AN ACT relating to the licensing of professional engineers.
Summary
HB 306 amends Kentucky’s professional engineering licensure law to expand and clarify the pathways to become licensed as a professional engineer, with a specific addition for fire protection engineering technology graduates. Under the bill, applicants may qualify through an ABET-accredited engineering degree or an ABET-accredited fire protection engineering technology degree, but the fire protection pathway requires more post-graduate experience and completion of the same core licensing examinations. The bill also preserves and clarifies rules for engineering instructors, including a limited exemption for certain tenured or tenure-track faculty teaching engineering design courses and a separate route for instructors who meet degree, experience, and exam requirements.
The measure also directs the Kentucky Board of Licensure for Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors to adopt administrative regulations on how to count pre-graduation engineering experience and how to evaluate the engineering coursework required for the fire protection technology pathway. In practical terms, the bill broadens the pool of eligible applicants while keeping licensure standards tied to education, experience, and examination performance.
Impact
HB 306 amends KRS 322.040, the statute governing qualifications for professional engineer licensure in Kentucky. It creates a clearer statutory route for graduates of fire protection engineering technology programs, requires the board to define related experience and coursework standards by regulation, and preserves existing instructor exemptions and alternative licensure provisions. The bill affects applicants for professional engineer licensure, engineering faculty, and the state licensing board responsible for implementing and enforcing these requirements.
Sentiment
The bill appears to have been broadly supported and noncontroversial in the legislature. It passed the House overwhelmingly 96-1 and the Senate unanimously 37-0, suggesting strong bipartisan agreement that the licensure framework should be updated and expanded in a targeted way. The lack of committee transcript material also suggests there was little recorded public dispute around the measure.
Contention
No major points of contention are evident in the available record. The only likely area for debate would have been whether adding a fire protection engineering technology pathway and adjusting experience requirements might alter licensure standards or affect the professional engineering workforce, but the near-unanimous votes indicate those concerns were minimal or resolved. Any implementation questions were left to the licensing board through future administrative regulations rather than being heavily litigated in the bill itself.
Requesting The University Of Hawaii System To Establish A Veterinary Medicine Expansion Working Group To Explore The Feasibility Of Developing A Doctor Of Veterinary Medicine Program At Windward Community College.