Current through Register Vol. 49, No. 18, September 16, 2024
PURPOSE: This rule is being amended to provide more
clarification on acceptable hours of continuing education units for the renewal
of a professional landscape architect's license.
PURPOSE: Pursuant to Senate Bill 72 of the 94th General
Assembly, this rule establishes continuing education requirements for
professional landscape architects.
(1)
Purpose.
(A) Renewal of a professional
landscape architectural license issued pursuant to section
327.621,
RSMo, may only be granted to a licensee who has successfully completed
twenty-four (24) continuing education units (CEUs), as defined by this
regulation within the two (2) years immediately preceding the renewal date or
be exempt from these continuing education requirements as provided in this
rule.
1. At least sixteen (16) CEUs shall be
related to health, safety, and welfare (HSW) acquired in structured educational
activities. All twenty-four (24) units may be acquired in such HSW subjects and
activities. Failure to comply with these requirements will result in nonrenewal
of the professional landscape architect's license or other disciplinary action
or both unless noted below.
2. Any
licensee who completes more than twenty-four (24) CEUs within the preceding two
(2) calendar years may apply the excess, not to exceed twelve (12) units, to
the requirement for the next two- (2-) year period.
(B) Continuing education is a requirement for
every professional landscape architect who is actively licensed by the board,
regardless of age, area of practice, or whether the licensee lives in-state or
out-of-state pursuant to section
327.621,
RSMo.
(C) Continuing education
obtained by a licensee should maintain, improve, or expand skills and knowledge
obtained for initial licensure or develop skills and knowledge relevant to the
practice of landscape architecture and necessary to safeguard life, health,
property, and promote the public welfare.
(2) Definitions.
(A) Professional Landscape Architectural
Division. The three- (3-) member division of the board that concerns itself
with the profession of landscape architecture.
(B) Board. The Missouri Board for Architects,
Professional Engineers, Professional Land Surveyors, and Professional Landscape
Architects.
(C) Contact hour. One
(1) nominal contact hour of acceptable continuing education is equivalent to
one (1) CEU.
(D) Continuing
education unit (CEU). One (1) nominal contact hour of instruction or
presentation. One (1) CEU represents a minimum of fifty (50) minutes of actual
course time. No credit will be allowed for introductory remarks, meals, breaks,
or administrative matters related to courses of study.
(E) Sponsor. An individual, organization,
association, institution, or other entity that provides an educational activity
for the purpose of fulfilling the continuing education requirements of the
board. The sponsor is responsible for providing the attendees with verification
records.
(3) Initial
Registration.
(A) A professional landscape
architect who holds licensure in Missouri for less than twelve (12) months from
the date of his/her initial licensure need not report continuing education
hours at the first license renewal.
(4) Activities.
(A) The following suggested list may be used
by all professional licensed landscape architects in determining the types of
activities that may fulfill continuing education requirements:
1. Contact hours in attendance at short
courses or seminars, dealing with landscape architectural, architectural,
engineering, or land surveying subjects, as appropriate to each discipline and
sponsored by colleges or universities;
2. Contact hours in attendance at technical
presentations on subjects which are held in conjunction with conventions or at
seminars related to materials use and function. Such presentations as those
sponsored by the Council of Landscape Architectural Registration Boards
(CLARB), American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA), or similar
organizations devoted to landscape architectural, architectural, engineering,
or land surveying education may qualify. CEUs are awarded only for those
portions of the meeting that meet the requirements of this rule. Licensees
serving as an officer or actively participating in a committee of the technical
professional society or organization may earn a maximum of two (2) CEUs
annually per organization. CEU credits are not earned until the end of each
year of service is completed;
3.
Contact hours in attendance at short courses seminars, tutorials, workshops,
correspondence courses, televised or videotaped courses, or in-house corporate
sponsored educational courses relating to business practice or new technology
and offered by colleges, universities, professional organizations, or system
suppliers. A correspondence course must require the participant to show
evidence of achievement with a final graded test;
4. Contact hours spent in self-study courses
sponsored by the CLARB, ASLA, or similar organizations. Credit will be given
for self-study courses only if an examination has been completed by the
licensee and graded by the sponsor;
5. Three (3) units preparing for each class
hour spent teaching landscape architectural courses or seminars. Credit is
allowed for first occurrence of teaching course or seminar per two- (2-) year
renewal period. College or university faculty may not claim credit for teaching
regular curriculum courses;
6.
