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Sprinkler standby charges to be outlawed in Illinois
A bill has been introduced in the Illinois General Assembly to prevent private utilities from charging a standby fee for buildings that have an automatic sprinkler system, as follows:
Illinois General Assembly
96TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois, 2009 and 2010
HB5837 Introduced 2/10/2010
SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:
Amends the Public Utilities Act. Provides that no public
utility shall impose a sprinkler standby charge on the owners of
structures that contain automatic fire protection systems.
Provides thaL “sprinkler standby charge" means additional charges
imposed by a public utility on owners of structures because the
structures are equipped with automatic fire protection sprinkler
systems. Effective immediately.
1 AN ACT concerning utilities.
2 Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
3 represented in the General Assembly:
4 Section 5. The Public Utili ttes Act is amended by changing
5 Section 9—223 as follows:
6 (220 ILCS 5/9—223) (from Oh. 111 2/3, par. 9—223)
See full text
Illinois PE License Renewal:
Requirements
for Professional Development Hours
by Paul Hart, PE, 10-24-2005
Many professional societies, including the Chicago Chapter of the Society of Fire Protection Engineers, offer educational presentations as part of their periodic meetings and periodic special educational seminars. These events are typically designed to enable members to enhance their professional skills and knowledge of new technologies.
These opportunities have taken on new focus now that the Illinois Professional Engineering regulations require professional development hours for license renewal.
Beginning with the November 30, 2005 renewal, in order to renew a license as a professional engineer, a licensee will be required to complete 30 professional development hours (PDH) relevant to the practice of professional engineering. Failure to comply with this requirement may result in non-renewal of the professional engineer's license or other disciplinary action, or both.
One exception is that a renewal applicant is not required to comply with the professional development requirements for the first renewal of an Illinois license. The specific details of the Regulation requirements on PDH’s can be found in Section 1380.325.
One professional development hour equals 50 minutes of instruction or participation. If a program is taken that awards continuing education units (CEU) rather than professional development hours, one CEU equals 10 professional development hours of class in an approved continuing education course.
Professional development activities shall include, but not be limited to:
- Successful completion of a college or university course in the area of professional engineering, related sciences and engineering ethics. One semester hour completed shall equal 15 PDHs and one quarter hour shall equal 10 PDHs;
- Successful completion of professional engineering courses or programs in which professional development hours are earned;
- Active participation and successful completion of professional engineering programs, seminars, tutorials, workshops, short courses, on-line or in-house courses. Credit will be given for self study courses only if an examination has been completed by the licensee and graded by the sponsor;
- Attending program presentations at related technical or professional meetings;
- Teaching or instructing. Teaching credit is valid for teaching a course or seminar for the first time only. Two PDHs will be earned for every hour of teaching. This does not apply to faculty in the performance of their regularly assigned duties;
- Authoring papers or articles that appear in nationally circulated journals or trade magazines or presented to a professional society or organization. A maximum 10 PDHs per paper or presentation per renewal are allowed for this activity;
- Receiving a patent within the renewal period. Ten PDHs may be earned per patent;
- Active participation on a committee or holding an office in a professional or technical society. Two PDHs will be awarded per committee membership or office held. A maximum of 8 PDHs may be accepted per prerenewal period.
All professional development programs, activities or courses must:
- Contribute to the advancement, extension or enhancement of the professional skills and/or scientific knowledge of the licensee in practice of professional engineering;
- Foster the enhancement of general or specialized practice and values of professional engineering, related sciences and engineering ethics;
- Be developed and presented by persons with education and/or experience in the subject matter of the program.
It is responsibility of the Licensee to maintain records attesting to the PDH’s he or she has obtained. The required information is:
- The name and address of the sponsor or provider, the number of hours attended in each program, the date and place of the program and a certificate of attendance; or
- A log of activities that includes the date and number of hours claiming as PDHs, a brief statement of the subject matter, printed program schedules, registration receipts or other proof of participation; or
- Transcripts or records of professional development hours maintained by an acceptable provider
Significant personal focus and time is needed to assure success in today’s high challenge nature of business. Hopefully those renewing their Illinois PE license on November 30, 2005, have obtained the required number of PDH’s. If not, there are still opportunities to do so being offered by a variety of organizations.
In the long term, perhaps the PDH requirements will result in increased attendance at professional society educational events that historically served as both educational, networking and relationship building opportunities for their members.