Does a Texas-licensed engineer have to place a Texas seal on plans for a project that will be built outside Texas?

TX AG Opinion GA-0287: Must a Texas engineer's seal appear on out-of-state project plans?

Plain-English summary

The Texas Board of Professional Engineers asked whether the requirement that a licensed engineer place his seal on plans, specifications, plats, and reports applies only to projects that will actually be designed and constructed in Texas. The question arose because a Texas engineering firm had been asked by an international client to design an offshore oil platform that would be fabricated in Norway and erected in international waters, and the firm objected to affixing a Texas seal to a project with no Texas construction site. The Board's own view was that a Texas seal should only go on Texas projects, and that engineers working on projects elsewhere should get licensed in that other jurisdiction instead.

The opinion disagreed with the Board's reading. Section 1001.401 of the Occupations Code requires the seal on every plan, specification, plat, or report a license holder issues, without carving out any exception for where the resulting project will be built. Because courts will not read an exception into a statute that the legislature did not write, the opinion concluded the sealing requirement is tied to the authority under which the document was prepared, meaning any Texas license, not to the location of the eventual construction. So a Texas-licensed engineer must seal his plans even for a project abroad. Separately, whether those Texas-sealed plans can actually be used to build in another state or country is a different question that depends entirely on that jurisdiction's own licensing law, since some states extend limited reciprocity or grace periods to out-of-state licensees and others do not.

Currency note

This opinion was issued in 2004. Subsequent statutory amendments, court decisions, or later AG opinions may have changed the analysis. Treat this page as historical context, not current legal advice. Verify current law before relying on any specific rule, deadline, or remedy mentioned here.

Who this opinion affected (as of 2004)

Texas-licensed engineers working on projects outside Texas: The opinion required them to seal any plan, specification, plat, or report they issue under their Texas license, regardless of whether the project will be built in Texas, another state, or another country.

The Texas Board of Professional Engineers: The opinion rejected the Board's proposed reading that would have limited the sealing requirement to in-state projects, clarifying that section 1001.401 attaches to the authority under which the document was prepared rather than to the construction site.

Engineering firms with international or out-of-state clients: The opinion meant firms could not avoid the Texas sealing requirement simply because a client's project would be built elsewhere, though the opinion noted that whether the sealed Texas documents could be used for construction abroad would still depend on that jurisdiction's own licensing rules.

Common questions

Does a Texas engineer have to put a Texas seal on plans for a building or platform that will be constructed in another country?
Yes, according to this opinion. Section 1001.401 requires the seal on any plan, specification, plat, or report issued under a Texas engineering license, with no exception for where the project will actually be built.

Can a Texas-sealed engineering plan be used to build a project in another state?
That depends on the other state's own laws. The opinion noted some states, like New York and Pennsylvania, extend limited exceptions or grace periods letting an out-of-state licensed engineer practice there temporarily, while others require separate licensure, so the answer varies by jurisdiction.

Why did the Texas Board of Professional Engineers ask about this in the first place?
A Texas firm had been asked to design an offshore oil platform to be fabricated in Norway and erected in international waters, and objected to sealing the plans with a Texas seal for a project with no Texas construction site, prompting the Board to seek guidance on whether the sealing statute applied.

Background and statutory framework

The Texas Engineering Practice Act, codified at Occupations Code chapter 1001, gives the Texas Board of Professional Engineers authority to regulate the practice of engineering and license engineers. Under section 1001.401, a license holder must obtain a seal in a Board-approved design showing the license holder's name and the legend "Licensed Professional Engineer" or "Registered Professional Engineer" (a title carried over from an earlier version of the Act that used "registration" before a 1997 amendment updated the terminology to "licensing"). The seal must appear on any plan, specification, plat, or report the license holder issues, and it may not be used if the named engineer's license has expired, been suspended, or been revoked. The purpose of the sealing requirement is to assure anyone relying on the engineering work that the named, licensed professional actually performed or directly supervised it.

