Continuing Education for Professional Landscape Architects

PURPOSE: Pursuant to Senate Bill 72 of the 94th General Assembly, this rule establishes continuing education requirements for professional landscape architects. (1) Purpose. (A) Renewal of a professional landscape architectural license issued pursuant to section 327.621, RSMo, may only be granted to a licensee who has successfully completed twenty-four (24) continuing education units (CEUs), as defined by this regulation within the two (2) years immediately preceding the renewal date or be exempt from these continuing education requirements as provided in this rule. 1. At least sixteen (16) CEUs shall be related to health, safety, and welfare (HSW) acquired in structured educational activities. All twenty-four (24) units may be acquired in such HSW subjects and activities. Failure to comply with these requirements will result in nonrenewal of the professional landscape architect’s license or other disciplinary action or both unless noted below. 2. Any licensee who completes more than twenty-four (24) CEUs within the preceding two (2) calendar years may apply the excess, not to exceed twelve (12) units, to the requirement for the next two- (2-) year period. (B) Continuing education is a requirement for every professional landscape architect who is actively licensed by the board, regardless of age, area of practice, or whether the licensee lives in-state or out-of-state pursuant to section 327.621, RSMo. (C) Continuing education obtained by a licensee should maintain, improve, or expand skills and knowledge obtained for initial licensure or develop skills and knowledge relevant to the practice of landscape architecture and necessary to safeguard life, health, property, and promote the public welfare. (2) Definitions. (A) Professional Landscape Architectural Division. The three- (3-) member division of the board that concerns itself with the profession of landscape architecture. (B) Board. The Missouri Board for Architects, Professional Engineers, Professional Land Surveyors, and Professional Landscape Architects. (C) Contact hour. One (1) nominal contact hour of acceptable continuing education is equivalent to one (1) CEU. (D) Continuing education unit (CEU). One (1) nominal contact hour of instruction or presentation. One (1) CEU represents a minimum of fifty (50) minutes of actual course time. No credit will be allowed for introductory remarks, meals, breaks, or administrative matters related to courses of study. (E) Sponsor. An individual, organization, association, institution, or other entity that provides an educational activity for the purpose of fulfilling the continuing education requirements of the board. The sponsor is responsible for providing the attendees with verification records. (3) Initial Registration. (A) A professional landscape architect who holds licensure in Missouri for less than twelve (12) months from the date of his/her initial licensure need not report continuing education hours at the first license renewal. (4) Activities. (A) The following suggested list may be used by all professional licensed landscape architects in determining the types of activities that may fulfill continuing education requirements: 1. Contact hours in attendance at short courses or seminars, dealing with landscape architectural, architectural, engineering, or land surveying subjects, as appropriate to each discipline and sponsored by colleges or universities; 2. Contact hours in attendance at technical presentations on subjects which are held in conjunction with conventions or at seminars related to materials use and function. Such presentations as those sponsored by the Council of Landscape Architectural Registration Boards (CLARB), American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA), or similar organizations devoted to landscape architectural, architectural, engineering, or land surveying education may qualify. CEUs are awarded only for those portions of the meeting that meet the requirements of this rule. Licensees serving as an officer or actively participating in a committee of the technical professional society or organization may earn a maximum of two (2) CEUs annually per organization. CEU credits are not earned until the end of each year of service is completed; 3. Contact hours in attendance at short courses seminars, tutorials, workshops, correspondence courses, televised or videotaped courses, or in-house corporate sponsored educational courses relating to business practice or new technology and offered by colleges, universities, professional organizations, or system suppliers. A correspondence course must require the participant to show evidence of achievement with a final graded test; 4. Contact hours spent in self-study courses sponsored by the CLARB, ASLA, or similar organizations. Credit will be given for self-study courses only if an examination has been completed by the licensee and graded by the sponsor; 5. Three (3) units preparing for each class hour spent teaching landscape architectural courses or seminars. Credit is allowed for first occurrence of teaching course or seminar per two- (2-) year renewal period. College or university faculty may not claim credit for teaching regular curriculum courses; 6. Contact hours spent in landscape architectural research, which is published or formally presented to the profession or public. Five (5) CEUs are earned for a paper or article that is published in a nationally circulated technical journal or trade magazine. Credit cannot be claimed until that article or paper is actually published. CEUs earned for authoring a paper or article are limited to ten (10) CEUs per two- (2-) year renewal period; 