Negotiations on de-licensing of geologists in Arizona

Our colleagues in a number of the geology professional organizations in Arizona are reporting the potential for a significant change in House Bill 2613, that proposes to de-license geologists and other professionals.

According to an email I got this morning, the bill was approved by the House yesterday but deregulation of geologists was taken out of the bill and a geologist will continue to be included on the Board of Technical Registration. Unfortunately, the bill includes the following sentence (p. 7):

F. A GEOLOGIST MAY ENGAGE IN A GEOLOGICAL PRACTICE WITHOUT BEING REGISTERED UNDER THIS CHAPTER.

There is concern about this language as it is very nebulous and would make it difficult to enforce technical registration of geologists, among other things. This bill now goes to the Senate where it is expected that the sponsors will introduce education and experience requirements for non-registered geologists.

Some in the community that this is the way the system works right now. You don’t need a license  to work for a mining company or be a professor of geology, work for USGS, or consult for private clients,  etc. This bill does not however change the laws relating to the need to be registered to seal certain documents such as Aquifer Protection Permits, UST reports, municipal requirements, etc.

But the difference seems to be that the under the current situation you need to be licensed to offer your services to the public. Does the proposed language addition remove that restriction?