§34-11-1. Definitions.

For the purposes of this chapter, the following words and phrases shall have the respective meanings ascribed by this section:

(1) BOARD. The State Board of Licensure for Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors, provided for by Section 34-11-30.

(2) ENGINEER INTERN. A person who has qualified under subdivision (2) of Section 34-11-4, and who, in addition, has successfully passed a board approved examination in the fundamental engineering subjects as provided in Section 34-11-6, and who has been certified by the board as an engineer intern.

(3) ENGINEER or PROFESSIONAL ENGINEER. A person who, by reason of his or her special knowledge of the mathematical and physical sciences and the principles and methods of engineering analysis and design, acquired by engineering education and engineering experience, is qualified to practice engineering as hereinafter defined and has been licensed by the board as a professional engineer.

(4) LAND SURVEYOR INTERN. A person who has qualified under subdivision (4) of Section 34-11-4, has passed a board approved examination in the fundamental land surveying subjects, pursuant to this chapter, and who has been certified by the board as a land surveyor intern.

(5) LAND SURVEYOR or PROFESSIONAL LAND SURVEYOR. A person who has been duly licensed as a professional land surveyor by the board established under this chapter, and who is a professional specialist in the technique of measuring land, is educated in the principles of mathematics, the related physical and applied sciences, the relevant requirements of law for adequate evidence and all requisites for surveying of real property, and is qualified to practice land surveying as defined in subdivision (8).

(6) PRACTICE and OFFER TO PRACTICE. Any person shall be construed to practice or offer to practice engineering or land surveying, within the meaning and intent of this chapter, who offers to or does as a profession practice any branch of engineering or land surveying; or who by verbal claim, sign, advertisement, letterhead, card, or in any other way represents himself or herself to be a professional engineer or a professional land surveyor, or through the use of some other title implies that he or she is a professional engineer or a professional land surveyor; or who represents himself or herself as able to perform or who does perform any engineering or land surveying service or work or any other service designated by the practitioner which is recognized as engineering or land surveying.

(7) PRACTICE OF ENGINEERING. Any professional service or creative work, the adequate performance of which requires engineering education, training, and experience in the application of special knowledge of the mathematical, physical, and engineering sciences to such services or creative work as consultation, investigation, evaluation, planning, design and design coordination of engineering works and systems, planning the use of land and water, performing engineering surveys and studies, and the review of construction or other design products for the purpose of monitoring compliance with drawings and specifications; any of which embraces such services or work, either public or private, in connection with any utilities, structures, buildings, machines, equipment, processes, work systems, projects, and industrial or consumer products; equipment of a control, communications, computer, mechanical, electrical, hydraulic, pneumatic, or thermal nature, insofar as they involve safeguarding life, health, or property; and including other professional services necessary to the planning, progress, and completion of any engineering services.

Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter, in qualifying a witness to offer expert testimony on the practice of engineering, the court shall consider as evidence of his or her expertise whether the proposed witness holds a valid Alabama license for the practice of engineering. Provided, however, such qualification by the court shall not be withheld from an otherwise qualified witness solely on the basis of the failure of the proposed witness to hold such valid Alabama license.

a. Design coordination includes the review and coordination of those technical submissions prepared by others, including, as appropriate and without limitations, consulting engineers, architects, landscape architects, land surveyors, and other professionals working under the direction of the engineer.

b. Engineering surveys include all survey activities required to support the sound conception, planning, design, construction, maintenance and operation of engineered projects, rights-of-way, and easement acquisitions relative to the centerline of the project. Engineering surveys may be used to locate, relocate, establish, reestablish, layout, or retrace any road, right-of-way, easement, or alignment relative to the centerline of the project. Additionally, engineering surveys may be performed to determine areas, volumes, or physical features of the earth, elevation of all real property, improvements on the earth, and the configuration or contour of the surface of the earth or the position of fixed objects thereon by measuring lines and angles and applying the principles of mathematics. All engineering surveys shall exclude the surveying of real property for the establishment of any property line or land boundaries, setting of corners or monuments, and the dependent or independent surveys or resurveys of the public land survey system.

c. The term shall not include the practice of architecture except such architectural work as is incidental to the practice of professional engineering; nor shall the term include work ordinarily performed by persons who operate or maintain machinery or equipment.

d. The practice of engineering shall include the offering of expert opinion in any legal proceeding in Alabama regarding work legally required to be performed under an Alabama engineer's license number or seal, which opinion may be given by an engineer licensed in any jurisdiction.

(8) PRACTICE OF LAND SURVEYING. Professional services, including, but not limited to, consultation, project coordination, investigation, testimony, evaluation, planning, mapping, assembling, and interpreting reliable scientific measurements and information relative to the location, size, shape, areas, volumes, or physical features of the earth, improvements on the earth, the space above the earth, or any part of the earth, and the utilization and development of these acts and interpretation into an orderly survey map, plan, report, description, or project. Project coordination shall include the coordination of those technical submissions as prepared by others. Notwithstanding the provisions of this subdivision, the practice of land surveying shall exclude functions unique to engineering as specified by rules of the board. The practice of land surveying shall include, but is not limited to, any one or more of the following:

a. Locates, relocates, establishes, reestablishes, lays out, or retraces any property line or boundary of any tract of land or any road, right-of-way, easement, alignment, or elevation of all real property whether or not fixed works are sited or proposed to be sited on the property.

b. Makes any survey for the subdivision of any tract of land or for condominiums.

c. Determines, by the use of the principles of land surveying, the position for any survey, monument, or reference point; or sets, resets, or replaces any such monument or reference point.

d. Determines the configuration or contour of the surface of the earth or the position of fixed objects thereon by measuring lines and angles and applying the principles of mathematics or photogrammetry.

e. Geodetic surveying which includes surveying for determination of the size and shape of the earth both horizontally and vertically and the precise positioning of points on the earth utilizing angular and linear measurements through spatially oriented spherical geometry.

f. Creates, prepares, or modifies electronic or computerized data, including land information systems and geographic land information systems, relative to the performance of the activities in paragraphs a. to e., inclusive.

(9) RESPONSIBLE CHARGE. Direct control and personal supervision of engineering work or land surveying work.

(Acts 1961, Ex. Sess., No. 79, p. 1976, §2; Acts 1967, No. 739, p. 1576, §1; Acts 1997, No. 97-683, p. 1332, §1; Act 2002-514, p. 1323, §1; Act 2007-365, p. 715, §1; Act 2014-375, §1.)