7. College or university credit courses dealing with landscape architectural subjects or business practice. Each semester hour equals fifteen (15) CEUs; 8. Contact hours spent in professional service to the public that draws upon the licensee’s professional expertise on boards or commissions, such as: serving on planning commissions, park boards, city council, Professional Engineers, Professional Land Surveyors, AND INSURANCE and Professional Landscape Architects county commissions, or state registration boards may earn a maximum of two (2) CEUs annually per organization. CEU credits are not earned until the end of each year of service is completed; 9. Contact hours spent in education tours of landscape architecturally significant projects, where the tour is sponsored by a college, university, or professional organization; or 10. A one- (1-) time award of ten (10) CEUs will be granted for obtaining a workrelated patent within the renewal period. (5) Exemptions. (A) A licensed professional landscape architect may comply with the foregoing continuing education requirements if the professional landscape architect attests in the required renewal that for not less than twentyone (21) months of the preceding two- (2-) year period of licensure, the professional landscape architect is a government employee working as a professional landscape architect and assigned to duty outside the United States. (B) If the licensee served on full-time active duty in the military, the licensee may renew his/her license without completing the CEU requirement for any renewal period during which the licensee served. (6) Reactivation—Retired or Inactive. (A) Professional landscape architects, who so attest on their renewal that they are retired from active practice or are not engaged in the active practice of landscape architecture, may place their license in an inactive status pursuant to section 327.622.1, RSMo. Those doing so cannot practice but can still retain the title of professional landscape architect and use the letters “PLA” behind their name. Such professional landscape architect may, however, re-enter practice only after paying the required fee and satisfying the board of their proficiency. Proficiency may be established by any one (1) of the following: 1. Submitting verifiable evidence of compliance with the aggregate continuing education requirements for the reporting periods attested as retired from active practice or not engaged in active practice; or 2. Retake the landscape architectural registration examination; or 3. Fulfill alternative reentry requirements determined by the board, which serve to assure the board of the current competency of the professional landscape architect to engage in the practice of landscape architecture. (7) Reciprocity. (A) CEUs may be acquired at locations other than Missouri, so long as the content meets the requirements of this regulation. (8) Forms. (A) All renewal applications will require the submission of a continuing education form specified and supplied by the board. The licensee must certify and complete the attestation on the form, before submitting it with the renewal application and fee. Failure to fulfill the continuing education requirements, or to file the required reporting form, properly and completely signed, shall result in non-renewal of a licensee’s license. (9) Records. (A) The responsibility of maintaining records, which can be used to support credits claimed, is the responsibility of the licensee. Records required include but are not limited to: 1) a log showing the type of activity claimed, sponsoring organization, location, duration, instructor’s or speaker’s name, and CEU credits earned; and 2) attendance verification records in the form of completion certificates which identify the participant by name, signed attendance receipts, a copy of a listing of attendees signed by a person in responsible charge, or other documents supporting evidence of attendance. Each professional landscape architect shall complete and submit the required reporting form certifying that he/she has acquired the required continuing education hours. These records must be maintained for a period of four (4) years and copies must be furnished to the board for audit verification purposes, if requested. If these records get lost or destroyed the licensee must inform the board, in writing, within thirty (30) days. At its discretion, the board may randomly audit a portion of licensees each renewal period or a specific licensee if a complaint has been filed against the licensee. Any untrue or false statements or the use thereof with respect to course attendance or any other aspect of continuing education activity is fraud or misrepresentation and will subject the professional landscape architect to license revocation or other disciplinary action. If audited and the board finds that the CEU is not acceptable, the board shall inform the licensee of the criteria that has not been adhered to. The licensee may within three (3) months from the license renewal date substantiate the original claim or earn other credits to meet the minimum requirements. AUTHORITY: sections 41.946, 327.041, 327.171, and 327.621, RSMo 2016.* Original rule filed Jan. 15, 2008, effective July 30, 2008. Amended: Filed April 3, 2009, effective Sept. 30, 2009. Amended: Filed Nov. 1, 2011, effective May 30, 2012. Non-substantive change filed Oct. 21, 2015, published Dec. 31, 2015. Amended: Filed March 20, 2018, effective Sept. 30, 2018. *Original authority: 41.946, RSMo 1991; 327.041, RSMo 1969, amended 1981, 1986, 1989, 1993, 1995, 1999, 2001, 2010, 2014; 327.171, RSMo 1969, amended 1981, 1989, 1999, 2014; and 327.621, RSMo 1989, amended 2001, 2007, 2014.