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(128th General Assembly)
(Amended Senate Bill Number 183)
AN ACT
To amend section 4703.18 of the Revised Code to
eliminate a grandfather exemption from the
requirements of the Architects Law granted to
certain corporations.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Ohio:
SECTION 1. That section 4703.18 of the Revised Code be
amended to read as follows:
Sec. 4703.18. (A) No person shall enter upon the practice of
architecture or hold forth as an architect or registered
architect, unless the person has complied with sections 4703.01 to
4703.19 of the Revised Code and is the holder of a certificate of
qualification to practice architecture issued or renewed and
registered under those sections.
(B) Sections 4703.01 to 4703.19 of the Revised Code do not
prevent persons other than architects from filing applications for
building permits or obtaining those permits.
(C) Sections 4703.01 to 4703.19 of the Revised Code do not
prevent persons other than architects from preparing plans,
drawings, specifications, or data, filing applications for
building permits, or obtaining those permits for residential
buildings, as defined by section 3781.06 of the Revised Code, or
buildings erected as industrialized one-, two-, or three-family
units or structures within the meaning of the term "industrialized
unit" as provided in section 3781.06 of the Revised Code.
(D) Sections 4703.01 to 4703.19 of the Revised Code do not
prevent persons other than architects from preparing drawings or
data, from filing applications for building permits, or from
obtaining those permits for the installation of replacement
equipment or systems that are similar in type or capacity to the
equipment or systems being replaced, and for any improvement,
alteration, repair, painting, decorating, or other modification of
any buildings or structures subject to sections 3781.06 to 3781.18
and 3791.04 of the Revised Code where the building official
determines that no plans or specifications are required for
approval.
(E) Sections 4703.01 to 4703.19 of the Revised Code do not
exclude a registered professional engineer from architectural
practice that may be incident to the practice of engineering or
exclude a registered architect from engineering practice that may
be incident to the practice of architecture.
(F) Sections 4703.01 to 4703.19 of the Revised Code do not
prevent a firm, partnership, association, limited liability
company, or corporation of architects registered under those
sections from providing architectural services and do not prevent
an individual registered as a landscape architect under sections
4703.30 to 4703.49 of the Revised Code or as a professional
engineer under Chapter 4733. of the Revised Code from being a
member or trustee of a firm, partnership, association, limited
liability company, or corporation of that type, but a member or
trustee of that type shall not engage in the practice of
architecture or hold forth as an architect contrary to sections
4703.01 to 4703.19 of the Revised Code and shall not practice a
profession in which the person is not licensed.
(G) A firm, partnership, association, limited liability
company, or corporation may provide architectural services in this
state as long as the services are provided only through natural
persons registered to provide those services in this state,
subject to the exemptions in section 4703.17 of the Revised Code
and subject otherwise to the requirements of sections 4703.01 to
4703.19 of the Revised Code.
(H) No firm, partnership, association, limited liability
company, or corporation, except a corporation that was granted a
charter prior to August 7, 1943, to engage in providing
architectural services or that was otherwise lawfully providing
architectural services prior to November 15, 1982, shall provide
architectural services, hold itself out to the public as providing
architectural services, or use a name including the word
"architect" or any modification or derivation of the word, unless
the firm, partnership, association, limited liability company, or
corporation files all information required to be filed under this
section with the architects board and otherwise complies with all
requirements of sections 4703.01 to 4703.19 of the Revised Code. A
nonprofit membership corporation may use a name including the word
"architect" or any modification or derivation of the word without
complying with this section.
(I) A corporation may be organized under Chapter 1701. of the
Revised Code, a professional association may be organized under
Chapter 1785. of the Revised Code, or a limited liability company
may be formed under Chapter 1705. of the Revised Code for the
purpose of providing professional engineering, surveying,
architectural, or landscape architectural services, or any
combination of those services. A corporation organized under
Chapter 1701. of the Revised Code for the purpose of providing
those services also may be organized for any other purpose in
accordance with that chapter.
(J) No firm, partnership, association, limited liability
company, or corporation shall provide or offer to provide
architectural services in this state unless more than fifty per
cent of the partners, members, or shareholders, more than fifty
per cent of the directors in the case of a corporation or
professional association, more than fifty per cent of the managers
in the case of a limited liability company the management of which
is not reserved to its members, and more than fifty per cent of
the trustees in the case of an employee stock ownership plan, are
professional engineers, surveyors, architects, or landscape
architects or a combination of those professions, who are
registered in this or any other state and who own more than fifty
per cent of the interests in the firm, partnership, association,
limited liability company, or corporation; unless the requirements
of this division and of section 1785.02 of the Revised Code are
satisfied with respect to any professional association organized
under Chapter 1785. of the Revised Code; or unless the
requirements of this division and of Chapter 1705. of the Revised
Code are satisfied with respect to a limited liability company
formed under that chapter.
