2005 California Business and Professions Code Sections 8725-8731 Article 3. Application of the Chapter

BUSINESS AND PROFESSIONS CODE
SECTION 8725-8731

8725.  Any person practicing, or offering to practice, land
surveying in this state shall submit evidence that he or she is
qualified to practice and shall be licensed under this chapter.
   It is unlawful for any person to practice, offer to practice, or
represent himself or herself, as a land surveyor in this state, or to
set, reset, replace, or remove any survey monument on land in which
he or she has no legal interest, unless he or she has been licensed
or specifically exempted from licensing under this chapter.
8726.  A person, including any person employed by the state or by a
city, county, or city and county within the state, practices land
surveying within the meaning of this chapter who, either in a public
or private capacity, does or offers to do any one or more of the
following:
   (a) Locates, relocates, establishes, reestablishes, or retraces
the alignment or elevation for any of the fixed works embraced within
the practice of civil engineering, as described in Section 6731.
   (b) Determines the configuration or contour of the earth's
surface, or the position of fixed objects thereon or related thereto,
by means of measuring lines and angles, and applying the principles
of mathematics or photogrammetry.
   (c) Locates, relocates, establishes, reestablishes, or retraces
any property line or boundary of any parcel of land, right-of-way,
easement, or alignment of those lines or boundaries.
   (d) Makes any survey for the subdivision or resubdivision of any
tract of land.  For the purposes of this subdivision, the term
"subdivision" or "resubdivision" shall be defined to include, but not
be limited to, the definition in the Subdivision Map Act (Division 2
(commencing with Section 66410) of Title 7 of the Government Code)
or the Subdivided Lands Law (Chapter 1 (commencing with Section
11000) of Part 2 of Division 4 of this code).
   (e) By the use of the principles of land surveying determines the
position for any monument or reference point which marks a property
line, boundary, or corner, or sets, resets, or replaces any monument
or reference point.
   (f) Geodetic or cadastral surveying.  As used in this chapter,
geodetic surveying means performing surveys, in which account is
taken of the figure and size of the earth to determine or
predetermine the horizontal or vertical positions of points,
monuments, or stations for use in the practice of land surveying or
for stating the position of geodetic control points, monuments, or
stations by California Coordinate System coordinates.
   (g) Determines the information shown or to be shown on any map or
document prepared or furnished in connection with any one or more of
the functions described in subdivisions (a), (b), (c), (d), (e), and
(f).
   (h) Indicates, in any capacity or in any manner, by the use of the
title "land surveyor" or by any other title or by any other
representation that he or she practices or offers to practice land
surveying in any of its branches.
   (i) Procures or offers to procure land surveying work for himself,
herself, or others.
   (j) Manages, or conducts as manager, proprietor, or agent, any
place of business from which land surveying work is solicited,
performed, or practiced.
   (k) Coordinates the work of professional, technical, or special
consultants in connection with the activities authorized by this
chapter.
   (l) Determines the information shown or to be shown within the
description of any deed, trust deed, or other title document prepared
for the purpose of describing the limit of real property in
connection with any one or more of the functions described in
subdivisions (a) to (f), inclusive.
   (m) Creates, prepares, or modifies electronic or computerized data
in the performance of the activities described in subdivisions (a),
(b), (c), (d), (e), (f), (k), and (l).
   Any department or agency of the state or any city, county, or city
and county which has an unregistered person in responsible charge of
land surveying work on January 1, 1986, shall be exempt from the
requirement that the person be licensed as a land surveyor until the
person currently in responsible charge is replaced.
   The review, approval, or examination by a governmental entity of
documents prepared or performed pursuant to this section shall be
done by, or under the direct supervision of, a person authorized to
practice land surveying.
8726.1.  Any licensed land surveyor may offer to practice, procure,
and offer to procure civil engineering work incidental to his or her
land surveying practice, even though he or she is not authorized to
perform such work, provided all such civil engineering work is
performed by or under the direction of a registered civil engineer.
Further, any licensed land surveyor may manage or conduct as manager,
proprietor, or agent, a land surveying practice which offers to
practice, procure, and offers to procure, such incidental civil
engineering work.
8726.2.  A licensed land surveyor may also perform land planning in
connection with the land surveying activities authorized by this
chapter.
8727.  Surveys made exclusively for geological or landscaping
purposes, which do not involve the determination of any property line
do not constitute surveying within the meaning of this chapter.