The Board's own position was that the seal requirement should be read as limited to Texas projects, reasoning that engineers working on out-of-state or international projects should instead obtain a license in that other jurisdiction. The opinion rejected this reading as inconsistent with the statute's plain language: section 1001.401(b) requires the seal on documents "issued by a license holder" without any territorial qualifier tied to where construction will occur, and Texas courts have long held that they will not write an exception into a statute to make it inapplicable to circumstances the legislature did not mention. The opinion also surveyed how other states handle engineers licensed elsewhere, noting that engineering licensure is generally required on a state-by-state basis, though some states, such as New York (which allows practice while a license application is pending) and Pennsylvania (which allows a qualified nonresident engineer up to thirty days of practice per year if home-state standards are comparable), extend limited exceptions, and Texas itself may issue a provisional license to an engineer already licensed elsewhere who is seeking a Texas license. The opinion concluded that the Texas sealing requirement is about the authority under which a document was prepared (a Texas license), not about the eventual construction site, so a Texas engineer must seal documents prepared under that license regardless of where the project will be built, while the separate question of whether those documents can lawfully support construction elsewhere depends on that jurisdiction's own law.

Citations

Statutes:

• Tex. Occ. Code Ann. § 1001.401 (Vernon 2004)
• Tex. Occ. Code Ann. § 1001.401(a) (Vernon 2004)
• Tex. Occ. Code Ann. § 1001.401(b) (Vernon 2004)
• Tex. Occ. Code Ann. § 1001.401(c) (Vernon 2004)
• Tex. Occ. Code Ann. §§ 1001.201-.202 (Vernon 2004)
• Tex. Occ. Code Ann. §§ 1001.301-.308 (Vernon 2004)
• Tex. Occ. Code Ann. § 1001.310(b) (Vernon 2004)
• Act of May 18, 1937, 45th Leg., R.S., ch. 404, §§ 12, 15, 1937 Tex. Gen. Laws 816, 820-21
• Act of May 13, 1997, 75th Leg., R.S., ch. 344, §§ 1-2, 30, 1997 Tex. Gen. Laws 1462, 1463, 1473
• N.Y. Educ. Law § 7208(b) (McKinney 2001)
• 63 Pa. Cons. Stat. § 152(b) (West 1996)
• 22 Tex. Admin. Code § 137.33(a)

Cases:

• Pub. Util. Comm'n of Tex. v. Cofer, 754 S.W.2d 121, 124 (Tex. 1988)
• Jefferson County Drainage Dist. No. 6 v. Gary, 362 S.W.2d 305, 307-08 (Tex. 1962)

Other authorities:

• Steven G. M. Stein, Construction Law, § 11.01[1][b], at 1-15 (Matthew Bender & Co. ed., June 1998)
• 29 Tex. Reg. 1603, 1604 (2004), adopted 29 Tex. Reg. 4878 (2004)

Source

• Landing page: https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/opinions/greg-abbott/ga-0287
• Original PDF: https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/sites/default/files/opinion-files/opinion/2004/ga0287.pdf

Original opinion text

Best-effort transcription from a scanned PDF. Minor errors may remain, the linked PDF is authoritative.

ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS

GREG ABBOTT

December 23, 2004

Ms. Dale B. Farrow, P.E.
Executive Director
Texas Board of Professional Engineers
1917 IH-35 South
Austin, Texas 78741

Opinion No. GA-0287

Re: Whether the seal of a professional engineer licensed in Texas may be placed on engineering plans, specifications, and other documents relating to projects not to be constructed in Texas (RQ-0244-GA)

Dear Ms. Farrow:

On behalf of the Texas Board of Professional Engineers (the "Board"), the former Acting Executive Director inquired about the requirement that a licensed engineer place his seal on the engineering documents he issues.[1] See TEX. OCC. CODE ANN. § 1001.401 (Vernon 2004). The Board wishes to know whether the sealing requirement applies only to engineering documents related to projects designed and constructed in Texas. See Request Letter, supra note 1, at 1.

Pursuant to the Texas Engineering Practice Act (the "Act"), TEX. OCC. CODE ANN. ch. 1001 (Vernon 2004), the Board regulates the practice of engineering and licenses engineers. See id. §§ 1001.201-.202, .301-.308. The Act provides that a licensee, on receiving a license, "shall obtain a seal in a design authorized by the board, showing the license holder's name and the legend 'Licensed Professional Engineer' or 'Registered Professional Engineer.'" Id. § 1001.401(a).[2] A license holder's seal must appear on a "plan, specification, plat, or report issued" by the license holder. Id. § 1001.401(b). See also id. § 1001.401(c) (if the license of the person named on the seal has expired or has been suspended or revoked, the seal may not be placed on a document). The sealing requirement assures the user of the engineering product that the professional engineer named on the seal has performed or directly supervised the work. See 29 Tex. Reg. 1603, 1604 (2004), adopted 29 Tex. Reg. 4878 (2004) (codified at 22 TEX. ADMIN. CODE § 137.33(a)) (Tex. Bd. of Prof'l Engineers, Seal Specifications).

