BY ZANA RAYBON, FBPE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR & FEMC PRESIDENT
Renewal concluded for PE licenses on Feb. 28, 2025. I am sure the Professional Engineers licensed in Florida are as relieved as the FEMC staff.
There were several complications and, while we apologize for any difficulties, most were out of the FEMC’s control.
While we have no control over the licensing system, the renewal portal, or online payments, I would like to address a few items that engineers should take note of to make future renewals easier.
Login Information
We received quite a few phone calls from engineers who could not remember their login information or had it linked to an email address from a previous job. It can be difficult to remember login information that you only use every two years. Therefore, you may want to write them down and keep the information in a safe place. You can also select “Forgot Password” if you remember your login email.
If your email changes (possibly due to a change in jobs), FEMC staff can unlink the old email address, which will allow you to use a new email address to log in.
Failure to Answer Attestations
The renewal process is set up so that all licensees must proceed from the first page of the renewal application to the last, reviewing your contact information for accuracy and, most importantly, answering three attestation questions. If you select “Make Online Payment” from the main menu and bypass the renewal procedure, your license will not renew, regardless of whether you made the payment or not.
Answering Attestation Question Incorrectly
The first question a licensee encounters is whether they have completed the required 18 hours of continuing education or if they plan to complete it by Feb. 28, 2025. You should always answer “yes” to this question, even if you have not completed or reported your CE at the time you are renewing but will have completed it by the Feb. 28 deadline. Answering “No” will prevent your license from being renewed, even if you make the payment.
Providing Wrong Name or PE Number for Course
We encountered numerous problems with licenses not being renewed because the Florida Laws and Rules course was not reported for the PE. Most providers were very diligent about reporting. However, some of the records the providers submitted did not get reported accurately if the PE provided the wrong PE number or did not provide their name as it appears on their license. I know that sounds weird, but it happened more than it should have. You must provide accurate information to the CE provider when you are relying on them to report your course.
What Does Not Qualify for Laws and Rules Course
We received some questions from folks trying to get credit for Florida Laws and Rules by using an Advanced Building Code course or a laws and rules course from another state. First, if you are taking laws and rules from another state, it does not qualify because Florida statutes require the course to cover the laws and rules of Chapter 471, Florida Statutes.
Second, an Advanced Building Code course would not qualify because it is offered by providers that are approved by the Florida Building Commission, not FBPE. Laws and rules courses must be from an FBPE-approved provider.
Last Minute Everything
This is the big one. Florida now has almost 50,000 licensed Professional Engineers. Renewal opened on Nov. 5, 2024, and closed on Feb. 28, 2025. However, almost 20,000 engineers waited to renew their licenses in the final 14 days that renewal was open. More importantly, many of those engineers delayed until the last two weeks to take their Florida Laws and Rules course and have it reported. The providers were not able to keep up with the demand, and the licensure system could not keep up with the internet traffic.
We recommend that licensees take their continuing education as soon as they can. Any courses taken after March 1, 2025, will count for the next renewal. There is no reason to wait until the last two weeks.
In addition, if everyone would login and renew their licenses sooner, rather than later, we would be able to assist with any issues in a timelier manner. We heard complaints about not being able to get through on the phones, but the reality is that FEMC staff were fielding thousands of phone calls a day during the last two weeks of renewal.
We encourage you to log into your account at myfloridalicense.com and confirm that your PE license is renewed for 2027. If not, please contact us at 850-521-0500.
We hope renewal will be smoother in two years. In the meantime, please go ahead and start preparing now.