According to the Houston Chronicle, Gov. Perry has the elimination of the Surveyor's licensing board in his sights. This aught to be an interesting day.
Here is a link to the article. http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/7417742.html
It is proposed, but it has not happened yet.
Randy beat me to the link.
There's not enough information in that article. I would assume that the goal is to combine the surveyors with the engineers.
I would add that if the board is a strain on the state budget, then the board's finances are not managed properly. The only money the board in Tennessee gets is through license renewals. In fact, we often have a surplus and the governor raids it and puts it in the general fund.
> According to the Houston Chronicle, Gov. Perry has the elimination of the Surveyor's licensing board in his sights. This aught to be an interesting day.
I heard they were going to let some old west Texas surveyor run the whole show in Texas, he is going to be in charge of a legion of Geo-geocache'ers, mainly locating fences.
Texas doing away with surveyors--soon all going bye,bye
on judge napolitano last night segment stating all licensing is illegal--aln many state will face challenges as judges are pressured to enforce the constitution--everyone has a right to earn a living doing what ever they want to do--protecting the public is an after thought for the courts to deal with not state legislators who cow down to lobbyists--licensing is exclusionary, costly and limiting to individuals, again competency is a court matter not a state board problem--its beentoo long that all workers have been limited by regulation..tdd
Texas doing away with surveyors--soon all going bye,bye
Activity is regulated BECAUSE THE PEOPLE DECIDED THAT THEY WANTED THE BENEFITS THAT RESULT FROM FROM REGULATION.
There is nothing fundementally illegitimate about the will of a free people deciding to regulate their actions and that of fellow citizens. It is also well within the power of those same people to forget the common sense that lead them to impose regulation,in the first place.
Texas doing away with surveyors--soon all going bye,bye
"Those two agencies, which provide funding for the promotion of Texas arts and culture and the upkeep of state historic structures, were given over $100 million in the previous budget when bond proceeds and federal dollars are counted."
I guess that would give new meaning to the phrase "remember the Alamo" huh.
Texas doing away with surveyors--soon all going bye,bye
I don’t believe the general public lobbied for any regulated professions. The Houston Chronicle had a story last week indicating it’s the industries themselves that lobby for licensing and regulations. Every legislative year there are at least a dozen industries clamoring to license and regulate their industry. In the last ten years Texas has created licensing of irrigation systems and septic systems. In both cases, the average cost of installation was doubled. I can’t speak for every Texan, but I was not advocate of either profession needing regulation. I remember when people had the option to do their own installation.
Regulation
What many seem to forget is that the government is only using powers that the electorate gave them.
If the citizenry of Texas was so upset about regulation of Land Surveyors (or anything else for that matter), it would have been done away with along time ago.
By tying the issue into funding and deficits, people start looking at the issue from the wrong end.
Look at the long list of corporate abuses, even under regulations. It's clear than most industries can't be trusted to regulate themselves.
Who doesn't want SOMEONE inspecting their beef, watching their medical profession and checking for compliance with safety at the work place, just to name a few examples.
Texas doing away with surveyors--soon all going bye,bye
dane--the people decided nothing a hand full of legislators were conned by lobbyists spreading fear that if we don't control aa specific practice bad things could happen and btw the state can make money to boot--sounds innocent ?? its was not--has our profession improved ?? heck no,, we are forced to contribute at least 1000 dollars net 1600 gross to support a gamit of entities, holding the fear of the practioners hostage by the state-ie: board boogiemen that will fine you and take more of your earnings and control your livelihood--when i was a young jeep surveyor i thought licensing woud be a good thing--i was conned--regulation by the state in any for is a bad thing when it affects livelihood and individual rights--thats why some state are thinking of dumping licensing even drivers licenses--tdd
> According to the Houston Chronicle, Gov. Perry has the elimination of the Surveyor's licensing board in his sights. This aught to be an interesting day.
Governor Perry is proposing to cut off state funds for the board, not eliminate the board itself.
Oregon's board sustains itself entirely from registration fees. It gets no money from the state budget. The fees are not exorbitant. Texas can do the same.
"Two smaller agencies, the Board of Professional Geoscientists and the Board of Professional Land Surveying — which oversee licensing requirements for people in those professions — would also disappear"
I think the key word here is disappear.
In fact, we are told by our association that the state board actually creates a surplus every year which is absorbed into the general fund.
I wonder if this has anything to do with our PAC money going to democratic candidates?
> I think the key word here is disappear.
The words of a pipsqueak "journalist". Are Texas Surveyors just going to roll over for this? If so, they deserve it. But I think otherwise.
I think they will uncouple themselves from the state teet, as Oregon's Surveyors have, move on, and not look back.
This is a situation that is being monitored as it develops. Rumors of consolidation have been floating for weeks, but it was from the legislative side. TSPS's legislative committee investigated these rumors and found that there did not appear to be any push for this from the legislature. This new proposal comes from the governor. It is currently being looked at but until more info is given, it is pointless to speculate. It might be a chance for the industry to become self regulating like the lawyers are. It might be a push to consolidate, or it might be a push by some oil companies to try and separate out their requirements from the board of land surveying considering the board of geoscientists is another board on the hitlist. TSPS is monitoring the situation and hopefully all of those people out there that question what TSPS does for them will see the results in the coming weeks.
James Redmon
TSPS Secretary/Treasurer
Now I feel better.
> It might be a chance for the industry to become self regulating like the lawyers are.
Along with surveyors in most other countries.
I have $500 for the educational scholarship fund of the first state association that's able to pull it off.
Texas doing away with surveyors--soon all going bye,bye
It usually isn't the people that ask for it, it's the industry. For instance, Mississippi requires a license for African hair braiding. Do you honestly think the general public is up in arms over untrained individuals offering African hair braiding?
Licenses mainly exist to protect the current practitioners from competition.
Our education committee chair is from Canada and he has been championing this course of action for a few years, but it did not appear to be a political possibility. I am currently pleased with the direction TBPLS has been heading and did not see a reason to "rock the boat." If the State wants to rid itself of us though, we need to be prepared and not rule anything out without thoroughly examining it first.
James Redmon
The combined cost of the two boards was reported as 2.4 million, even if the TBPLS does not create a surplus the amount of state/county/city revenues created just by sales tax on boundary surveys and plat application/filing fees has to be much greater than 2.4m annually. Also interesting is that Jerry Patterson is the Texas Land Commissioner and a board member of the TBPLS by statue, I don't think he would take kindly to someone trying to banish one of his agencies. Patterson has some clout as he has announced running for Lt. Governor in 2014 http://www.votepatterson.com/news_pr01.html