Professional land surveyors, the practice of professional land surveying, surveying land abutting navigable waters, and granting rule-making authority

1. Establishing, restoring, or perpetuating private or public land boundaries and boundary corners.

2. Preparing maps for establishing the boundaries of interests in real property that depict any of the following: a) the shape and area of tracts of land or the subdivision or consolidation of tracts; b) the layout and rights-of-way of roads or streets; c) air, water, or property rights; or d) public or private easements.

3. Preparing assessors' or official plats or maps of lands in this state.

4. Measuring and analyzing a tract of land to determine its legal description.

5. Designing or coordinating designs for platting or subdividing tracts of land.

6. Applying knowledge or experience about land surveying to assist in the development, use, or management of geographic or land information systems.

7. Performing cartographic, construction, or geodetic surveying in connection with any of the practices described in the above items.

8. Providing consultation services related to any of the practices described in the above items.

The bill also replaces the certificate of registration requirement under current law with a licensure requirement. Therefore, under the bill with certain exceptions, a person may not engage in the practice of professional land surveying or represent that he or she is a professional land surveyor unless the person is issued a license or permit by the section. Also, after July 1, 2018, the bill requires employees of this state and public utilities to obtain a license or permit to engage in the practice of professional land surveying. Such employees are exempt from the certificate of registration and permit requirements under current law.

In addition, the bill changes the name of the section to the professional land surveyor section and changes the name of the board to the examining board of architects, landscape architects, professional engineers, designers and professional land surveyors. The bill also replaces various references under current law to "registered land surveyor" with "professional land surveyor."

For purposes of platting lands or preparing survey maps that involve ordinary high water marks (OHWMs), a professional surveyor may incorporate an ordinary high water mark that has been identified by the Department of Natural Resources or that has otherwise been identified by law or may approximate the ordinary high water mark. The bill requires that a statement be included on the face of a plat or map explaining that the land below the OHWM is subject to the public trust doctrine for navigable waters and that exposed land between the OHWM and the water's edge is to be used exclusively by the owner of the adjacent waterfront property, unless otherwise provided by law.