A corporation is exempt from the requirements of division (J)
of this section if the corporation was granted a charter prior to
August 7, 1943, to engage in providing architectural services or
was otherwise lawfully providing architectural services prior to
November 15, 1982, in this state.
(K) Each firm, partnership, association, limited liability
company, or corporation through which architectural services are
offered or provided in this state shall designate one or more
trustees, partners, managers, members, officers, or directors as
being in responsible charge of the professional architectural
activities and decisions, and those designated persons shall be
registered in this state. In the case of a corporation holding a
certificate of authorization provided for in division (L) of this
section, at least one of the persons so designated shall be a
director of the corporation. Each firm, partnership, association,
limited liability company, or corporation of that type shall
annually file with the architects board the name and address of
each trustee, partner, manager, officer, director, member, or
shareholder, and each firm, partnership, association, limited
liability company, or corporation of that type shall annually file
with the board the name and address of all persons designated as
being in responsible charge of the professional architectural
activities and decisions and any other information the board may
require. If there is a change in any such person in the interval
between filings, the change shall be filed with the board in the
manner and within the time that the board determines.
(L) No corporation organized under Chapter 1701. of the
Revised Code shall engage in providing architectural services in
this state without obtaining a certificate of authorization from
the architects board. A corporation desiring a certificate of
authorization shall file with the board a copy of its articles of
incorporation and a listing on the form that the board directs of
the names and addresses of all trustees, officers, directors, and
shareholders of the corporation, the names and addresses of any
individuals providing professional services on behalf of the
corporation who are registered to practice architecture in this
state, and any other information the board requires. If all
requirements of sections 4703.01 to 4703.19 of the Revised Code
are met, the board may issue a certificate of authorization to the
corporation. No Except for a corporation that was granted a
charter prior to August 7, 1943, to engage in providing
architectural services or that was otherwise lawfully providing
architectural services prior to November 15, 1982, no certificate
of authorization shall be issued unless persons owning more than
fifty per cent of the corporation's shares and more than fifty per
cent of the interests in the corporation are professional
engineers, surveyors, architects, or landscape architects, or a
combination of those professions, who are registered in this or
any other state. Any corporation that holds a certificate of
authorization under this section and otherwise meets the
requirements of sections 4703.01 to 4703.19 of the Revised Code
may be organized for any purposes for which corporations may be
organized under Chapter 1701. of the Revised Code and shall not be
limited to the purposes of providing professional engineering,
surveying, architectural, or landscape architectural services or
any combination of those professions. The board, by rules adopted
in accordance with Chapter 119. of the Revised Code, may require
any firm, partnership, association, or limited liability company
not organized under Chapter 1701. of the Revised Code that
provides architectural services to obtain a certificate of
authorization. If the board so requires, no firm, partnership,
association, or limited liability company shall engage in
providing architectural services without obtaining the certificate
and complying with the rules.
(M) This section does not modify any law applicable to the
relationship between a person furnishing a professional service
and a person receiving that service, including liability arising
out of that service.
(N) Nothing in this section restricts or limits in any manner
the authority or duty of the architects board with respect to
natural persons providing professional services or any law or rule
pertaining to standards of professional conduct.
SECTION 2. That existing section 4703.18 of the Revised Code
is hereby repealed.
SECTION 3. This act shall not be interpreted as affecting the
obligations imposed under any contract in existence on the
effective date of this act, but any corporation that is providing
architectural services pursuant to a contract on the effective
date of this act shall comply with section 4703.18 of the Revised
Code, as amended by this act, prior to renewing the contract.
SECTION 4. (A) The General Assembly hereby determines and
declares that it recognizes and finds all of the following:
(1) Sections 4703.01 to 4703.19 of the Revised Code are
designed to protect the public from persons not qualified to
provide architectural services.
(2) If the public is provided accurate information about the
qualifications of persons that hold themselves as providers of
architectural services, the public is better able to decide who to
engage to provide those services.
(3) Persons who hold themselves out as providing
architectural services should have the qualifications that the
representation indicates they have.
(4) The existing exemption contained in division (H) of
section 4703.18 of the Revised Code has outlived its usefulness in
its current form.
(B) The General Assembly hereby declares that, in repealing
the exemption in division (H) of section 4703.18 of the Revised
Code from sections 4703.01 to 4703.19 of the Revised Code to
certain corporations authorized and in permitting those
corporations to continue to provide architectural services if
certain criteria are met, it is the General Assembly's intent to
protect the safety and general welfare of the people of this
state. The General Assembly further declares it is the policy of
this state to require persons providing architectural services to
comply with sections 4703.01 to 4703.19 of the Revised Code and to
meet the quality standards that are included in those sections in
order to maintain the provision of reliable architectural
services. Consequently, the amendments made by this act are
remedial and not punitive in nature.
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