8728.  Surveys authorized under this chapter do not include the
design, either in whole or in part, of any structure or fixed works
embraced within the practice of civil engineering.
8729.  (a) This chapter does not prohibit one or more licensed land
surveyors or civil engineers registered in this state prior to 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, part owner, or officer in charge of the land
surveying practice of the business.
   (2) All maps, plats, reports, descriptions, or other documents are
prepared under the responsible charge of a land surveyor or civil
engineer.
   (3) The business name of a California business shall only contain
the name of a person licensed by the board as a land surveyor or
registered by the board in any year as a civil engineer.  Any offer,
promotion, or advertisement by the business which 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.
   (b) An out-of-state business with a branch office in this state
shall meet the requirements of subdivision (a) and shall have a part
owner 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 in another
state.  Any offer, promotion, or advertisement which 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) A fictitious name may be used for a land surveying business if
(1) the name does not conflict with the provisions of paragraph (3)
of subdivision (a) requiring that a name used in the business name
shall be that of an appropriately licensed individual, and (2) an
organization record is filed with the board.
   (d) A nonregistered person may also be a part owner or an officer
of a land surveying business if the conditions of subdivision (a) are
satisfied.
   (e) This chapter does not prevent an individual or business
engaged in any line of endeavor, other than the practice of land
surveying, from employing or contracting with a licensed land
surveyor or a registered civil engineer to perform the respective
land surveying services incidental to the conduct of business.
   (f) 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, which lawfully was in
existence on June 1, 1941.  However, the business is subject to the
provisions of paragraphs (1) and (2) of subdivision (a) and the
business shall file an organization record form with the board as
designated by board rule.
   (g) 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, prior to the death or
retirement of the person.
   (2) The person shall have been an owner, part owner, or officer of
the business, or an owner, part owner, 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 his or her 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).
   (6) The business files a current organization record form with the
board.
   (h) This section does not affect Sections 6731.2 and 8726.1.
8730.  The following persons are not required to be licensed under
this chapter:
   (a) Officers and employees of the United States of America,
practicing solely as those officers or employees, except when
surveying the exterior boundaries of federal lands in this state.
   (b) Insofar as he or she acts in the following capacity:
   (1) Any state, county, city, city and county, or district employee
directly responsible to a licensed land surveyor or registered civil
engineer.
   (2) Any subordinate to a land surveyor or civil engineer licensed
or registered as required by the laws of this state insofar as he or
she acts as a subordinate.
   (c) Any officer or employee of an electric, gas, or telephone
corporation, as defined in Sections 218, 222, and 234, respectively,
of the Public Utilities Code, with annual revenues of twenty-five
million dollars ($25,000,000) or more, whenever he or she prepares a
legal description of an easement for utility distribution lines and
service facilities, provided the following conditions are met:
   (1) Each description identifies the corporation that prepared the
description and states that it was prepared pursuant to this
exemption.
   (2) Each corporation has in its employ, or on contract, an
individual authorized to practice land surveying who shall be
responsible for establishing criteria for determining the
qualifications of technical specialists preparing those legal
descriptions, specifying the format and information to be shown on
maps or documents containing those descriptions, and capable of
answering questions regarding the preparation of those descriptions.
   (d) Any state, county, city, or city and county public safety
employee investigating any crime or infraction for the purpose of
determining or prosecuting a crime or infraction.  This exemption
shall not permit a public safety employee to offer or perform land
surveying as defined in Section 8726 for any purpose other than
determining or prosecuting a crime or infraction.
8731.  A registered civil engineer and a civil engineer exempt from
registration under Chapter 7 (commencing with Section 6700) of
Division 3 are exempt from licensing under this chapter and may
engage in the practice of land surveying with the same rights and
privileges, and the same duties and responsibilities of a licensed
land surveyor, provided that for civil engineers who become
registered after January 1, 1982, they shall pass the second division
examination provided for in Section 8741 and obtain a land surveyor'
s license, before practicing land surveying as defined in this
chapter.


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