Florida/Georgia Personal Injury & Workers Compensation

ALLEN, Judge. The appellant, Edward Elbert Clark, appeals a final order of the Board of Professional Geologists (“Board”) denying his application for licensure as a professional geologist. He challenges the constitutionality of Sections 492.105(l)(d)(2) and 492.-111(1), Florida Statutes (1989), and contends that the Board’s denial of his application was an abuse of its discretion....

...According to the appellant, after enactment of Chapter 492, various federal, state and local agencies began requiring a professional geologist’s signature on permit applications which were previously acceptable with the signature of a professional engineer. Section 492.105(1), Florida Statutes, provides that persons desiring to be licensed as professional geologists must apply to take an examination designed to test their qualifications....

...The examination is to be given only to those applicants who have paid the requisite fees, are at least 18 years of age, have not committed any offense which would be grounds for discipline if committed by a professional geologist, and fulfill specified educational and experience requirements. See Section 492.105(l)(a) through (e). The educational requirements are set out in Section 492.105(l)(d) which provides that examinees must Fulfillf] the following educational requirements at a college or university the geological curricula of which meet the criteria established by an accrediting agency recognized by the United States Department of Education: 1....

...Graduation from such college or university with a major in geology or other related science acceptable to the department; and 2. Satisfactory completion of at least 80 semester hours of geological courses, 24 of which must be at the third or fourth year or graduate level. Section 492.105(2) provides that applicants for licensure “meeting the other requirements of this section may be licensed without written examination if application is made in proper form within 1 calendar year of October 1, 1987.” Seeking to obtain a license without taking the examination, the appellant submitted his application pursuant to this so-called grandfather clause. In an attempt to satisfy the Board that he met the educational criteria set out in Section 492.105(l)(d), the appellant presented, inter alia, opinion testimony from the chairmen of the civil engineering departments at each of the three universities that he attended....

...Moreover, the state’s power to regulate and control the various professions has been held to include the power to prescribe educational standards for those persons seeking to practice professions in this state. State ex rel. Kaplan v. Dee, 11 So.2d 768, 769 (Fla.1955). The appellant’s attack on the constitutionality of Section 492.105(l)(d)2, as applied to him, fares no better....

...The record does not demonstrate that the statute’s educational requirement is arbitrary, unreasonable or oppressive in its impact upon the appellant’s right to practice his profession. On the contrary, as noted above, the educational requirement appears to be a reasonable one designed to protect the public interest. Section 492.105(1), in effect, creates a presumption that a person who has completed 30 semester hours of geological courses (and has at least 7 years of professional work experience) will be competent to take the licensure examination....

...1 See Junco, 390 So.2d 329, 332 (a person’s employment with the Internal Revenue Service does not necessarily qualify him to practice public accounting in Florida). The fact that the appellant sought licensure under the statute’s grandfather clause set out in Section 492.105(2)(c) does not alter our analysis....