The Board reads section 1001.401(b) as pertaining only to sealing documents for projects designed and constructed in Texas. "We believe that the Texas seal should only be placed on Texas projects and if projects are to be constructed in other jurisdictions, a license should be obtained in that jurisdiction." Request Letter, supra note 1, at 2. A license holder has complained to the Board that if a project is designed in Texas for construction in another state, country, or international waters, the Texas license holder must affix a Texas seal to his design plans. See id. In this case, an international client requested a Texas firm to design an offshore oil platform, to be fabricated in Norway and erected in international waters. See id.

Whether an engineer licensed in Texas may practice in another jurisdiction without being licensed there depends upon the other jurisdiction's laws. Generally, each state requires licensing under its laws to practice engineering in that state. See STEVEN G. M. STEIN, CONSTRUCTION LAW, § 11.01[1][b], at 1-15 (Matthew Bender & Co. ed., June 1998). Some states, however, provide limited exemptions from their licensing requirements for an engineer licensed in another state. For example, New York allows a person licensed as an engineer in another state to practice as a professional engineer during the time his application for licensure in New York is pending before the State Board for Engineering and Land Surveying. See N.Y. EDUC. LAW § 7208(b) (McKinney 2001). See also 63 PA. CONS. STAT. § 152(b) (West 1996) (nonresident qualified to practice engineering in state of residence may practice in Pennsylvania for up to thirty days aggregate per year, if standards of his state at least equal those of Pennsylvania); TEX. OCC. CODE ANN. § 1001.310(b) (Vernon 2004) (Board "may issue a provisional license to an applicant currently licensed in another jurisdiction who seeks a license in this state"). Where the law of another state includes such exceptions, a Texas licensee in effect practices under his Texas license in that state.

Section 1001.401 provides that "[a] plan, specification, plat, or report issued by a license holder must include the license holder's seal placed on the document." TEX. OCC. CODE ANN. § 1001.401(b) (Vernon 2004). The requirement applies to plans, specifications, plats, and reports issued by an engineer licensed under Texas law, without excepting any such documents. A court will not write exceptions into a statute to make it inapplicable in circumstances not mentioned in the statute. See Pub. Util. Comm'n of Tex. v. Cofer, 754 S.W.2d 121, 124 (Tex. 1988); Jefferson County Drainage Dist. No. 6 v. Gary, 362 S.W.2d 305, 307-08 (Tex. 1962). Section 1001.401 applies to engineering documents prepared under the authority of a Texas license to practice engineering, not merely to documents for projects designed and constructed in Texas. The seal of a professional engineer licensed in Texas must be placed on all plans, specifications, plats, and reports he issues under authority of his Texas license, even if the project will not be constructed in Texas. Whether documents prepared and sealed by a Texas engineer under authority of his Texas engineering license may legally be used for construction in another state or country depends upon the laws of that jurisdiction.

SUMMARY

A professional engineer licensed in Texas must place his seal on engineering plans, specifications, plats, and reports prepared under authority of his Texas license, even if the project will not be constructed in Texas. Whether documents prepared and sealed by an engineer under authority of his Texas license may legally be used for construction in another state or country depends upon the laws of that jurisdiction.

Very truly yours,

GREG ABBOTT
Attorney General of Texas

BARRY R. McBEE
First Assistant Attorney General

DON R. WILLETT
Deputy Attorney General for Legal Counsel

NANCY S. FULLER
Chair, Opinion Committee

Susan L. Garrison
Assistant Attorney General, Opinion Committee

Footnotes

[1] Letter from Paul D. Cook, Acting Executive Director, Texas Board of Professional Engineers, to Honorable Greg Abbott, Texas Attorney General (June 28, 2004) (on file with Opinion Committee, also available at http://www.oag.state.tx.us) [hereinafter Request Letter].

[2] The term "Registered Professional Engineer" derives from a former version of the Engineering Practice Act. When the Act was adopted in 1937, the credential issued to engineers was a "certificate of registration." See Act of May 18, 1937, 45th Leg., R.S., ch. 404, §§ 12, 15, 1937 Tex. Gen. Laws 816, 820-21. A 1997 enactment updated the Act's language by replacing "register" and "registration" with "licensing" and its variants. See Act of May 13, 1997, 75th Leg., R.S., ch. 344, §§ 1-2, 30, 1997 Tex. Gen. Laws 1462, 1463, 1473.