY: 2000 Act No. 311, Section 1.

Editor's Note

Prior Laws: 1991 Act No. 99, Section 1; 1995 Act No. 46, Section 1; 1976 Code Section 40-22-350.