MAPPS Reaches out to MO State Senator Regarding New Bill Making GIS for Surveyors Only

The Missouri State Senator (this is a state issue, not a federal one) is Brad Lager; he wrote SB 384 (pdf), “AN ACT
To repeal section 327.272, RSMo, and to enact in lieu thereof two new sections relating to geographical information systems.”

Here’s the Bill Summary, from the Senate website:

SB 384 - This act requires the Office of the Land Surveyor in the Department of Natural Resources to promulgate rules and regulations establishing minimum standards for GIS cadastral parcel mapping. Any map designed and used to reflect legal property descriptions or boundaries for use in a GIS system shall comply with such rules.

The practice of land surveying shall include working with positions of the United States Public Land Survey System and creating, preparing, or modifying computerized data, including land information systems and geographic information systems.

MAPPS contacted the State Senator on Friday by letter (pdf) to suggest its concern about the bill and to work with him to “correct its defects.”

The letter details how MAPPS has no issue with surveyors conducting boundary or cadastral surveys, but is concerned that the bill will restrict use of GIS to surveyors. That, the argument continues, will mean job losses in Missouri. Further, the law as written is inconsistent with the National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying (NCEES) Model Law which grants “grandfathering” to existing GIS practioners, so they need not collect surveyors credentials. The letter wraps up by noting that no outreach was done to stakeholders related to the bill and that the bill would put Missouri surveyors under the auspices of two different state agencies: The Office of the Land Surveyor and the Missouri Board for Architects, Professional Engineers, Land Surveyors and Landscape Architects.