After each license renewal period, Professional Engineers licensed in Florida may be subject to a random audit to confirm that they have completed their required continuing education.
Florida PE licenses are valid for two years, beginning March 1 of each odd-numbered year — for instance, March 1, 2021, through Feb. 28, 2023.
PEs are required to complete 18 hours of continuing education during that two-year period, or biennium, in order to renew their license.
When renewing your Florida PE license, you legally attest to completing those CE hours before the end of that renewal period on Feb. 28.
To ensure that Florida PEs have completed their continuing-education requirements by that date, 3 percent of PEs are randomly selected for auditing after each renewal period. If you fail the audit, you are automatically re-audited the next period.
Under Rule 61G15-19.004, Florida Administrative Code, penalties for a first violation for failing to complete your CE courses — in addition to the costs of the investigation — can range from a Reprimand and a $1,000 fine to a one-year suspension, a two-year probation, and a $5,000 fine.
No Double-Dipping
If you are ordered to take continuing-education courses to fulfill the requirements from a previous renewal, those CE credits cannot be used again to meet the current renewal requirements, even if they are taken within the same biennium.
Let’s say, for example, you failed to complete the Florida laws-and-rules course in the 2021 audit, and were required to complete that course late to bring you into compliance. When it is time to renew your license in 2023, you may not use that same CE provider or CE certificate to meet the current continuing-education requirements.
In addition, if disciplinary action ordered by the Board requires you to complete a course in engineering ethics and professionalism, that course cannot be used to meet CE requirements.
Proof of Continuing Education
If audited, here are some of the records you can provide to verify continuing education:
- Continuing-education courses: Provide completion certificates, which must have the course title, name of the provider, the number of credits awarded, and the date.
- Serving in an elected office: Serving as a member of the Legislature or as an elected state or local official meets requirements for the laws-and-rules and ethics courses.
- Teaching a college course: Provide a letter from the university or college that lists the name of the course, the dates taught, and the first time that the course was taught by the PE. You may only use the teaching of a college course once, regardless of whether you updated the course materials. Also, full-time faculty may not use the teaching of college courses as substitute CE credit.
- Peer-reviewed paper: Provide the paper and include the date of the peer review and who conducted the review.
- Patent: Provide documentation from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office assigning the patent number.
- Presenting a “lunch and learn”: Provide a letter from whomever requested the presentation, with the topic, date, and length of time of the presentation.
- Presentation to professional or technical society: Provide a letter from the organization with the topic, date, and length of time of the presentation.
- Serving as an officer of a professional or technical society: Provide a letter from the organization that indicates what office was held and the term of the service. CE credits are not earned until the end of each calendar year of completed service.
For complete information on demonstrating compliance with continuing-education requirements, please see Rule 61G15-22.006, Florida Administrative Code.