2023 California Code › Business and Professions Code - BPC › DIVISION 3 - PROFESSIONS AND VOCATIONS GENERALLY › CHAPTER 15 - Land Surveyors › ARTICLE 3 - Application of the Chapter › Section 8729.

8729. (a) This chapter does not prohibit one or more licensed land surveyors or civil engineers licensed in this state before 1982 (hereinafter called civil engineers) from practicing or offering to practice within the scope of their licensure, land surveying as a sole proprietorship, partnership, firm, or corporation (hereinafter called business), if the following conditions are satisfied:
(1) A land surveyor or civil engineer currently licensed in the state is an owner, partner, or officer in charge of the land surveying practice of the business.
(2) All land surveying services are performed by or under the responsible charge of a land surveyor or civil engineer.
(3) If the business name of a California land surveying business contains the name of a person, then that person shall be licensed by the board as a land surveyor or licensed by the board in any year as a civil engineer. Any offer, promotion, or advertisement by the business that contains the name of any individual in the business, other than by use of the name of the individual in the business name, shall clearly and specifically designate the license discipline of each individual named.
(b) An out-of-state business with a branch office in this state shall meet the requirements of subdivision (a) and shall have an owner, partner, or officer who is in charge of the land surveying work in this state, who is licensed in this state, and who is physically present at the branch office in this state on a regular basis. However, the name of the business may contain the name of a person not licensed in this state, if that person is appropriately licensed or registered in another state. Any offer, promotion, or advertisement that contains the name of any individual in the business, other than by use of the name of the individual in the business name, shall clearly and specifically designate the license or registration discipline of each individual named.
(c) The business name of a California land surveying business may be a fictitious name. However, if the fictitious name includes the names of any person, the requirements of paragraph (3) of subdivision (a) shall be met.
(d) A person not licensed under this chapter or licensed as a civil engineer in this state before 1982 may also be a partner or an officer of a land surveying business if the conditions of subdivision (a) are satisfied. This section does not permit a person who is not licensed under this chapter or licensed as a civil engineer in this state before 1982 to be the sole owner or office of a land surveying business, unless otherwise exempt under this chapter.
(e) This section shall not prevent the use of the name of any business engaged in rendering land surveying services, including the use by any lawful successor or survivor, that lawfully was in existence on June 1, 1941. However, the business is subject to the provisions of paragraphs (1) and (2) of subdivision (a).
(f) A business engaged in rendering land surveying services may use in its name the name of a deceased or retired person if the following conditions are satisfied:
(1) The person’s name had been used in the name of the business, or a predecessor in interest of the business, before the death or retirement of the person.
(2) The person shall have been an owner, partner, or officer of the business, or an owner, partner, or officer of the predecessor in interest of the business.
(3) The person shall have been licensed as a land surveyor or a civil engineer by the board, if operating a place of business or practice in this state, or by an applicable state board in the event no place of business existed in this state.
(4) The person, if retired, has consented to the use of the name and does not permit the use of the name in the title of another land surveying business in this state during the period of that consent, except that a retired person may use their name as the name of a new or purchased business, if that business is not identical in every respect to that person’s name as used in the former business.
(5) The business shall be subject to paragraphs (1) and (2) of subdivision (a).
(g) This section does not affect Sections 6731.2 and 8726.1.
(h) A current organization record form shall be filed with the board for all businesses engaged in rendering professional land surveying services.
(i) This section shall become operative on January 1, 2026.
(Amended (as amended by Stats. 2018, Ch. 150, Sec. 4) by Stats. 2022, Ch. 302, Sec. 8. (SB 1120) Effective January 1, 2023. Section operative January 1, 2026, by its own provisions.)