May/June 2020
NSPE Today
Webinar Covers Pandemic and the Profession
As the coronavirus spread across the country, PEs found their professional lives filled with ambiguity, uncertainty, and improvisation. In a webinar on April 2, NSPE provided an overview of the quickly changing situation, including federal and state responses affecting professional engineers and their businesses.
“It’s a very difficult situation we’re all facing, and we’re seeing a cascading impact in so many different areas,” said Arthur Schwartz, NSPE’s deputy chief executive officer and general counsel. Schwartz presented the webinar with Stephanie Hamilton, NSPE’s government relations and advocacy manager.
(Watch the webinar and find other resources.)
Schwartz noted that state licensing boards are struggling. As state agencies, some are closing, and others are reducing staff. PEs are likely to find spotty phone and email service, Schwartz said, and that the timeliness of application approval for licensure by comity and reciprocity has “really been strangled in many ways.”
The pandemic also forced cancellation of all paper-and-pencil licensing exams scheduled for April 2020. Computer-based licensing exams, such as the FE exam and the PE exams in chemical and environmental engineering, have also ceased. So, too, have NICET technician certification exams, which are conducted at Pearson Professional Centers. All centers in the US and Canada were closed on March 16. According to Pearson VUE, the company that owns and operates the centers, testing will not resume until “conditions are deemed safe to re-open.”
The most significant action on the federal front is the CARES Act. The law expands Small Business Administration loans; creates grants that can be used for education, training, and advising of small businesses and their employees; and sets refundable payroll tax credits of up to $5,000 for each employee.
States, too, are responding with legislation and executive orders. As of April 2, the District of Columbia and nine states had taken action specifically related to licensure: Alaska, Arizona, Indiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Ohio, South Dakota, and Texas. A current list of state legislative actions (not executive orders) on licensure is available under “Government Relations COVID-19 Resources,” along with a list of state legislation in support of small businesses.
Tell other NSPE members how you’re adapting to the coronavirus pandemic or share your thoughts on other professional issues in NSPE’s Open Forum.