News

Our agency newsletter The Journal is packed with news and timely information about professional licensing for engineers, land surveyors and on-site wastewater designers and inspectors. Click for the latest edition here.

BRPELS staff hosted an outreach booth at the annual State of Washington Public Service Week’s Olympia Event, Wednesday, May 7, 2025. It brought recognition of our agency, while speaking with state employees who are also parents, landowners, etc. We spoke with them about the importance of hiring a licensed, professional land surveyor in our “Don’t Cut Corners” campaign, https://lnkd.in/gfAfAmvS, along with getting kids interested in surveying as a career, … Read more

BRPELS staff continues its series of road trips, visiting Land Surveyors Association of Washington Chapter meetings around the state. On Wednesday evening, May 7th, they presented at the Lower Columbia Chapter meeting in Vancouver.

The group included Deputy Director, Kristina Horton, PLS, our new Investigations and Compliance Manager, Randy Garcia and Communication Manager, Greg Schieferstein. Kristina explained the latest on the agency, makeup of the Board, licensing and investigations. Randy answered many questions about the process of investigations. Greg reviewed the new BRPELS… Read more

BRPELS is making significant improvements to our licensing process. The goal is to improve efficiency, reduce waste and remove redundancies. In the early stages of the process, the licensing team developed a few “quick wins” through automated licensing and application workflows, which decreased the average approval timeline by approximately 2 weeks.
Additionally, the licensing team deployed a new Law Review interface, hosted on the BRPELS webpage. Licensees can take the exam and immediately get pass/fail feedback… Read more

NCEES: SE Exam Times Extending by 60 Minutes

TO: Member Board Administrators
FROM: J. Lehmon Dekle, P.E., Chief Officer of Examinations
RE: Notice of Future Changes to NCEES Exams and Supporting Materials
This memo provides Member Boards the 1-year notice required by the NCEES Manual of Policy and Position Statements, Exam Development Policy (EDP) 7.
Spring 2026 Exam Changes
• PE Electrical and Computer: Electronics, Controls, and Communications—The PE Electrical and Computer: Electronics, Controls, and Communications exam… Read more

A reminder about protecting or replacing land survey monuments, was the main theme at the BRPELS booth, at the Spring American Public Works Association (APWA), Washington Chapter Conference, April 23 and 24 at the Tacoma Convention Center. Staff shared a short video with public officials and others, to help train new employees or serve as a refresher. You’re encouraged to do the same, by visiting this link https://youtu.be/VwscOvNlbYw.

BRPELS staff also spoke with parents/officials about Getting Kids Into Survey,… Read more

The Skilled Immigrants and Refugee Engagement Network (SIREN) is a group of service providers assisting engineers in returning to their fields through licensure, certification and employment support. It’s hosted by the… Read more

“Northwest Land Surveyor” is a new partnership between Washington, Oregon and Idaho to spark interest in the profession of land surveying. Aimed at younger people considering future careers, it brings education and information to social media and the web, about professional land surveying. Sponsored in Washington by LSAW and supported by BRPELS. Please, check it out and share!  https://nwsurveyor.com/  

Washington Governor Bob Ferguson proclaims March 16-22 as “Surveyors Week”

Gov. Ferguson is recognizing the important work of surveyors in our state, both historically and in the future.

“Wheras, today surveying continues to maintain an orderly system to our state and nation’s land and it’s residents’ individual property, has expanded to include hyrographic surveys, engineering surveys, engineering construction, building and highway infrastructure and cartographic surveys used for mapping and charting, global positioning for activities such as aircraft… Read more