August 10, 1939 

Honorable F. E. Rightor, Secretary 

Texas State Board of Registration for 

Professional Engineers 

P. 0. BOX 23 

Austin, Texas 

Dear Sir: 

Opinion No. O-1019 

Re: Construction of Reciprocity 

provision of Act Regulating 

the Practice of Professional 

Engineering. 

This will acknowl.edge receipt of your letter of June 20, 

1939, in which you submit for an opinion of this department, the 

que,stion therein contained. Thequestion submitted, based upon 

Senate Bill No. 74, Acts 1937, Regular Session of the 45th Legislature, page 816, Chapter 404, same being Article 327la, R. C. S. 

of Texas, 1925, ie as follows: 

'Would you kindly advise if, in your opinion, it 

is necessary that applicants for registration under 

Section 21, and particularly those who present a certificate of qualification from the National Bureau of 

Engineering Registration, must comply also with the 

requirements of Section 13 that five references be 

given, or, to ask the question in another way, Is the 

Board authorieed to pass to registration, under Section 21, applicants who present certificates of quallfication from the National Bureau without other support ing." 

Section 13 of the Act reads as follows: 

"Applications for registration shall be on forms 

prescribed and furnished by the Board, shall contain 

statements made under oath, showing the applicant's 

education and a detailed summary of his technical 

work, and shall contain not less than five (5) references, of whom three (3) or more shall be engineers 

having personal knowledge of his engineering experience. 
Honorable F. E. Rightor, Page 2 (o-1019) 

"The registration fee for professional engineers 

shall be Twenty-five ($25.00) Dollars, Fifteen ($15.00) 

Dollars of which shall accompany the application, the 

remaining Ten ($10.00) Dollars to be paid upon issuance 

of certificate. When a certificate of qualification 

issued by the National Bureau of Engineering Registration is accepted as evidence of qualification, the 

total fee for registration as professional engineer 

shall be Ten ($10.00) Dollars." 

Section 21, known as the Reciprocity provision of the 

Act, provides that: 

"The Board may, upon application therefor, and 

the payment of a fee of Ten ($10.00) Dollars, issue 

a certificate of registration as a professional engineer to any person who holds a certificate of qualification or registration issued to him by proper authority of the National Council of State Boards of 

Engineering Examiners, or of the National Bureau of 

Engineering Registration, or of any state or territory or possession of the United States, or any 

country provided that the requirement6 for the registration of professional engineers under which said 

certificate of qualification or registration was issued do not conflict with the provisions of this Act 

and are of a standard not lower than that specified 

in Section 12 of this Act." 

The courts have had no occasion to pass upon your question. To answer it, therefore, we must read the whole Act, in 

the light of familiar rules of statutory construction, and determine therefrom whether the legislature intended to except persons making application under the Reciprocity provision of the 

Act,,Section 21, from filing an application meeting the requirements of Section 13 of the Act. 

There are other parts of the Act which aid in this respect. Section 10 of the Act reads as follows: 

'The Board shall keep a record of its proceedings 

and register of all applications for registration, 

which register shall show (a) the name, age and residence of each applicant; (b) the date of the application; (c) the place of business of such applicant; 

(d) his educational and other qualifications; (e) 

whether.or not an examination was required; (f) whether the applicant was.~rejected; (g)'whether a certificate of registration was ,granted; (h) the date of the 
Honorable F. E. Rightor, Page 3 (O-1019) 

action of the'Board; and (I) such other information as 

may be deemed necessary,by the~Board. 

"The records of the Board shall be available to 

the public at all times and shall be prima facie evidence of the proceedings of the Board set forth therein;and a t&script thereof, duly certified by the 

Secretary of the Board under seal, shall be admissible 

'In evidence with the same force and effect as if the 

original was produced." 

Since the Act requires that the record be one of "all 

applications" received and that it contain ,certain specified-- 

formation, ,the logical conclusion is that the. legislature intended 

that every applicant, without exception,,~ffle anapplication containing that information. No tintion is made of application6 filed 

under Section 21. Had the legislature intended to make an exception of the latter class, we think it would have .so stated. 

'The legislature must have had some purpose in requiring 

that the record be "available to the public at all times." If 

an applicant under Section:21 were not required to furnish such 

information, then that purpose, whatever it was, would be defeated. 

Under the general.requirements for registration, to which 

there Is no exception made in the Act, is included Section 12(o) 

which reads ,in part: 

"Provided, that no person shall be eligible for 

registration as a professional engineer who is not of 

good character and reputation; . . ." 

'The obvious'purpose~of the legislature in requiring letters of 

reference (see Section 13) was to enable the board to satisfy itself as to the character and reputation of an applicant. The law 

contemplates that the applicant be of good moral character at the 

time he 16 registered. If an applicant under Section 21'were not 

required to submit references, as set out in Section 13, the board 

would have .no basis upon which to judge the character of the applicant, as of the time of his registration. 

The provisions of Section 13 itself, indicate that the 

legislature intended that all applications should contain the same 

information. The last sentence of Section 13 refers to the amount 

of the fee to be paid by an applicant under Section 21, whose 

certificate Issued by the National Bureau of Engineering, is accepted as evidence of his qualification. It is to be observed 

that this sentence is a part of the very section which also provides What shall be contained in an application. If the legislature 
. . -. 

Honorable F. E. Rightor, Page 4 (O-1019) 

had intended that there be.a difference between the applications 

in the two instances, we must presume it would have said so. Instead, It started Section 13 off with the word "applications", 

thus showing its intention that it be read "all applications". 

For:the foregoing reasons, it is .our conclusion that 

an applicant for a certificate of registration 8s a,professional 

engineer in Texas, seeking registration under Section 21 of the 

Act,,nust fully comply with the.provisions of Section 13 of the 

Act. 

It follows .that, in the opinion of this department, applicants for registration under Section 21 of the Act under discussion must gives five references as required by Section 13, or 

to answer your question phrased in the alternative, the Board ia 

not authorized to pass .to registration such applicants without 

requiring complete fulfillment of the minimum requirements set 

out for applications in Section 13 of the Act. 

Yours very truly 

ATIORREY GENEXULOFTFXAS 

By fsf James Noel 

James Noel 

Assistant 

JN:FL:I.M 

, 

This opinion ha6 been considered in conference, approved 

and ordered recorded. 

/s/.Gerald C, Mann 

Gerald C,. Manu 

A’!3ORN?IX GENE3ALOFTEXAS