Effective 28 Aug 2016

327.272. Practice as professional land surveyor defined. — 1. A professional land surveyor shall include any person who practices in Missouri as a professional land surveyor who uses the title of "surveyor" alone or in combination with any other word or words including, but not limited to "registered", "professional" or "land" indicating or implying that the person is or holds himself or herself out to be a professional land surveyor who by word or words, letters, figures, degrees, titles or other descriptions indicates or implies that the person is a professional land surveyor or is willing or able to practice professional land surveying or who renders or offers to render, or holds himself or herself out as willing or able to render, or perform any service or work, the adequate performance of which involves the special knowledge and application of the principles of land surveying, mathematics, the related physical and applied sciences, and the relevant requirements of law, all of which are acquired by education, training, experience and examination, that affect real property rights on, under or above the land and which service or work involves:

(1) The determination, location, relocation, establishment, reestablishment, layout, or retracing of land boundaries and positions of the United States Public Land Survey System;

(2) The monumentation of land boundaries, land boundary corners and corners of the United States Public Land Survey System;

(3) The subdivision of land into smaller tracts and preparation of property descriptions;

(4) The survey and location of rights-of-way and easements;

(5) Creating, preparing, or modifying electronic or computerized data relative to the performance of the activities in subdivisions (1) to (4) of this subsection;

(6) Consultation, investigation, design surveys, evaluation, planning, design and execution of surveys;

(7) The preparation of any drawings showing the shape, location, dimensions or area of tracts of land;

(8) Monumentation of geodetic control and the determination of their horizontal and vertical positions;

(9) Establishment of state plane coordinates;

(10) Topographic surveys and the determination of the horizontal and vertical location of any physical features on, under or above the land;

(11) The preparation of plats, maps or other drawings showing elevations and the locations of improvements and the measurement and preparation of drawings showing existing improvements after construction;

(12) Layout of proposed improvements;

(13) The determination of azimuths by astronomic observations.

2. None of the specific duties listed in subdivisions (4) to (13) of subsection 1 of this section are exclusive to professional land surveyors unless they affect real property rights. For the purposes of this section, the term "real property rights" means a recordable interest in real estate as it affects the location of land boundary lines. The validity of any document prepared between August 27, 2014, and August 28, 2015, by a provider of utility or communications services purporting to affect real property rights shall remain valid and enforceable notwithstanding that any legal description contained therein was not prepared by a professional land surveyor.

3. Professional land surveyors shall be in responsible charge of all drawings, maps, surveys, and other work product that can affect the health, safety, and welfare of the public within their scope of practice.

4. Nothing in this section shall be construed to preclude the practice of architecture or professional engineering or professional landscape architecture as provided in sections 327.091, 327.181, and 327.600.

5. Nothing in this section shall be construed to preclude the practice of title insurance business or the business of title insurance as provided in chapter 381, or to preclude the practice of law or law business as governed by the Missouri supreme court and as provided in chapter 484.

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(L. 1969 S.B. 117, A.L. 1981 S.B. 16, A.L. 1999 H.B. 343, A.L. 2010 H.B. 1692, et al., A.L. 2014 S.B. 809, A.L. 2015 H.B. 1052, A.L. 2016 S.B. 833)