Texas Administrative Code › Title 22 - EXAMINING BOARDS › Part 6 - TEXAS BOARD OF PROFESSIONAL ENGINEERS AND LAND SURVEYORS › Chapter 138 - COMPLIANCE AND PROFESSIONALISM FOR SURVEYORS › Subchapter B - SEALING REQUIREMENTS › Section 138.33 - Sealing Procedures

Current through Reg. 49, No. 28; July 12, 2024
(a) The purpose of
				  the registered professional land surveyors and licensed state land surveyor
				  seal is to assure the user of the surveying product that the work has been
				  performed or directly supervised by the professional surveyor named and to
				  delineate the scope of the surveyor's work.
(b) Registration and licensed holders shall
				  only seal work done by them, performed under their direct supervision as
				  defined in § 131.2 of this title (relating to Definitions). Upon sealing,
				  surveyors take full professional responsibility for that work.
(c) When a license or registration holder
				  reviews and elects to incorporate the work products of others into a signed and
				  sealed survey document, those items shall be clearly labeled as such and shall
				  clearly indicate the identity of the originator.
(d) Registration holders shall take
				  reasonable steps to ensure the security of their physical or electronic seals
				  and electronic signatures. For electronic seals and electronic signatures, the
				  surveyor must have reasonable security measures in place to protect these
				  files. In the event of loss of a seal or electronic signature, the surveyor
				  will, as soon as possible, but no later than 30 days of discovery, give written
				  notification of the facts concerning the loss to the board.
(e) Preliminary documents released from a
				  land surveyor's control shall identify the purpose of the document, the land
				  surveyor of record and the land surveyor's registration number, and the release
				  date. Such preliminary documents shall not be signed or sealed and shall bear
				  the following statement in the signature space or upon the face of the
				  document: "Preliminary, this document shall not be recorded for any purpose and
				  shall not be used or viewed or relied upon as a final survey document".
				  Preliminary documents released from the land surveyor's control which include
				  this text in place of the land surveyor's signature need not comply with the
				  other minimum standards promulgated in this chapter.
(f) License and registration holders shall
				  affix their seal and original signature or electronic seal and signature with
				  the date on the final version of their professional surveying work before such
				  work is released from their control. The signature and date shall not obscure
				  the surveyor's name or registration number in the seal.
(g) Work performed by more than one
				  registration holder shall be sealed in a manner such that all surveying work
				  can be clearly attributed to the responsible registration holder or
				  registration holders. When surveying work on which two or more registration
				  holders have worked, the seal and signature of each registration holder shall
				  be placed on the surveying work with a notation describing the work done under
				  each registration holder's responsible charge.
(h) Registered employees of the state, its
				  political subdivisions, or other public entities are responsible for sealing
				  their original surveying work; however, such registered employees engaged in
				  review and evaluation for compliance with applicable law or regulation of
				  surveying work submitted by others, or in the preparation of general planning
				  documents, a proposal for decision in a contested case or any similar position
				  statement resulting from a compliance review, need not seal the review reports,
				  planning documents, proposals for decision, or position statements.
(i) A local authority may require an original
				  seal and/or signature on reproduced documents.
(j) Any surveying work issued by a
				  registration holder for land or property in this state, except for surveying
				  work that constitutes state land surveying, as defined in §1071.002 of the
				  Surveying Act, must include the registration holder's registered professional
				  land surveyor seal placed on the document. A registration holder is not
				  required to use a Texas seal if the surveying work is not located in
				  Texas.
(k) A surveyor may securely
				  transmit his or her final version of surveying work electronically, provided
				  that work bears the surveyor's seal and uses one of the techniques described in
				  § 138.35(a) of this chapter (relating to Electronic Seals and Electronic
				  Signatures) and must employ reasonable security measures to make the documents
				  unalterable. Electronic correspondence of this type may be followed by a hard
				  copy containing the surveyor's printed name, date, signature and the
				  designation "R.P.L.S." or other terms described in § 138.1 of this chapter
				  (relating to Registration Holder Designations).
(l) A registration holder is not required to
				  use a seal for a project for which the registration holder is not required to
				  hold a registration under the Surveying Act.
(m) All surveying documents released, issued,
				  or submitted by a registration holder, including preliminary documents, shall
				  clearly indicate the firm name and registration number of the surveying firm by
				  which the professional surveyor is employed.
(1) If the surveyor is employed by a local,
				  State, or Federal Government agency, then only the name of the agency shall be
				  required.
(2) If the surveyor is
				  exempt from sealing a document under subsection (l) of this section, but elects
				  to seal a document, then only the name of the employer shall be
				  required.