8762 History of revisions.

[Mike Mueller]

As we debated the pros and cons of legislation I kept wondering why the KBA (known bad actors) were reported to claim that they did not need to file a map since they didn't set pipes. Anything that ubiquitous as an excuse had to have a good reason. I pulled out one of the older versions of the PLSA and in 1941 and still in 1981, 8762 read as follows:

Within 90 days after the establishment of points or lines the licensed land surveyor or registered civil engineer shall file with the county surveyor in the county in which the survey was made, a record of such survey relating to land boundaries of property lines, which discloses: (bolding mine)

That coupled with the March 16th, 1973 Board opinion to Mr. Adams (attached) seems pretty clear that a valid argument could be made "establish" is only after a monument is set and tagged. It would seem like anyone who claims they don't have to file because they didn't set a pipe is just operating under a valid interpretation of old rules. The next year that I have a copy of the PLSA is 2008 and it is "after making a field survey" does anyone know the year that it switched? I would guess that some of the readers/posters to this forum remember working when the law changed? Was there huge fights or just a quiet change?

Interesting consequence to the date of change is how many LS's still working learned when the law was the old version. If you assume the average LS gets licensed around 35, and average age of license holders is 59 last I heard, it would give an operating lifetime of around 25 years per license. Add in the likely 10 years of formative experience that most people have before they are licensed, and I would expect an average of 35 years of lag to every law change. Various studies and anecdotal evidence confirms(yes in that order :) ) that people for the most part do not change their minds once they learn something. So 2023-35 years equals 1988. We are still working with people who are operating under the laws and culture in effect circa 1988. Anyone know when that law changed?

And for those that seem to think this behavior in surveyors is "unprofessional" its not. This is the reality for all professions. Consider this study from NIH about how surgeons learn to be surgeons https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6108903/
Conclusions
In this qualitative analysis of coaching conversations we found that practicing surgeons often justify their surgical decisions with anecdotal evidence and “lessons learned”, rather than deferring to surgical literature. This either represents a lack of evidence or poor uptake of existing data. (bolding mine)

Or how primary care doctors ignore Evidence Based Medicine (EBM) and basically use whatever they learned in residency or is the culture in their workplace.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4785283/
Conclusions
Despite being aware of and having a positive attitude towards EBM, doctors in this study seldom practised EBM in their routine clinical practice. Besides commonly cited barriers such as having a heavy workload and lack of training, workplace ‘EBM culture’ had an important influence on the doctors’ behaviour. Strategies targeting barriers at the practice level should be considered when implementing EBM in primary care.

Remember that these are folks who have Continuing Education Requirements and far more rigorous licensing and renewal processes. For what its worth, I still think there are positives to a take home exam on every license renewal. Even if it was just 10 questions about 8762 and when to file, or just whatever sections were modified that year. It would remove the excuse "it was like that when I took the test", and possibly force old dogs to learn new tricks when they fail the test. I know its not possible under current rules/laws, but perhaps that is something we could change?

Mikey Mueller, PLS 9076
Sonoma County

PS Those surgeons sure sounds like surveyors, learning from anecdotal evidence and "lessons learned" from their mentor rather than deferring to surgical literature. Good to know we are in respectable company :)

[hellsangle]

See "Recent Board Actions" page three of the attached?