Contact hours spent in landscape architectural research, which is published or
formally presented to the profession or public. Five (5) CEUs are earned for a
paper or article that is published in a nationally circulated technical journal
or trade magazine. Credit cannot be claimed until that article or paper is
actually published. CEUs earned for authoring a paper or article are limited to
ten (10) CEUs per two- (2-) year renewal period;
7. College or university credit courses
dealing with landscape architectural subjects or business practice. Each
semester hour equals fifteen (15) CEUs;
8. Contact hours spent in professional
service to the public that draws upon the licensee's professional expertise on
boards or commissions, such as: serving on planning commissions, park boards,
city council, county commissions, or state registration boards may earn a
maximum of two (2) CEUs annually per organization.
CEU credits are not earned until the end of each year of
service is completed;
9. Contact hours spent in education tours of landscape
architecturally significant projects, where the tour is sponsored by a college,
university, or professional organization; or
10. A one- (1-) time
award of ten (10) CEUs will be granted for obtaining a work-related patent
within the renewal period.
(5) Exemptions.
(A) A licensed professional landscape
architect may comply with the foregoing continuing education requirements if
the professional landscape architect attests in the required renewal that for
not less than twenty-one (21) months of the preceding two- (2-) year period of
licensure, the professional landscape architect is a government employee
working as a professional landscape architect and assigned to duty outside the
United States.
(B) If the licensee
served on full-time active duty in the military, the licensee may renew his/her
license without completing the CEU requirement for any renewal period during
which the licensee served.
(6) Reactivation-Retired or Inactive.
(A) Professional landscape architects, who so
attest on their renewal that they are retired from active practice or are not
engaged in the active practice of landscape architecture, may place their
license in an inactive status pursuant to section 327.622.1, RSMo. Those doing
so cannot practice but can still retain the title of professional landscape
architect and use the letters "PLA" behind their name. Such professional
landscape architect may, however, re-enter practice only after paying the
required fee and satisfying the board of their proficiency. Proficiency may be
established by any one (1) of the following:
1. Submitting verifiable evidence of
compliance with the aggregate continuing education requirements for the
reporting periods attested as retired from active practice or not engaged in
active practice; or
2. Retake the
landscape architectural registration examination; or
3. Fulfill alternative reentry requirements
determined by the board, which serve to assure the board of the current
competency of the professional landscape architect to engage in the practice of
landscape architecture.
(7) Reciprocity.
(A) CEUs may be acquired at locations other
than Missouri, so long as the content meets the requirements of this
regulation.
(8) Forms.
(A) All renewal applications will require the
submission of a continuing education form specified and supplied by the board.
The licensee must certify and complete the attestation on the form, before
submitting it with the renewal application and fee. Failure to fulfill the
continuing education requirements, or to file the required reporting form,
properly and completely signed, shall result in non-renewal of a licensee's
license.
(9) Records.
(A) The responsibility of maintaining
records, which can be used to support credits claimed, is the responsibility of
the licensee.
Records required include but are not limited to:
1) a log showing the type of activity
claimed, sponsoring organization, location, duration, instructor's or speaker's
name, and CEU credits earned; and
2)
attendance verification records in the form of completion
certificates which identify the participant by name, signed attendance
receipts, a copy of a listing of attendees signed by a person in responsible
charge, or other documents supporting evidence of attendance. Each professional
landscape architect shall complete and submit the required reporting form
certifying that he/she has acquired the required continuing education hours.
These records must be maintained for a period of four (4) years and copies must
be furnished to the board for audit verification purposes, if requested. If
these records get lost or destroyed the licensee must inform the board, in
writing, within thirty (30) days. At its discretion, the board may randomly
audit a portion of licensees each renewal period or a specific licensee if a
complaint has been filed against the licensee. Any untrue or false statements
or the use thereof with respect to course attendance or any other aspect of
continuing education activity is fraud or misrepresentation and will subject
the professional landscape architect to license revocation or other
disciplinary action. If audited and the board finds that the CEU is not
acceptable, the board shall inform the licensee of the criteria that has not
been adhered to. The licensee may within three (3) months from the license
renewal date substantiate the original claim or earn other credits to meet the
minimum requirements.
*Original authority: 41.946, RSMo 1991; 327.041, RSMo 1969,
amended 1981, 1986, 1989, 1993, 1995, 1999, 2001, 2010; 327.171, RSMo 1969,
amended 1981, 1989, 1999; and 327.621, RSMo 1989, amended 2001,
2007.